| 释义 |
daylight|ˈdeɪlaɪt|
1. a. The light of day. (Formerly also day's light.) † to burn daylight: see burn v. 11 b.
a1300Cursor M. 6195 (Cott.) Drightin self þam ledd þair wai..Wit cluden piler on dai light. Ibid. 17344 Þar he o naman suld ha sight, Ne nankins leme o dais light. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 328 A bak to walke inne by day-light. 1484Caxton Fables of Alfonse (1889) 1 He had shame by daye lyȝt to go in to the hows of his Frend. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 20 The brightnesse of her cheeke would shame those starres As day-light doth a Lampe. 1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5283/2 We..resolved to pursue as long as we had Day-light. 1725Pope Odyss. xviii. 353 The day⁓light fades. 1862Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) I. 187 His Lectures on Botany were..as clear as daylight.
b. fig. The full light of knowledge and observation; openness, publicity.
1690Locke Hum. Und. iv. xiv. (1695) 374 God has set some things in broad Day-light; as he has given us some certain Knowledge. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Character (Wks. Bohn) II. 58 They are good at..any desperate service which has daylight and honour in it. 1892Law Times 417/1 A healthy condition of such [jury] lists is not to be relied upon unless they are kept in plenty of daylight.
c. to let daylight into or through: to open up, make a hole in; to stab or shoot a person. slang.
1712[Swift] Law is a Bottomless-Pit iii, in John Bull Still in his Senses vi. 25 I'll warrant ye, you shall see Day-light through them. 1793A. Young Example of France (ed. 3) 172 In the language of the streets, day-light is let into him. 1841Punch I. 101/2 (Farmer) With the..intention of letting day⁓light into the wittling department. 1890Illustr. Lond. News Christm. No. 2/1 Some..sharpshooter will..let daylight into one of us. 1922Joyce Ulysses 322 The Molly Maguires looking for him to let daylight through him.
2. a. The time of daylight, the day-time; spec. the time when daylight appears, day-break, as in before daylight or at daylight.
(In early use not clearly separable from 1.)
c1205Lay. 27337 Þa þas ferde wes al idiht þa wes hit dai⁓light. a1250Owl & Night. 332 From eve fort hit is dai-liȝt. c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 233 Alsone als it was dayes lyght. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lxvi. 228 To departe or it be day lyght. 1670Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 112 At Daylight the Wind was at South-West. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xiv. 51 Mesty was up at daylight. 1885E. Arnold Secret of Death 5 Ofttimes at daylight I would go To watch the sunlight flood the skies.
b. Photography. The period during which film can be ‘taken’ by natural light; spec. (see quot. 1940). Freq. attrib., occurring or performed during daylight (see also 6).
1889E. J. Wall Dict. Photogr. 61 Daylight enlarging. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 225/2 Daylight, the average colour of sky and sun at noon, corresponding to a colour temperature of 6500 K. 1940F. J. Mortimer Wall's Dict. Photogr. (ed. 15) 258 Daylight enlargers.
3. A clear visible space or interval:
a. between boats, etc. in a race;
b. between the rim of a wine-glass and the surface of the liquor, which must be filled up when a bumper is drunk;
c. between a rider and the saddle, etc. slang.
1820Shelley Œdipus Tyr. ii. ii. 35 All. A toast! a toast!.. Dakry. No heel-taps—darken daylights! 1836E. Howard R. Reefer xliv, No heel-taps after, and no day⁓light before. 1884Camb. Rev. 10 Dec. 132 After about a quarter of a mile, daylight was visible between the two boats.
d. (See quots.)
1930Engineering 3 Jan. 14/1 The ‘daylight’, i.e. the distance [sc. in a hydraulic press] between the faces of the vertical rams in their highest positions and the surface of the work table. 1968Gloss. Terms Mechanized & Hand Sheet Metal Work (B.S.I.) 7 Daylight. 1. On the press. The distance between the bed of the press and the face of the slide with the press at the top of its stroke and with the adjustment up. 2. On the die set. The distance between the inner faces of the die set with the press slide at the bottom of its stroke. 3. On the press tool. The distance between the closest points of a press tool with the press fully open and the adjustment up.
4. pl. The eyes. Also in extended use of any vital organ. Also to beat, scare, etc., the (living) daylight(s) out of (a person), to beat, scare (a person) severely. slang.
1752Fielding Amelia i. x. (D.), If the lady says such another word to me..I will darken her daylights. 1821Blackw. Mag. X. 586, I saw the storm..through my half-bunged-up daylights. 1848E. Bennett Mike Fink i. 10/1 We'll catch the fever and ager,..and that'll shake the day-lights out o' us. 1884E. W. Nye Baled Hay 79 The driver bangs the mule, that is ostensibly pulling his daylights out. 1923R. D. Paine Comr. Rolling Ocean ii. 22 Putting seven of 'em in irons after they shot the daylights out of me left us mighty short-handed. 1944E. Caldwell Tragic Ground (1947) xiv. 163 If I could find a stick I'd grab it and beat the daylights out of you. 1951E. Taylor Game of Hide-and-Seek ii. i. 174 Though they scared the daylight out of me, I contempted them. 1955F. Yerby Treasure of Pleasant Valley (1956) iii. 36 Didn't mean to hit him... Meant to throw close to him and scare the living daylights out of him. 1960N. Hilliard Maori Girl iii. viii. 229 I'll go down there and belt the daylights out of him! 1960R. Rae Custard Boys i. viii. 92 We'll get yer an' all the rest of yer gang, an' when we do we'll beat the living daylights out of yer. 1963N.Z. Listener 13 Sept. 10/4, I hated him. He used to beat the daylight out of me. 1964Illustr. London News 18 Jan. 102/3, I might have chuckled throughout ‘The Suitor’ if its chief actor did not happen to scare the living daylights out of me, as the current saying goes.
5. (See quot.)
1889Century Dict., Daylight, a name of the American spotted turbot, Lophopsetta maculata, a fish so thin as to be almost transparent. Also called window-pane.
6. attrib. and Comb., as daylight colour, etc.; daylight factor (see quots.); † daylight-gate, the going or close of the day; daylight-loading a., (of a film-spool, cartridge, etc.) adapted for loading by daylight without the use of a dark-room; daylight robbery: see robbery 3; daylight-saving, a method of securing a longer period of daylight at the end of the day, viz. by putting the clock forward (e.g. an hour). Cf. summer time 2.
1613T. Potts Disc. Witches (Chetham Soc.) B ij b, The sayd Spirit..appeared at sundry times unto her..about Daylight-gate. 1704Newton Opticks (J.), Their own day⁓light colours. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty xii. 95 A day⁓light piece. 1842G. S. Faber Provinc. Lett. (1844) II. 301 Through darkling suggestions rather than through day-light assertions. 1850H. Martineau Hist. Peace II. 705 True to broad daylight English life. 1902Photographic Catal., Rollable daylight loading Films. 1908Hansard 4th Ser. CLXXXIV. 155 Daylight Saving Bill... Mr. R. Pearce..in moving the Second Reading said that the object of the Bill was to promote the earlier use of daylight in the summer. 1915First Rep. Dep. Comm. on Lighting (Cd. 8000) I. p. vi, The ratio of the actual value of the illumination to this enhanced value, expressed as a percentage, is termed the daylight factor, and is a measure of the lighting efficiency of the building at the point under consideration. 1916Hansard 5th Ser. LXXXII. 321 The advocates of daylight saving are adept in securing the consent of one body of opinion on the ground that some other body has adopted it with enthusiasm. 1924Punch 24 Sept. 338 Two more..weeks of daylight-saving. 1930Engineering 25 Apr. 550/1 ‘Daylight Factor’, the ratio of the internal illumination to the illumination of a horizontal surface exposed to a hemisphere of sky. 1931Galsworthy Maid in Waiting vi. 45 ‘Too early,’ said Sir Lawrence, ‘owing to Daylight Saving.’ 1953Terms Illum. & Photometry (B.S.I.) 14 Daylight factor. At a given point inside a building. The ratio of the illumination..at that point to that simultaneously existing..under an unobstructed sky. 1958Newnes Complete Amat. Photogr. 257 Roll film tanks. There are two types: daylight loading and daylight developing.
Hence ˈdaylighter, one of a body of men who sought to enforce the decrees of the Land League in Ireland by violence during the daytime; ˈdaylighty a. (nonce-wd.), full of daylight, as a picture.
1880W. Severn in Macm. Mag. No. 245. 379 A truthful simple Müller, or a daylighty Cox. 1886St. James's Gaz. 25 Nov. 11/2 Seeing the ‘Day-lighters’ she ran into the room where she knew the gun to be and closed the door. |