dawn

(dôn)
n.

1. The time each morning at which daylight first begins.
2. A first appearance; a beginning: the dawn of history. See synonyms at beginning.

intr.v., dawned, dawn·ing, dawns.

1. To begin to become light in the morning.
2. To begin to appear or develop; emerge.
3. To begin to be perceived or understood: Realization of the danger soon dawned on us.

[From Middle English daunen, to dawn, probably a back-formation from dauning, daybreak, alteration of dauing, from Old English dagung, from dagian, to dawn.]

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A novel set in British Mandatory Palestine just after the end of the Second World War in 1945; published in 1960.

by Elie Wiesel

Synopsis
A survivor of the Jewish Holocaust of World War II joins the Irgun, a group of Jewish militants fighting British occupation of Palestine. Asked by other members of the resistance to execute a British hostage, he must confront his troubled conscience.

    Events in History at the Time the Novel Was Written
    The Novel in Focus
    Events in History at the Time the Novel Takes Place


Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, formerly Hungarian, then Romanian, Transylvania, in 1928. In 1944 he and his family were deported by the Nazis to extermination camps, where Wiesel's father, mother, and younger sister died. After the war Wiesel was taken with other survivors to refugee camps in France. In 1948 he began studying literature, philosophy, and psychology in Paris. He worked as a media correspondent for ten years before publishing Night, an account of his experience as a Jew during the war. The sequel, Dawn, followed two years later. Unlike Night, Dawn is not autobiographical. It is the story of a World War II Holocaust survivor who chose to join the fight for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

For More Information
Beilin, Yossi. Israel, a Concise Political History. New York: St. Martin's, 1992.
Bulletin Critique du Livre Français 16 (March 1961): 192.
Clarke, Thurston. By Blood and Fire. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.
Figaro Littèraire 739 (June 18, 1960): 15.
Jones, Martin. Failure in Palestine. New York: Mansell, 1986.
Katz, Samuel. Days of Fire. New York: Doubleday, 1968.
Rolef, Susan Hattis. Political Dictionary of the State of Israel. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Sachar, Howard M. A History of Israel. Vol. 1, New York: Knopf, 1976; Vol. 2, New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Wiesel, Elie. A Jew Today. Translated by Marion Wiesel. New York: Random House, 1978.
Wiesel, Elie. Dawn. In The Night Trilogy. Translated by Frances Frenaye. New York: Hill & Wang, 1987.

also dawn on

noun

1. The first appearance of daylight in the morning: aurora, cockcrow, dawning, daybreak, morn, morning, sunrise, sunup. See start/end.
2. The initial stage of a developmental process: beginning, birth, commencement, genesis, inception, nascence, nascency, onset, opening, origin, outset, spring, start. See start/end.

verb

To begin to appear or develop: appear, arise, commence, emerge, originate. See start/end.

phrasal verb - dawn on (or upon)

To come as a realization: register, sink in, soak in. See knowledge/ignorance.

Idioms beginning with dawn:
dawn on

In addition to the idiom beginning with dawn, also see crack of dawn; light dawned.

n

Definition: a beginning
Antonyms: conclusion, end, ending, finish

n

Definition: beginning of day
Antonyms: dusk, end, evening, eventide, setting, sundown, sunset

v

Definition: start
Antonyms: end, finish, set

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

The time when men of reason go to bed. Certain old men prefer to rise at about that time, taking a cold bath and a long walk with an empty stomach, and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They then point with pride to these practices as the cause of their sturdy health and ripe years; the truth being that they are hearty and old, not because of their habits, but in spite of them. The reason we find only robust persons doing this thing is that it has killed all the others who have tried it.

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IN BRIEF: The return of the light in the morning. Also: Starting to understand.

They got up at the crack of dawn to see the sunrise.

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As a symbol, the dawn can have most of the meanings generally associated with light (e.g., enlightenment, vitality). More particularly, the dawn is the emergence of a new stage of life, a new understanding, or a new start, and the emergence from darkness.

