from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
dawning
n 1: the first light of day; "we got up before dawn"; "they
talked until morning" [syn: {dawn}, {dawning}, {morning},
{aurora}, {first light}, {daybreak}, {break of day}, {break
of the day}, {dayspring}, {sunrise}, {sunup}, {cockcrow}]
[ant: {sundown}, {sunset}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
dawning \dawn"ing\ n.
the first light of day; dawn.
Syn: dawn, morning, aurora, first light, daybreak, break of
day, break of the day, dayspring, sunrise, sunup,
cockcrow.
[WordNet 1.5]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dawn \Dawn\ (d[add]n), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Dawned} (d[add]nd);
p. pr. & vb. n. {Dawning}.] [OE. dawnen, dawen, dagen, daien,
AS. dagian to become day, to dawn, fr. d[ae]g day; akin to D.
dagen, G. tagen, Icel. daga, Dan. dages, Sw. dagas. See
{Day}. [root]71.]
1. To begin to grow light in the morning; to grow light; to
break, or begin to appear; as, the day dawns; the morning
dawns.
[1913 Webster]
In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week, came Mary
Magdalene . . . to see the sepulcher. --Matt.
xxviii. 1.
[1913 Webster]
2. To began to give promise; to begin to appear or to expand.
"In dawning youth." --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
When life awakes, and dawns at every line. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid. --Heber,
[1913 Webster]