setting sunn.
/ˌsɛtɪŋ ˈsʌn/, U.S. /ˌsɛdɪŋ ˈsən/ 1.
a. The sun as it sinks below or nears the horizon in the evening. Also: the light emitted by the sun as it sets; evening sunlight.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > sun > [noun] > at specific time or position
suneOE
rising sun1557
setting sun1560
noon-sun1601
midnight sun1787
noon1858
the world > matter > light > naturally occurring light > [noun] > sunlight or sunshine > twilight > glow of sunset or evening twilight
gloamingc1000
twilight1412
setting sun1560
aftershine1834
afterglow1848
sundown1850
afterlight1923
1560 J. Heywood tr. Seneca Thyestes iv. sig. Diii Him selfe vnwoonted there to lodge lykewyse, dothe settyng Sun againe the mornyng see, And now commaundes the darknes vp to ryse, before the night to come prepared bee.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 541 The setting Sun Slowly descended.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 83 Nor plant it to receive the setting Sun.
1709 A. Pope Autumn in Poet. Misc.: 6th Pt. vi. 739 The setting Sun now shone serenely bright.
1839 H. W. Longfellow Hyperion I. i. vii The setting sun glared wildly from the summit of the hills.
1853 E. S. Sheppard Charles Auchester III. 230 By candleshine, or the setting sun.
1915 G. C. M. Birdwood Sva 59 The whole paradisaical scene shining in the setting sun with the transcendent resplendence of its various verds and shimmering gold.
1985 R. Awad tr. N. Mahfouz Beginning & End (1989) lix. 271 Traces of the setting sun fell on the top story on the other side of the road.
2001 Financial Times 27 Jan. (Property Suppl.) 1/5 Beckman likes to sit in the belvedere, a drink close at hand, and watch the setting sun.
b. A depiction or stylized representation of the sun disappearing below the horizon; spec. a heraldic representation of this.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > representations of heavenly bodies or phenomena > [noun] > sun
sun1572
splendour1766
setting sun1779
1779 J. Reynolds Disc. Royal Acad., 1778 31 It is so unlike what any other Painters have given us of Moon-light, that it might be easily mistaken, if he had not likewise added Stars, for a fainter setting Sun.
1888 N.Y. Geneal. & Biogr. Rec. Oct. 161 The motto indicates a setting sun in the charge.
1916 Archit. Rec. Jan. 54/1 Many of the eagles or setting suns were painted in gold leaf upon the glass itself.
2005 G. R. R. Martin Feast for Crows 271 One unfurled his banner, a great black longship against a setting sun.
2.
a. With the. The region or direction in which the sun sets; the west. Cf. rising sun n. 2. Frequently literary and poetic.Sometimes overlapping with and difficult to distinguish from sense 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > West > [noun]
westc1300
Occidentc1390
ponent1538
west1564
sunsetting1571
setting sun1590
set of day1623
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. i. sig. Bb5v Full many Countreyes they did ouerronne, From the vprising to the setting Sunne, And many hard aduentures did atchieue.
1609 A. Gardyne Garden Grave & Godlie Flowres sig. I2v There may thou view from East, And from the setting Sunne, Elected Legats send, and from Remottest Regions runne.
1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 484 Where England, stretch'd towards the setting sun,..o'erlooks the western wave.
1841 J. F. Cooper Deerslayer II. xii. 206 You are a man whose fathers came from beyond the rising sun; we are children of the setting sun.
1892 J. T. Bent Ruined Cities Mashonaland vi. 161 To orient it towards the setting sun.
1947 Times 13 Aug. 5/7 The replenished Lancaster, now with ample fuel for the remaining 1,900-mile crossing, flew towards the setting sun.
2010 Day (New London, Connecticut) (Nexis) 22 Mar. (State & Regional News section) The remaining crew members were ordered to steer the Amistad back to Africa—away from the setting sun.
b. land (also country, etc.) of the setting sun: used to denote a country, region, etc., located in or associated with the west. Cf. land of the rising sun at rising sun n. Phrases.
ΚΠ
a1771 J. Gambold Martyrdom of Ignatius (1773) v. ii. 104 I a bishop from the distant East, Now see the countries of the setting sun.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Sketches New & Old (1875) 69 High Muck-a-mucks, the paleface from the land of the setting sun greets you!
1883 J. Fraser Shanty 56 George, like many of his young compatriots, is smitten with the Manitoban fever, and is off to the land of the setting sun.
1992 M. J. Lakeland tr. F. Mernissi Islam & Democracy i. 13 The territory of the setting sun is also the territory of the faraway, of what is elsewhere.
