sunsettingn.
/ˈsʌnsɛtɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈsənˌsɛdɪŋ/ 1. The time in the evening when the sun disappears below the horizon or daylight fades; = sunset n. 2a. Now rare.Largely superseded by sunset n.
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
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > evening > [noun] > sunset
sunsetOE
settle-gangc1000
evensongc1330
sun going downa1382
setc1386
decline14..
sun restc1405
sun gate down1440
sunsetting1440
sun sitting?a1475
falling1555
sunsetting1575
downsetting1582
sunfall1582
declining1588
sun go down1595
tramontation1599
vail1609
daylight gate1613
sundown1620
set of day1623
dayset1633
day shutting1673
sky setting1683
sun-under1865
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 484 Sunne settynge, or sunne gate downe, occasus.
c1440 Privity of Passion (Thornton) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 212 (MED) At euene, aftere þe sonne settynge..oure lady systyrs wente to by spycery to make oynement of.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 93 (MED) He comaunded fyve orysouns to be saide on the day and ix knelynges, tweyne in the poynt of the day, tweyne aftyr mydday, tweyne aftir sonne-settyng, and thre aftir souper.
1565 in J. A. Picton City of Liverpool: Select. Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 113 Eight of the clock after the sunsetting.
1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health i. 9 Antoninus..was woont to come to the wrastling place about sunne setting.
1632 J. Cruso Mil. Instr. Cavallrie iii. vii. 73 The first night-watch ever began at sunsetting.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing xviii. 176 Gassendus saw one [sc. a Rainbow] at Sun-setting, whose Supreme Arch almost reached our Zenith.
1712 in J. J. Vernon Parish of Hawick (1900) 99 John Riddell..confest yt he brought home ye load of herring upon the Sabbath att the sunsetting.
1787 J. Clowes tr. E. Swedenborg Conc. Earths in Solar Syst. 77 Every Morning at Sun-Rise, and every Evening at Sun-Setting, they perform holy Worship.
1828 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 411/1 We..used to stalk about..from sunrising to sunsetting.
1930 Hamiota (Manitoba) Echo 19 Nov. 3/2 In the temperate zones there is nearly an hour from the exact time of sunsetting until it becomes totally dark.
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the world > the universe > sky, heavens > [noun] > region, zone > west
Occidentc1390
sunsetting1571
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > West > [noun]
westc1300
Occidentc1390
ponent1538
west1564
sunsetting1571
setting sun1590
set of day1623
1571 Dict. French & Eng. at Occident The west, or sun setting.
1583 R. P. tr. P. de la Sierra Second Pt. Myrror of Knighthood ii. x. f. 224v On the other side of the riuer towards the Sunne setting is there another Citie called Sabiosa.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. ii. xlvii. 23 Betweene the South and the Southwest..namely, betweene the Noone steed, and the Sunsetting in Winter.
1683 N. Crouch Strange Relig., Customs & Manners Sundry Nations 10 This Religious French-man, cometh from the Sun-setting, and is now going to Cambaleth.
1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. 98/1 Bed-chambers for the Winter shou'd look towards the Point at which the Sun rises in Winter, and the Parlour, towards the Equinoctial Sun-setting.
1743 C. Middleton Vindication 41 They were two Summers going thither, pointing towards the north-west and Sun-setting.
1868 ‘H. Lee’ Basil Godfrey's Caprice xix. 110 There were their names on the stone..looking towards the sunsetting.
3. The disappearance of the sun below the horizon in the evening; (also) the colours and light visible in the sky at this time, considered as a view or spectacle. Cf. sunset n. 1a. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > [noun] > sunrise or sunset
sunrising1370
sunseta1393
suna1400
sunrisec1400
sunrist?a1450
sunup1572
sunsetting1575
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > evening > [noun] > sunset
sunsetOE
settle-gangc1000
evensongc1330
sun going downa1382
setc1386
decline14..
sun restc1405
sun gate down1440
sunsetting1440
sun sitting?a1475
falling1555
sunsetting1575
downsetting1582
sunfall1582
declining1588
sun go down1595
tramontation1599
vail1609
daylight gate1613
sundown1620
set of day1623
dayset1633
day shutting1673
sky setting1683
sun-under1865
1575 T. Tymme tr. A. Marlorat Catholike & Eccles. Expos. Iohn ix. 337/2 His death shalbe as it were the Sunne setting, not an obscuring or extinguishing of his light, but a depriuing of the worlde of the syght of the same.
