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twilight

noun
/ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English twilight, twyelyghte, equivalent to twi- (“double, half-”) + light, literally ‘second light, half-light’. Cognate to Scots twa licht, twylicht, twielicht (“twilight”), Low German twilecht, twelecht (“twilight”), Dutch tweelicht (“twilight, dusk”), German Zwielicht (“twilight, dusk”). Compare Old English twēone lēoht (“twilight”).

  1. inherited from twilight

Definitions

  1. The soft light in the sky seen before the rising and (especially) after the setting of…

    The soft light in the sky seen before the rising and (especially) after the setting of the sun, occasioned by the illumination of the earth’s atmosphere by the direct rays of the sun and their reflection on the earth.

    • Near-synonym: half-light
    • I could just make out her face in the twilight.

  2. The time when said light is visible

    The time when said light is visible; the period between daylight and darkness.

    • It was twilight by the time I got back home.
    • At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

  3. Any faint light through which something is seen.

    • Two women, Eusabio’s wife and sister, looked on from the deep twilight of the hut.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. The time when the sun is less than 18° below the horizon.

    2. An in-between or fading condition through which something is perceived.

      • The twilight of one's life
      • , Book IV, Chapter XIV The twilight […] of probability.
      • “They have not enough heart,” said Edith, with a smile. The very twilight of a smile: so singularly were its light and darkness blended.

    3. Pertaining to or resembling twilight

      Pertaining to or resembling twilight; faintly illuminated; obscure.

    4. Synonym of mesopelagic (“Describing the pelagic zone of the ocean between the photic…

      Synonym of mesopelagic (“Describing the pelagic zone of the ocean between the photic epipelagic and the aphotic bathypelagic zones, characterized by very minimal light.”)

      • twilight zone

    5. To illuminate faintly.

The neighborhood

Derived

twilight anesthesia, twilight birth, twilight industry, twilightish, twilight language, Twilight of the Gods, twilights, twilight shift, twilight sleep, twilighty, twilight years, twilight zone, twilit

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at twilight. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01twilight02visible03seen04comprehended05comprised06comprise07minimum08star

A definitional loop anchored at twilight. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at twilight

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA