daylight English · revision 16174

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=Old English, Ælfric}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈdeɪlaɪt/ ''(UK)''; /ˈdeɪˌlaɪt/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound, [[af|en|day|light]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) in older forms with the genitive of ''day'' (Etymonline's [[m|enm|daies liht]], mid-12th century).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Compare [[gml|dāgeslicht]], [[de|Tageslicht]] and [[non|dagsljós]].^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The light of day: Old English, in Ælfric's ''Lives of Saints'';^(OED 2026) Etymonline dates the one-word form to about 1300.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Daylight also meant the time of day and the dawn from Old English on.^(OED 2026) Figuratively it stood for full knowledge or openness to public view from 1530, in Tyndale.^(OED 2026) A visible gap between two things is from 1775 in the OED and by 1820 in Etymonline,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) and Etymonline lists its uses for boats in a race, a running back slipping tackles, and a rider and saddle;^(Etymonline) an earlier drinkers' use was the gap between the liquor and the brim, not allowed when drinking a toast (1754).^(OED 2026)^(GDoS) A difference or distinction between two people or positions is from 1849.^(OED 2026) Slang ''daylights'' were the eyes from about 1747, as in ''darken someone's daylights'' (1752), later extended to the vital senses, as in the daylights one beats or scares out of someone.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) ''Daylight saving'' is from 1908, after a British bill of that year.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – the light of day; daytime.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1530 – figurative, knowledge, openness.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1747 – ''daylights'', the eyes (slang).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1754 – the gap below a glass's brim.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1775 – a visible gap between things.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1849 – a perceptible difference.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1908 – ''daylight saving''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The natural light of the [[sun]] during the day.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # [[daytime|alt=Daytime]]; also, [[dawn]].^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A visible gap or space between two things, or a clear difference between positions.^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # ''daylights'' ''(informal)'': one's wits or senses, in ''beat'' or ''scare the living daylights out of''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[predaylight]]

+ * [[daylight saving]]

+ * [[daylight saving time]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[daybreak]]

+ * [[sunlight]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}