first light
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of first light
First recorded in 1945–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The morning before he died, Dipu Chandra Das left home at first light, stepping out of his tin-sheet house in Bangladesh's Mymensingh city, overlooking a warren of lanes off the highway from Dhaka.
From BBC • Feb. 15, 2026
The first light also sets an internal timer for melatonin to be produced again 14 hours later.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 11, 2026
The Coast Guard Cutter Sea Otter crew will remain on scene overnight to continue the search, and helicopter crews were set to rejoin the effort at first light, he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2025
As far as the science images goes, I thought the first light image which we have in detail that has never been published before is in there.
From Salon • Oct. 8, 2024
I let out a wail when she parted the caul, letting in first air, first light.
From "Ninth Ward" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