2005 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 20 May (Features section) 11 Maybe there's a bit of Celt in us that has inherited some lingering bond with the west. Perhaps our romantic side leans toward the land of the setting sun.
3.
a. The sinking of the sun below the horizon in the evening (esp. as marking or representing the end of the day) or the time when this occurs; sunset. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > sun > solar movement > [noun] > setting
sunsetOE
going downa1382
downhielda1400
downfalling1422
downgate1440
gate-downc1440
sunsetting1440
going under1490
occasionc1540
going to1581
setting sun1591
set of day1623
earthrise1918
1591 R. Wilmot Tancred & Gismund Epil. sig. H4 Thus end our sorrowes with the setting Sun: Now draw the curtens for our Scæne is done.
1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge iv. iii. sig. H2v Then Genoa mine, by my Mariaes match, Which Ile solemnize ere next setting Sun.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 142 His Griefs with Day begun, Nor were they finish'd with the setting Sun.
1763 B. Martin Young Gentleman & Lady's Philos. II. iv. 61 The small Angle which the Ecliptic now makes with the Horizon is the Reason why so small a Motion of the Globe is necessary to make the Moon rise after the setting Sun.
1832 Polish Chiefs I. vi. 133 Every year about this time, her spirit is seen to walk up the side of the mountain at the setting sun, and vanish as he goes down!
1952 Washington Post 5 May 3 b/2 Guests stayed long after the setting sun.
2012 Wentworth Courier (Nexis) 25 Apr. (Main Book ed.) 193 The rock [sc. Uluru] turns to brown and black after the setting sun.
b. figurative and in figurative contexts (chiefly poetic). The end of a person's life; a person's declining years or death. Often with possessive adjective. Now rare.With quot. 1931 compare sense 2b.See also one's sun is (also has) set at sun n.1 Phrases 2a(c), the sun has set on (something) at sun n.1 Phrases 2a(d).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > old age > [noun]
eld971
old agec1330
agec1380
last agea1382
oldc1385
aldereldea1400
winterc1425
vilessec1430
annosityc1450
senectute1481
the black ox1546
golden years1559
years1561
great1587
afterlife1589
setting sun1597
antiquity1600
chair-daysa1616
the vale of yearsa1616
grandevity1623
green old age1634
eldship1647
senioritya1688
the other side of the hill1691
the decline of life1711
senectude1756
senility1791
senectitude1796
post-climacteric1826
Anno Domini1885
senium1911
golden age1946
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. i. 12 The setting Sunne, and Musike at the close, As the last taste of sweetes is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things long past.
1700 J. Dryden tr. G. Boccaccio Sigismonda & Guiscardo in Fables 136 But 'tis too late, my glorious Race is run, And a dark Cloud o'ertakes my setting Sun.
1788 W. Cowper in Yearly Bill Mortality Parish All-Saints (Northampton) 1787–8 (single sheet) Told that his setting Sun would rise no more.
1870 J. Hurnard Setting Sun v. 220 My setting sun gleams in the west, And I have lost the friends whose gratulations Would have been sweeter than the breath of fame.
1927 E. A. Robinson Tristram viii. 164 Having outwalked His hours, he yielded to the setting sun.
1931 E. C. Porter Life Lines 24 Tribute to Old Age... To the Land—of the Setting Sun, To the Land—where our work is done, To the Land—where remains Sweet old time refrains, To the Land—of dear Memories.
4. Conchology. Either of two sunset shells (marine bivalve molluscs of the family Psammobiidae); esp. Gari depressa (formerly Psammobia vespertina), found mainly in the western North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Also attributive. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Siphonida > sinu-pallialia > family Tellinidae
tellina1657
tellin1706
tellinet1708
setting sun1823
tulip-shell1835
pipia1837
1823 J. Mawe Linn. Syst. Conchol. ii. 21 (table) [Solen] Occidens... Setting Sun.
1838 T. Wyatt Man. Conchol. 42 S[anguinolaria] occidens. The setting-sun Sanguinolaria.
1851 J. E. Gray List Specimens Brit. Animals Brit. Mus. VII. 35 Psammobia vespertinus (The Setting Sun).
1867 M. S. Lovell Edible Mollusks Great Brit. & Ireland 150 Psammobia vespertina, Chemnitz. The Setting Sun.
1912 F. M. Duncan Seashore viii. 145 Many of the bivalve shells are most beautifully marked and coloured: a great favourite is the ‘Setting Sun’, a lovely pink shell with pale bands radiating from the beak to the margin, like the rays of the sun at sunset.
2009 P. Chambers Brit. Seashells 172 The historical name for Gari depressa was for many years the ‘setting sun shell’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1560