sun

noun, verb — 13 senses

sun

noun

/sʌn/ · IE /sʊn/

Etymology

From Middle English soen, son, sone, sonne, sun, sune, sunna, sunne, sunnæ, synne, zonne, zunne, from Old English sunna, sunne, sunnu (“sun”), from Proto-West Germanic *sunnā, from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ (“sun”), from heteroclitic inanimate Proto-Indo-European *sh₂wen-, oblique of Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). Cognates Cognate with Scots sun (“sun”), Yola zin (“sun”), North Frisian san, Sen (“sun”), Saterland Frisian Sunne (“sun”), West Frisian sinne (“sun”), Alemannic German ŝchunna, ŝchunnà, sònnò, sunna, sunnu, Sunnä (“sun”), Bavarian Sun, suna, sune, Sunn, sunne (“sun”), Cimbrian sonde, sunn, zunna (“sun”), Dutch zon, zonne (“sun”), German Sonne (“sun”), Limburgish Ṣon, Sonn, zón (“sun”), Low German Sünn, Sünne (“sun”), Luxembourgish Sonn (“sun”), Mòcheno sunn (“sun”), Vilamovian zun, zunn (“sun”), West Flemish zunne (“sun”), Yiddish זון (zun, “sun”), Icelandic sunna (“sun”), Crimean Gothic sune (“sun”), Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌽𐍉 (sunnō, “the Sun”); outside of Germanic, Cornish howl (“sun”), Irish súil (“eye; expectation, hope”), Manx sooill (“eye”), Scottish Gaelic sùil (“eye; vision; glance, look; expectation, hope”), Welsh haul, huan (“sun”), Latin sōl (“sun”), Greek ήλιος (ílios, “sun”), Albanian diell (“sun”), Latgalian and Latvian saule (“sun”), Lithuanian saulė (“sun”), Belarusian со́нца (sónca, “sun”), Bulgarian слъ́нце (slǎ́nce, “sun”), Czech slunce (“sun”), Macedonian солнце (solnce), сонце (sonce, “sun”), Polish słońce (“sun”), Russian со́лнце (sólnce, “sun”), Serbo-Croatian су̑нце, sȗnce (“sun”), Slovak slnce (“sun”), Slovene sonce (“sun”), Ukrainian со́нце (sónce, “sun”), Avestan 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (huuar^ə, “sun”), Central Kurdish خۆر (xor, “sun”), Gurani وەر (wer, “sun; front”), Ossetian хор (xor), хур (xur, “sun”), Persian هور (hur), خور (xor / xwar, “sun”), Shughni хӣр (xīr, “sun”), Yaghnobi хур (xur, “sun”), Tocharian B swāñco (“beam, ray, sunbeam”), Hindi सूर्य (sūrya), Sanskrit स्वर् (svar, “sun”). Related to sol, Sol, Surya, and Helios. More at solar.

8 senses
  1. 1A star, especially when seen as the centre of any single…
  2. 2The light and heat which are received from the Sun…
  3. 3Something like the sun in brightness or splendor.
  4. 4Sunrise or sunset.
  5. 5A revolution of the Earth around the Sun; a year.
  6. 6A transversing of the sky by the Sun; a day.
  7. 7The nineteenth trump/major arcana card of the tarot.
  8. 8The thirty-first Lenormand card.
1

Astronomy, Natural sciences A star, especially when seen as the centre of any single solar system.

  • Because Haestrom's sun has overwhelmed the planet's protective magnetosphere, humans foolhardy enough to venture into geth-controlled Haestrom must exercise extreme caution. Minutes of radiation exposure will overload shields and hours of exposure will kill.2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Haestrom Codex entry:
2

The light and heat which are received from the Sun; sunshine or sunlight.

  • Lambs that did frisk in the sun.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
  • His fair hair waved long and freely over a white and unwrinkled forehead: the life of a camp and the suns of Italy had but little embrowned his clear and healthful complexion, which retained much of the bloom of youth.1835, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Knight of Provençe, and His Proposal”, in Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes. […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book II (The Revolution), page 184:
3

Figuratively Something like the sun in brightness or splendor.

  • For the Lord God is the ſunne & ſhield vnto vs: […]1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Psalmes 84:11, folio 253, recto, column 2:
  • […] I will never conſent to put out the Sun of Sovereigntie to all Poſterity, […]1649 February 19 (Gregorian calendar), attributed to Charles I of England, “Upon their seizing the Kings Magazines, Forts, Navy, and Militia”, in Έἰκὼν Βασιλική [Éikṑn Basilikḗ]. The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Maiestie in His Solitudes and Sufferings: […], [London: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams], →OCLC, page 65:
4

Literary Sunrise or sunset.

