Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The star around which Earth and other planets orbit. It provides heat and light to Earth. It has a mean distance from Earth of about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles), a diameter of approximately 1,392,000 kilometers (865,000 miles), and a mass about 335,000 times that of Earth.
  • noun A star that is the center of a planetary system.
  • noun The radiant energy, especially heat and visible light, emitted by the sun; sunshine.
  • noun A sunlike object, representation, or design.
  • intransitive verb To expose to the sun's rays, as for warming, drying, or tanning.
  • intransitive verb To expose oneself or itself to the sun.
  • idiom (in the sun) In the public eye.
  • idiom (under the sun) On the earth; in the world.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The central body of the solar system, around which the earth and other planets revolve, retained in their orbits by its attraction, and supplied with energy by its radiance.
  • noun The sunshine; a sunny place; a place where the beams of the sun fall: as, to stand in the sun (that is, to stand where the direct rays of the sun fall).
  • noun Anything eminently splendid or luminous : that which is the chief source of light, honor, glory, or prosperity.
  • noun The luminary or orb which constitutes the center of any system of worlds: as, the fixed stars may be suns in their respective systems.
  • noun A revolution of the earth round the sun; a year.
  • noun The rising of the sun; sunrise; day.
  • noun In heraldry, a bearing representing the sun, usually surrounded by rays.
  • noun In electric lighting, a group of incandescent lamps arranged concentrically under a reflector at, near, or in the ceiling of a room or auditorium.
  • noun A Japanese measure of length, equal to of a meter, or 1.19 inches.
  • noun An amended spelling of son.
  • noun See sunn.
  • To expose to the sun's rays; warm or dry in the sunshine; insolate: as, to sun cloth.
  • To become warm or dry in the sunshine.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To expose to the sun's rays; to warm or dry in the sun
  • noun (Bot.) See sunn.
  • noun The luminous orb, the light of which constitutes day, and its absence night; the central body round which the earth and planets revolve, by which they are held in their orbits, and from which they receive light and heat. Its mean distance from the earth is about 92,500,000 miles, and its diameter about 860,000.
  • noun Any heavenly body which forms the center of a system of orbs.
  • noun The direct light or warmth of the sun; sunshine.
  • noun That which resembles the sun, as in splendor or importance; any source of light, warmth, or animation.
  • noun (Mach.) an ingenious contrivance for converting reciprocating motion, as that of the working beam of a steam engine, into rotatory motion. It consists of a toothed wheel (called the sun wheel), firmly secured to the shaft it is desired to drive, and another wheel (called the planet wheel) secured to the end of a connecting rod. By the motion of the connecting rod, the planet wheel is made to circulate round the central wheel on the shaft, communicating to this latter a velocity of revolution the double of its own.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a South American humming bird of the genus Heliangelos, noted for its beautiful colors and the brilliant luster of the feathers of its throat.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See Heliozoa.
  • noun (Med.) exposure of a patient to the sun's rays; insolation.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a species of bear (Helarctos Malayanus) native of Southern Asia and Borneo. It has a small head and short neck, and fine short glossy fur, mostly black, but brownish on the nose. It is easily tamed. Called also bruang, and Malayan bear.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any small lustrous beetle of the genus Amara.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a singular South American bird (Eurypyga helias), in some respects related both to the rails and herons. It is beautifully variegated with white, brown, and black. Called also sunbird, and tiger bittern.
  • noun (Med.) the condition of fever produced by sun stroke.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a Brazilian humming bird (Heliactin cornutus). Its head is ornamented by two tufts of bright colored feathers, fiery crimson at the base and greenish yellow at the tip. Called also Horned hummer.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the finfoot.
  • noun a picture taken by the agency of the sun's rays; a photograph.
  • noun (Astron.) dark spots that appear on the sun's disk, consisting commonly of a black central portion with a surrounding border of lighter shade, and usually seen only by the telescope, but sometimes by the naked eye. They are very changeable in their figure and dimensions, and vary in size from mere apparent points to spaces of 50,000 miles in diameter. The term sun spots is often used to include bright spaces (called faculæ) as well as dark spaces (called maculæ). Called also solar spots. See Illustration in Appendix.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any one of several species of starfishes belonging to Solaster, Crossaster, and allied genera, having numerous rays.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the squeteague.
  • noun (Mach.) See Sun and planet wheels, above.
  • noun in the world; on earth.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun first day of the week; observed as a day of rest and worship by most Christians
  • noun the rays of the sun
  • noun the star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system
  • noun a person considered as a source of warmth or energy or glory etc
  • noun any star around which a planetary system revolves
  • verb expose to the rays of the sun or affect by exposure to the sun
  • verb expose one's body to the sun

