The diffused light from the sky during the early evening or early morning when the sun is below the horizon and its light is refracted by the earth's atmosphere.
The time of the day when the sun is just below the horizon, especially the period between sunset and dark.
Dim or diffused illumination.
A period or condition of decline following growth, glory, or success: in the twilight of his life.
A state of ambiguity or obscurity.
[Middle English twilighte : Old English twi-, two, half; see dwo- in Indo-European roots + Old English līht, light; see light1.]
1387 (implied in twilighting), a compound of twi- + light (n.) Cognate with Du. tweelicht (16c.), Ger. zwielicht. Exact connotation of twi- in this word is unclear, but it appears to refer to "half" light, rather than the fact that twilight occurs twice a day. Cf. also Skt. samdhya "twilight," lit. "a holding together, junction," M.H.G. zwischerliecht, lit. "tweenlight." Originally and most commonly in Eng. with ref. to evening twilight but occasionally used of morning twilight (a sense first attested c.1440). Figurative extension is first recorded 1600.
lighted by or as if by twilight; "The dusky night rides down the sky/And ushers in the morn"-Henry Fielding; "the twilight glow of the sky"; "a boat on a twilit river" [syn: dusky]
noun
1.
the time of day immediately following sunset; "he loved the twilight"; "they finished before the fall of night"
2.
the diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon but its rays are refracted by the atmosphere of the earth
3.
a condition of decline following successes; "in the twilight of the empire"
Twilight, PA (borough, FIPS 78008) Location: 40.11432 N, 79.89052 W Population (1990): 252 (112 housing units) Area: 4.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Twi"light`\, n. [OE. twilight, AS. twi- (see Twice) + le['o]ht light; hence the sense of doubtful or half light; cf. LG. twelecht, G. zwielicht. See Light.]1. The light perceived before the rising, and after the setting, of the sun, or when the sun is less than 18[deg] below the horizon, occasioned by the illumination of the earth's atmosphere by the direct rays of the sun and their reflection on the earth. 2. faint light; a dubious or uncertain medium through which anything is viewed. As when the sun . . . from behind the moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds. --Milton. The twilight of probability. --Locke.
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