  • Imo[gen].[…]Prythee ſpeake, / How many ſtore of Miles may we well rid / Twixt houre, and houre? / Piſ[anio]. One ſcore 'twixt Sun, and Sun, / Madam's enough for you: and too much too. / Imo[gen]. Why, one that rode to's Excution Man, / Could neuer go ſo ſlow: […]1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 381, columns 1–2:
  • [W]hileſt many an hunger-ſtarved poore creature pines in the ſtreet, wants clothes to cover him, labours hard all day long, runs, rides for a trifle, fights peradventure from Sun to Sun, ſick and ill, weary, full of paine and griefe, is in great diſtreſſe and ſorrow of heart.1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Discontents, Cares, Miseries, &c. causes”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 10, page 110:
3 more examples
  • I love these sons of earth every mother's son of them, with their great hearty hearts rushing tumultuously in herds from spectacle to spectacle, as if fearful lest there should not be time between sun and sun to see them all, and the sun does not wait more than in haying-time.1849, Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, published 1873, page 357:
  • You see, the President has five jobs, any one of which would be more than a full-time job for one man; but I have to do all five of them between sun and sun.1962, Harry S. Truman, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, page 651:
  • “Tomorrow at first sun.” Not being much of a morning person, she winced internally. “First sun?” “It is the proper time, when the flowers of the pohoroh first open to the light.”1997, Alan Dean Foster, Howling Stones, page 149:
5

A revolution of the Earth around the Sun; a year.

6

A transversing of the sky by the Sun; a day.

  • Four suns since was the word brought to me from ‘She-who-must-be-obeyed,’ ‘White men come; if white men come, slay them not.’ Let them be brought to the house of ‘She-who-must-be-obeyed.’1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
7

The nineteenth trump/major arcana card of the tarot.

8

Cartomancy, Human sciences, Mysticism, Philosophy, Sciences The thirty-first Lenormand card.

Derived terms
304 termsaftersun, antisun, catch the sun, clear as the sun at noonday, countersun, day in the sun, everything under the sun, Fifth Sun, fix the roof while the sun is shining, fly too close to the sun, follow the sun, glory-of-the-sun, go to bed with the sun, have had one's day under the sun, have the sun in one's eyes, Land of the Ascendant Sun, low-sun, make hay while the sun shines, mean sun, midnight sun, mock sun, moment in the sun, nothing new under the sun, place in the sun, protosun, purple glory-of-the-sun, rise with the sun, Rising Sun, sea sun, stink like a mackerel in the sun, sun and planet gear, sun anemone shrimp, sun-angel, sunangel, sun animalcule, sunback, sunbake, sun ball, sun barge, sunbath, sun bath, sun-bath, sunbathe, sunbeam, sun bear, sunbeat, sunbeaten, sunbed, sun beetle, sunbelt, sunberry, sunbird, sun-bittern, sunbittern, sun bittern, sunbleach, sunbleached, sunbleak, sunblind, sun-blind, sun blind, sunblock, sun block, sunblocker, sunblocking, sunbloom, sunblotch, sunblush, sun bonnet, sunbonnet, sun-bonneted, sunbonneted, sunbow, sunbreak, sunbrella, sunbright, sunbrowned, sun-bunny, sun bunny, sunburn, sun-burner, sunburnt, sunburst, sun candle, suncap, suncapped, suncare, suncatcher, sunchair, sun-chaser, sunchoke, Sun City, Suncoast, suncolored, suncrack, suncream, sun cream, sun cross, suncup, sun cure, sundae, sun dance, Sundance, sundance, sun-darts, sundawn, Sunday, Sundayfied, sun deck, sundeck, sun deity, sundew, sundial, sun disc, sundisk, sun dog, sundog, sundown, sun-drenched, sundress, sun-dried, sundrops, sun-dry, sunfall, sunfast, sun fever, sun-fever, sunfilled, sun filter, sunfish, sunfleck, sunflower, sunfringed, sunfrock, sunfruit, sungazer, sungazing, sun gear, sunglade, sunglass, sun-glassed, sunglasses, sun glasses, sunglint, sunglow, sungod, sun god, sun goddess, sun granny, sungrazer, sungrazing, sungrebe, sun hat, sunhat, sun helmet, sunhood, sun kicks, sun kink, sunkissed, sun-kissed, sunlamp, sun lamp, sunland, sunless, sunlet, sun letter, sunlight, sunlighted, sunlighting, sun-like, Sun-like, sunlike, sun line, sunlit, sun lounge, sunlounger, sunly, sunner, sunnish, sunny, sun oil, sun oneself, sun opal, sun orchid, sun outage, sun painting, sun pan, sun parlor, sun-parlor, sun parlour, sunperch, sunphotometer, sunphotometric, sunphotometry, sun picture, sun pillar, sun pipe, sun poisoning, sunporch, sunproof, sun protection factor, sunquake, sunquat, sunray, sunrise, sunrising, sunrist, sunroof, sunroom, sun room, sunroot, sunrose, sunscald, sunscreen, sunscreening, sunseed, sunseeker, sunset, sunshade, sunshaft, sunshield, sun-shine, Sunshine, sunshine, sunshot, sun shot, sun-shot, sunshower, sun shower, sun sign, sunskirter, sun sneezing, sunspace, sunspecs, sun spider, sun-splashed, sunspot, sun spot, sun spurge, sun star, sunstar, sunstead, sun-stead, sunstone, sunstricken, sunstrike, sunstroke, sunstruck, sunsuit, sunswept, Sun-synchronous orbit, sun-synchronous orbit, suntan, sun tea, suntiger, sun-tight, suntrap, sun trap, sun tunnel, sun umbrella, sun-up, sunup, sunview, sun visor, sunward, sunwards, sunwarmed, sunwashed, sunwatcher, sunways, sunwear, sun wheel, sunwing, sunwise, sun worshiper, sun-worshiper, sun worshipper, sun-worshipper, supersun, sure as the sun is going to come up tomorrow, sure as the sun is going to come up tomorrow morning, sure as the sun is going to rise tomorrow, sure as the sun is going to rise tomorrow morning, take the sun, there is nothing new under the sun, the sun is over the yardarm, the sun sets on something, think the sun shines out of someone's arse, think the sun shines out of someone's ass, think the sun shines out of someone's backside, think the sun shines out of someone's butt, time in the sun, too close to the sun, Tuscan sun, under the sun, Venezuelan suntiger, Vergina sun, virgin of the sun, what color is the sun in your world, where the sun doesn't shine, where the sun don't shine, Whitsun, Whitsunday, winter sun
Related terms
south