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English sunne; see sāwel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English sunne, from Old English sunne, from Proto-Germanic *sunnōn, from heteroclitic inanimate Proto-Indo-European *sh̥₂uén 'sun' (compare Welsh huan, Avestan gen. xᵛə̄ṇg), oblique of *sóh₂wl̥. More at solar.

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Examples

  • As soon, however, as the vaporised matter is expelled from the nucleus towards the sun, it is met by the centrifugal motion of the electro-magnetic Aether which proceeds _from the sun_, and this pressure of the aetherial waves on the advancing comet acts as a repelling power, literally repelling the vaporised matter from the sun, and thus giving rise to the existence of its tail.

    Aether and Gravitation William George Hooper

  • _There be delights_, _there be recreations and jolly pastimes that will fetch the day about from sun to sun_, _and rock the tedious year as in a delightful dream_.

    Uppingham by the Sea a Narrative of the Year at Borth John Huntley Skrine 1885

  • _Midsummer: _ With us, the time when the sun arrives at his greatest distance from the equator, or about the twenty-first of June, called, also the summer solstice, (from the Latin _sol, the sun_ and _sto, to stop_ or _stand still_,) because when the sun reaches this point he seems to stand still for some time, and then appears to retrace his steps.

    American Woman's Home Harriet Beecher Stowe 1853

  • It is not only cast away from the sun: it is really cast _by the sun_ -- shadow-like, although not of the nature of shadow.

    Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 450 Volume 18, New Series, August 14, 1852 Various 1836

  • In a similar manner (from causes already referred to) the sun produces two tides of much smaller dimensions, and the joint effect of the action of the two luminaries is this, that instead of four separate tides resulting from their separate influence, the _sun merely alters the form of the wave raised by the moon_; or, in other words, the greater of the two waves (which is due to the moon) is modified in its height by the smaller (sun's) wave.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 620, November 19,1887 Various

  • The mountain sun is so bright that a Mendozan never leaves his house without sunglasses, and sun-loving grapes like Malbec grow better here than anywhere else in the world.

    Laura Catena: From Asado (Barbecue) to Helado (Ice Cream): A Foodie Tour of Mendoza Laura Catena 2010

  • The mountain sun is so bright that a Mendozan never leaves his house without sunglasses, and sun-loving grapes like Malbec grow better here than anywhere else in the world.

    Laura Catena: From Asado (Barbecue) to Helado (Ice Cream): A Foodie Tour of Mendoza Laura Catena 2010

  • The mountain sun is so bright that a Mendozan never leaves his house without sunglasses, and sun-loving grapes like Malbec grow better here than anywhere else in the world.

    Laura Catena: From Asado (Barbecue) to Helado (Ice Cream): A Foodie Tour of Mendoza Laura Catena 2010

  • The mountain sun is so bright that a Mendozan never leaves his house without sunglasses, and sun-loving grapes like Malbec grow better here than anywhere else in the world.

    Laura Catena: From Asado (Barbecue) to Helado (Ice Cream): A Foodie Tour of Mendoza Laura Catena 2010

  • At issue the reliability of common claims such as waterproof, all day, UVA UVB protection, even the term sun block, which the lawsuit says are exaggerated, misleading, and may give consumers a false sense of security.

    CNN Transcript Jun 12, 2006 2006

  • Pollard thinks the geoglyph is a sun horse—a common creature in ancient Indo-European cosmology that carries the sun across the sky like a chariot.

    Tiny Snails Help Solve a Giant Mystery Keridwen Cornelius 2021

Comments

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  • "Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth 'You owe me'. Look what happens with a love like that, it lights the whole sky."

    - Hafiz.

    December 29, 2007

  • Friedman Memorial Airport (Hailey, ID).

    October 24, 2008