crack of dawn

noun

1. the part of morning when light first appears in the sky.

Idioms and Phrases

Very early morning, daybreak. For example, I got up at the crack of dawn. The crack in this term alludes either to the suddenness of sunrise or to the small wedge of light appearing as the sun rises over the horizon. Originally the term was usually put as crack of day. [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

You’ve probably seen them in your neighborhood, on power-walking pros out and about at the crack of dawn.

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We’re introduced to him not as a thief, but as a doting father who wakes at the crack of dawn, tenderly lays his son in bed next to his sister, and heads off to work.

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“We know that we need an economy that actually works for the working class, and not just for billionaires and those at the top. We live in one of the most impoverished districts in the nation. We live in a district where our farm workers get up every single day at the crack of dawn to go help feed the rest of the world. Meanwhile, they struggle to feed their own families,” Villegas, who has been endorsed by the Working Families Party, told Salon.

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Like when I say I sleep in late, that’s 6:30 or 7 a.m. because I like to get up at the crack of dawn.

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Of course, estimating one’s relative lifetime exposure to daylight versus artificial light is tricky at best, so we have to make do with a proxy: Everything else being equal, “night owls” could be expected to be exposed to more artificial light than those who rise at the crack of dawn and go to bed early.

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Related Words

• dawning 
• daybreak 
• daylight 
• morning