sun

verb
Etymology

From Middle English soen, son, sone, sonne, sun, sune, sunna, sunne, sunnæ, synne, zonne, zunne, from Old English sunna, sunne, sunnu (“sun”), from Proto-West Germanic *sunnā, from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ (“sun”), from heteroclitic inanimate Proto-Indo-European *sh₂wen-, oblique of Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). Cognates Cognate with Scots sun (“sun”), Yola zin (“sun”), North Frisian san, Sen (“sun”), Saterland Frisian Sunne (“sun”), West Frisian sinne (“sun”), Alemannic German ŝchunna, ŝchunnà, sònnò, sunna, sunnu, Sunnä (“sun”), Bavarian Sun, suna, sune, Sunn, sunne (“sun”), Cimbrian sonde, sunn, zunna (“sun”), Dutch zon, zonne (“sun”), German Sonne (“sun”), Limburgish Ṣon, Sonn, zón (“sun”), Low German Sünn, Sünne (“sun”), Luxembourgish Sonn (“sun”), Mòcheno sunn (“sun”), Vilamovian zun, zunn (“sun”), West Flemish zunne (“sun”), Yiddish זון (zun, “sun”), Icelandic sunna (“sun”), Crimean Gothic sune (“sun”), Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌽𐍉 (sunnō, “the Sun”); outside of Germanic, Cornish howl (“sun”), Irish súil (“eye; expectation, hope”), Manx sooill (“eye”), Scottish Gaelic sùil (“eye; vision; glance, look; expectation, hope”), Welsh haul, huan (“sun”), Latin sōl (“sun”), Greek ήλιος (ílios, “sun”), Albanian diell (“sun”), Latgalian and Latvian saule (“sun”), Lithuanian saulė (“sun”), Belarusian со́нца (sónca, “sun”), Bulgarian слъ́нце (slǎ́nce, “sun”), Czech slunce (“sun”), Macedonian солнце (solnce), сонце (sonce, “sun”), Polish słońce (“sun”), Russian со́лнце (sólnce, “sun”), Serbo-Croatian су̑нце, sȗnce (“sun”), Slovak slnce (“sun”), Slovene sonce (“sun”), Ukrainian со́нце (sónce, “sun”), Avestan 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (huuar^ə, “sun”), Central Kurdish خۆر (xor, “sun”), Gurani وەر (wer, “sun; front”), Ossetian хор (xor), хур (xur, “sun”), Persian هور (hur), خور (xor / xwar, “sun”), Shughni хӣр (xīr, “sun”), Yaghnobi хур (xur, “sun”), Tocharian B swāñco (“beam, ray, sunbeam”), Hindi सूर्य (sūrya), Sanskrit स्वर् (svar, “sun”). Related to sol, Sol, Surya, and Helios. More at solar.

1

To expose to the heat and radiation of the sun.

  • Beautiful bodies lying on the beach, sunning their bronzed limbs.
  • There were lots of zany antics and we tried not to stare too obviously at the beautiful women toplessly sunning themselves...2000, William Laurance, Stinging Trees and Wait-a-Whiles: Confessions of a Rainforest Biologist:
1 more example
  • Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines. A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
2

To warm or dry in the sunshine.

3

To be exposed to the sun.

4

Alternative medicine, Medicine, Sciences To expose the eyes to the sun as part of the Bates method.

Derived terms
sun up
Related terms
aphelion, helio-, parhelion, perihelion, solar, sunn
Hypernyms
bask

sun

noun

Etymology From Japanese 寸 (sun). Doublet of cun.

1

A traditional Japanese unit of length, approximately 30.3 millimetres (1.193 inches).

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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