dawn

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Though he was very drunk, he was yet sober enough to know that the dawn was at hand, and that all good Mussulmen would shortly be going to prayer.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun The time each morning at which daylight first begins.
  2. noun A first appearance; a beginning: the dawn of history. See Synonyms at beginning.
  3. intransitive verb To begin to become light in the morning.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (6)

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Examples

  • Twice Brangaena warns them that the dawn is at hand, but they do not heed her. —  Wagner
  • The mist lay heavily on the peak of Spion Kop that morning, so that the dawn was a thing of liquid, pearly light. —  The Sound of Thunder
  • Though he was very drunk, he was yet sober enough to know that the dawn was at hand, and that all good Mussulmen would shortly be going to prayer. —  Still Separate & Unequal
  • The darkness before the dawn, the deathly chill before the dawn were here. —  Red Pottage
  • The dawn -- the dawn is here. —  The Genius
 

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Dawn has been looked up 313 times, favorited once, listed 50 times, and commented on 6 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

twilight ·  sunset ·  noon ·  sunshine ·  sky ·  daylight ·  sunrise ·  moon ·  morning ·  mist ·  glow ·  midnight
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Middle English daunen, to dawn, probably a back-formation from dauning, daybreak, alteration of dauing, from Old English dagung, from dagian, to dawn; see agh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English dawnen (late and rare), substituted, through influence of earlier noun dawninge (see dawning), for reg. dawen, dagen, daien, dayen, dawn: see daw, day.
  2. from dawn, v. The older nouns are dawing and dawning.
 

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/dɔn/
by American Heritage

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