daylight
[dey-lahyt]
- the light of day: At the end of the tunnel they could see daylight.
- public knowledge or awareness; openness: The newspaper article brought the scandal out into the daylight.
- the period of day; daytime.
- daybreak; dawn.
- a clear space or gap, especially between two people or things that should be close together, as between the knees of a horseback rider and a saddle.
- disagreement or mental distance between two people: There's very little daylight between the two senators' stances on the issue.
- daylights, Informal. mental soundness, consciousness, or wits: The noise scared the daylights out of us.I'd like to beat/knock the daylights out of him!
Show More
- Photography. of, relating to, or being film made for exposure by the natural light of day.
Show More
- to suffuse (an interior space) with artificial light or with daylight filtered through translucent materials, as roofing panels.
Show More
- see daylight, to progress to a point where completion of a difficult task seems possible or probable.
Show More
Origin of daylight
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
fathomacknowledgereadrecognizeperceivecomprehendunderstandknowgrasprealizegetthinkapprehendsavvydigvisualizeenvisionimagefeaturefancydaylight
- light from the sun
- (as modifier)daylight film
- the period when it is light; daytime
- daybreak
- see daylight
- to understand something previously obscure
- to realize that the end of a difficult task is approaching
Show More
See also daylights
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for see daylight
daylight
n.
c.1300 (as two words from mid-12c., daies liht), from day + light (n.); its figurative sense of "clearly visible open space between two things" (1820) has been used in references to boats in a race, U.S. football running backs avoiding opposing tackles, a rider and a saddle, and the rim of a glass and the surface of the liquor. The (living) daylights that you beat out of someone were originally slang for "the eyes" (1752), extended figuratively to the vital senses.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with see daylight
see daylight
see begin to see daylight.
Show More
daylight
In addition to the idiom beginning with daylight
- daylight robbery
also see:
- beat the living daylights out of
- begin to see daylight
- in broad daylight
- let daylight through
- scare out of one's wits (the living daylights out of)
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.