1605 R. Wolcomb State of Godly 47 There shall be..no selling nor buying, nor sunne rysing, nor Sunsetting, for God shall make that longe daye which shall bee endlesse.
1664 W. Drage Physical Nosonomy 211 Nyctalopes are such as see nothing in the night, and but badly the Sunsetting.
1815 L. Simond Jrnl. Tour Great Brit. I. 349 We had another glorious sunsetting.
1845 S. Judd Margaret i. xiv. 118 Directly on the right of the sun-setting was an apparent jog or break in the line of the woods and hills.
1980 Corbin (Kentucky) Times-Tribune 18 Mar. 5/4 The beauty of the sunsetting, its reflection in the clear water.
4. figurative and in figurative contexts. The time or point at which something has its end, or begins to decrease notably in extent, degree, quality, etc.; (also) the close of life; = sunset n. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > end or conclusion > [noun] > the latter part
eveningOE
enda1200
eventide?c1225
finea1350
tail1377
latter (last) enda1382
issue1484
latter day?1498
waning1561
last days1572
heel1584
sunsetting1593
fall1596
lag-end1598
posterior1598
sunset1599
dotage1606
exit1615
stern1623
waning timea1639
last1683
heel piecea1764
shank1828
tail-end1845
tailpiece1869
tag1882
teatime1913
end-point1921
1593 tr. St. Cyprian in H. Garnet Treat. Christian Renunciation v. 112 For you must know..that the sunsetting of the world and time of Antichrist is at hand.
1617 T. Middleton Tryumphs of Honor & Industry sig. Cv There is no humane glory or renowne, But haue their euening & their sure sun-setting.
1660 T. Watson Beatitudes 503 He heals some sinners at the Sun-setting of their lives.
1850 Leigh Hunt's Jrnl. 14 Dec. 21/2 To the blackness of darkness which enshrouds his sunsetting, the sombre twilight hues of the episode of Thekla's fate, minister a touching relief.
1872 Glasgow Herald 2 Mar. 3/2 Thy mortal sunsetting drew near.
1946 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 17 Dec. 2/4 Life's sunsetting here is sunrising there.
2013 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 14 July Some commentators say the shooting, the publicity and the eventual trial highlighted a sort of cultural settling, and perhaps sunsetting, of the civil rights movement.
5. North American. Termination or discontinuance of a programme, service, etc., after a fixed period of operation, under a sunset provision or sunset legislation. Also: an instance of this. Cf. sunset v. 2.
ΚΠ
1977 Ada (Okla.) Evening News 4 Feb. 1/4 The Charities and Corrections Department might be headed for early sunsetting.
1992 Toronto Star (Nexis) 28 Feb. a13 Ottawa's spending estimates..show a decrease..because of the ‘sunsetting of initiatives such as driving while impaired and the National Drug Strategy’.
2003 R. Kazis & H. Pennington in W. J. Stull & N. M. Sanders School-to-Work Movement xvi. 263 Targeted federal..funding is shrinking and will end a year or two after the 2001 sunsetting of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act.
2011 State Income Tax Monitor (Nexis) 31 Oct. 61 I have seen a reduction in the credits that are available rather than a sunsetting of the credits.
Compounds
attributive with the sense ‘of or relating to the sunset; occurring at sunset’.
ΚΠ
1598 W. Lisle in tr. G. S. du Bartas Colonies x. 14 That sunne-setting Maine Which with his ebbe and flow plaies on the shore of Spaine.
a1618 W. Raleigh Disc. Invention Shipping 13 in Judicious & Select Ess. (1650) The French and Spanish called the sun rising winds, East..and the sunne setting winds West.
1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue i. 3 Streakes in the sky, and other fiery colours of the heauens, occasioned by the reflexe of the Sun-setting beames.
1779 S. J. Pratt Shenstone-Green I. ii. 15 All the notes of a summer sun-setting-time poured upon the ear.
1797–1803 J. Foster Jrnl. in Life & Corr. J. Foster (1846) I. 208 To paint a sun-setting cloud-scene.
1839 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 30 Dec. No azure sky, no light sunsetting reflections, at the close of May-day, can be calmer and softer than the language of Mr. Clay.
1883 Young Eng. Aug. 523/1 It acquired the habit of daily taking rather ambitious ranges over the surrounding country,..returning about sunsetting time.
1901 J. Barlow Ghost-bereft 150 At the end of a sunsetting shower.
1981 Sunday Sun (Lowell, Mass.) 30 Aug. c2/2 The Regatta sailboats..rocked gently in the sunsetting light.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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