daylight

See also: day-light

English

Alternative forms

• day-light

Etymology

From Middle English daye-lighte, dey liȝht, dailiȝt, day-liht, dai-liht (also as days lyȝt, daies liht), equivalent to day +‎ light. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Deegeslucht, Daisljoacht (“daylight”), West Frisian deiljocht (“daylight”), Dutch daglicht (“daylight”), German Tageslicht (“daylight”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdeɪlaɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdeɪˌlaɪt/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: day‧light

Noun

daylight (countable and uncountable, plural daylights)

1. The light from the Sun, as opposed to that from any other source.
2. A light source that simulates daylight.
3. (countable, photometry) The intensity distribution of light over the visible spectrum generated by the Sun under various conditions or by other light sources intended to simulate natural daylight.
4. The period of time between sunrise and sunset.

   We should get home while it's still daylight.

5. Daybreak.

   We had only two hours to work before daylight.

   • 1835, Sir John Ross, Sir James Clark Ross, Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Volume 1, pages 284–5:

     Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.

6. Exposure to public scrutiny.

   Budgeting a spy organization can't very well be done in daylight.

7. A clear, open space.

   All small running backs instinctively run to daylight.

   He could barely see daylight through the complex clockwork.

   Finally, after weeks of work on the project, they could see daylight.

8. (countable, machinery) The space between platens on a press or similar machinery.

   The minimum and maximum daylights on an injection molding machine determines the sizes of the items it can make.

9. (figurative) Emotional or psychological distance between people, or disagreement.

   We completely agree. There's no daylight between us on the issue.

   • 2023 February 17, Michelle Goldberg, “What Fox News Says When You’re Not Listening”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Sometimes hosts are a little saltier when the cameras aren’t rolling, but I don’t recall ever hearing any daylight between the views they express on-air and off.

10. (figurative) Meaningful or noticeable difference or distinction between two things, especially concepts.

    There's not much daylight between saying that the universe is God and saying that God doesn't exist.

11. The gap between the top of a drinking-glass and the level of drink it is filled with.

    Coordinate term: heeltap

Synonyms

• (light from the Sun): sunlight, sunshine
• (period between sunrise and sunset): daytime; see also Thesaurus:daytime
• (daybreak): dayspring, sunrise; see also Thesaurus:dawn

Antonyms

• night
• darkness

Derived terms

• beat the daylight out of
• broad daylight
• burn daylight
• create daylight between oneself and someone
• daylight factory
• daylight overdraft
• daylight robbery
• daylight saving
• daylight savings
• daylight-savings time
• daylight savings time
• daylight saving time
• daylight-saving time
• daylight standard time
• daylight time
• in broad daylight
• knock the daylight out of
• multidaylight
• open daylight
• predaylight
• put daylight between oneself and someone
• see daylight

 

Translations

light from the Sun

• Catalan: llum del dia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 日光 (zh) (rì guāng)

• Danish: dagslys (da) n
• Dutch: daglicht (nl) n
• Esperanto: taglumo
• Finnish: päivänvalo (fi)
• French: jour (fr) m, lumière du jour (fr) f
• Georgian: მზის შუქი (mzis šuki), მზის სინათლე (mzis sinatle)
• German: Tageslicht (de) n
• Greek: φως (el) n (fos)
• Hebrew: אור יום m (or yom)
• Irish: solas an lae m
• Latin: lux (la)
• Maori: whaiao
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dagslys n

  Nynorsk: dagslys n, dagsljos n

• Nyunga: ben, beerit
• Portuguese: luz do dia/sol f
• Russian: естественное освеще́ние n (jestestvennoje osveščénije), дневной свет m
• Spanish: luz solar f, luz diurna f
• Swedish: dagsljus (sv) n
• Turkish: gün ışığı (tr)
• Ukrainian: со́нячне сві́тло n (sónjačne svítlo)
• Welsh: golau dydd (cy) m, goleuni dydd m

light source that simulates daylight

• Finnish: päivänvalolamppu

photometry: natural daylight's intensity distribution of light over the visible spectrum

• Finnish: päivänvalo (fi)

period of time between sunrise and sunset

• Catalan: dia (ca) m
• Danish: dag (da) c
• Finnish: päivä (fi), päivänvalo (fi)
• French: jour (fr) m
• German: Tag (de) m
• Greek: μέρα (el) f (méra)
• Irish: lá (ga) m
• Maori: aoatea, awatea, whaiao, maruawatea (broad daylight)
• Portuguese: dia (pt) m
• Russian: светлое вре́мя суток (svetloje vrémja sutok)
• Turkish: gündüz (tr), gün (tr)
• Ukrainian: де́нь (uk) m (dénʹ)

daybreak — see daybreak

exposure to public scrutiny

• Danish: lys (da) n
• Finnish: päivänvalo (fi)
• Swedish: dagsljus (sv) n

clear, open space

• Danish: lys (da) n, dagslys (da) n
• Finnish: valo (fi)

machinery: space between

• Finnish: välys

motional or psychological distance between people

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嫌隙 (zh) (xián xì)

• Finnish: ero (fi)

References

• (gap between glass and drink): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

Verb

daylight (third-person singular simple present daylights, present participle daylighting, simple past and past participle daylighted or daylit)

1. To expose to daylight
   • 1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Chapter 7”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC:

     […] the Morlocks, subterranean for innumerable generations, had come at last to find the daylit surface intolerable.

   • 1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 15, in The Silver Chair, Collins, published 1998:

     […] she was not looking at the daylit, sunny world which she so wanted to see.

2. (architecture) To provide sources of natural illumination such as skylights or windows.
3. To allow light in, as by opening drapes.
4. (landscaping, civil engineering) To run a drainage pipe to an opening from which its contents can drain away naturally.
5. (intransitive) To gain exposure to the open.

   The seam of coal daylighted at a cliff by the river.

   • 1964 October, “Letters: A US lesson in high-capacity freight stock”, in Modern Railways, page 233:

     Tunnels were enlarged or daylighted and clearances generally greatly improved.

Translations

to expose to daylight

• Welsh: goleuo (cy), dyddoleuo

See also

• dawn
• sunrise
• sunset

Anagrams

• light day