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The twilight period before the sunrise. The twilight period varies in different latitudes and altitudes and is subject to different interpretations. The normal procedure is to abide by the values given in the air almanac.

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For a list of words related to dawn, see:

• Cyclical Events - dawn: hour during and after sunrise with first light
• Fixed Times - dawn: sunrise

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See words rhyming with "dawning."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Dawn.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - daggry, morgen
v. intr. - dages, lysne, gry

idioms:

• dawn chorus    fuglesang ved daggry
• dawn on    gå op for

Nederlands (Dutch)
dageraad, ochtendgloren, het aanbreken (begin), dagen, dag worden, aanbreken

Français (French)
n. - aube, point du jour, aurore, aube (d'une civilisation), naissance (d'une idée)
v. intr. - se lever, poindre, (fig) naître, se faire jour, luire (un espoir)

idioms:

• dawn chorus    concert matinal des oiseaux
• dawn on    s'avérer, venir à l'esprit, commencer à entrevoir (qch)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Morgendämmerung, Tagesanbruch, Beginn
v. - anbrechen, dämmern, Tag werden

idioms:

• dawn chorus    morgendlicher Vogelgesang
• dawn on    (ugs.) jmdm. dämmern

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (χαρ)αυγή, χάραμα, γένεση, αφετηρία
v. - (γλυκο)χαράζω, φωτίζω, ανατέλλω, αποκαλύπτομαι

idioms:

• dawn chorus    πρωινά κελαηδήματα
• dawn on    γίνομαι αντιληπτός σε

Italiano (Italian)
spuntare, albeggiare, alba

idioms:

• a false dawn    una falsa speranza
• dawn chorus    cinguettio mattutino
• dawn on    rendersi conto di

Português (Portuguese)
n. - aurora (f)
v. - amanhecer

idioms:

• a false dawn    falso amanhecer
• at the crack of dawn    ao romper do dia
• dawn chorus    alvorada (f)
• dawn on    começar a entender

Русский (Russian)
рассветать, осенить, рассвет, заря

idioms:

• a false dawn    не оправдавший надежд
• at the crack of dawn    с первым лучом солнца
• dawn chorus    пение птиц на рассвете
• dawn on    осенить

Español (Spanish)
n. - alba, aurora, amanecer
v. intr. - alborear, romper el día, aclarar, amanecer, comenzar, empezar a percibir

idioms:

• dawn chorus    canto de los pájaros al amanecer
• dawn on    caer en la cuenta, comprender que

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - gryning
v. - dagas, gry

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
黎明, 拂晓, 曙光, 端倪, 开端, 破晓, 刚亮, 开始明白, 开始出现, 渐露端倪, 顿悟

idioms:

• dawn chorus    晨噪, 破晓鸟鸣声
• dawn on    渐渐被理解

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 黎明, 拂曉, 曙光, 端倪, 開端
v. intr. - 破曉, 剛亮, 開始明白, 開始出現, 漸露端倪, 頓悟

idioms:

• dawn chorus    晨噪, 破曉鳥鳴聲
• dawn on    漸漸被理解

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 새벽, (행동의) 시작
v. intr. - 날이 밝다, (사물이) 드러나기 시작하다, (일이) 이해되기 시작하다

idioms:

• dawn on    보이기 시작하다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 夜が明ける, 現われ出す, わかってくる
n. - 夜明け, 始まり, 女子名, 突然わかること

idioms:

• dawn chorus    早朝のラジオ電波障害, 暁の合唱
• dawn on    …にわかり始める

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الفجر, بزوغ النهار (فعل) يبزغ النهار, يبدأ فيالظهور او التشكل, يبدأ بالاتضاح للعين والعقل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שחר, זריחה, הופעה‬
v. intr. - ‮זרח, עלה (עמוד השחר), מתחיל להיות מובן‬

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