Etymology From Middle English daye-lighte, dey liȝht, dailiȝt, day-liht, dai-liht (also as days lyȝt, daies liht), equivalent to day + light. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Deegeslucht, Daisljoacht (“daylight”), West Frisian deiljocht (“daylight”), Dutch daglicht (“daylight”), German Tageslicht (“daylight”).
The natural light that is ambient in daytime, being mostly sunlight (both direct and indirect, on either sunny days or cloudy days).
Meronym: sunbeams
Near-synonyms: sunlight, sunshine
1 more example
In those days the entire factory was lit only by daylight and was closed at night.
2
A light source that simulates daylight.
3
The intensity distribution of light over the visible spectrum generated by the Sun under various conditions or by other light sources intended to simulate natural daylight.
4
The period of time between sunrise and sunset.
burning daylight
wasting daylight
1 more example
We should get home while it's still daylight.
5
Daybreak.
We had only two hours to work before daylight.
Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.1835, Sir John Ross, Sir James Clark Ross, Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Volume 1, pages 284–5:
6
Exposure to public scrutiny.
Budgeting a spy organization can't very well be done in daylight.
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A clear, open space.
All small running backs instinctively run to daylight.
He could barely see daylight through the complex clockwork.
1 more example
Finally, after weeks of work on the project, they could see daylight.
8
The space between platens on a press or similar machinery.
The minimum and maximum daylights on an injection molding machine determines the sizes of the items it can make.
9
Figuratively Emotional or psychological distance between people, or disagreement.
We completely agree. There's no daylight between us on the issue.
Sometimes hosts are a little saltier when the cameras aren’t rolling, but I don’t recall ever hearing any daylight between the views they express on-air and off.2023 February 17, Michelle Goldberg, “What Fox News Says When You’re Not Listening”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
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Figuratively Meaningful or noticeable difference or distinction between two things, especially concepts.
There's not much daylight between saying that the universe is God and saying that God doesn't exist.
11
The gap between the top of a drinking-glass and the level of drink it is filled with.
Etymology From Middle English daye-lighte, dey liȝht, dailiȝt, day-liht, dai-liht (also as days lyȝt, daies liht), equivalent to day + light. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Deegeslucht, Daisljoacht (“daylight”), West Frisian deiljocht (“daylight”), Dutch daglicht (“daylight”), German Tageslicht (“daylight”).
1
To expose to daylight
[…] the Morlocks, subterranean for innumerable generations, had come at last to find the daylit surface intolerable.1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Chapter 7”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:
[…] she was not looking at the daylit, sunny world which she so wanted to see.1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 15, in The Silver Chair, Collins, published 1998:
2
Architecture To provide sources of natural illumination such as skylights or windows.
3
To allow light in, as by opening drapes.
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Civil engineering, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences To run a drainage pipe to an opening from which its contents can drain away naturally.
5
To gain exposure to the open.
The seam of coal daylighted at a cliff by the river.
Tunnels were enlarged or daylighted and clearances generally greatly improved.1964 October, “Letters: A US lesson in high-capacity freight stock”, in Modern Railways, page 233:
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To moonlight (work a second, often illicit job) during the daytime.
But I find that we have a large number of service wives who are daylighting. Some of them are not only working in the evening, but also during the day.1965, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services, Military Pay Increase: Hearings..., page 81: