I. ˈsən noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English sunne, sonne, from Old English sunne; akin to Old Frisian sunne sun, Old Saxon, Old High German, & Old Norse sunna, Gothic sunno, Avestan xvəng (gen.), Latin sol — more at solar
1.
a.
(1) : the luminous celestial body that in the Ptolemaic system is one of the seven planets revolving around the earth
the sun rises
the sun sets
the sun came up upon the left — S.T.Coleridge
was on his way before the sun was up — John Seago
the sun went down behind the hill
(2) : the star around which the earth and other planets revolve, by which they are held in their orbits, from which they receive heat and light, and which has a mean distance from earth of 93,000,000 miles, a linear diameter of 864,000 miles, a mass 332,000 times greater than earth, a mean density about one fourth that of earth, and a chemical constitution generally like that of earth but so hot that it remains completely gaseous in spite of the enormous pressure exerted by the mutual attraction of its particles
b. : a celestial body like the sun : a luminary center of a system : another star
a flying rout of suns and galaxies — E.M.Forster
2. : the heat or light radiated from the sun : sunshine
standing in the full sun in the parking lot — J.G.Cozzens
so beautifully tanned by the sun
the photographer has captured their … varying moods in sun , storm, and snow — British Book News
3. : one resembling the sun usually in brilliance or illuminative power : one having a shining or radiant quality
anecdotes about the man …, the central sun he became for a host of surrounding satellites — Irving Kolodin
4. usually capitalized : sun-god
5.
a. : the rising or setting of the sun
between sun and sun
a man works from sun to sun but woman's work is never done
b. : a period of daylight : day
but one sun ' s length off from my happiness — Elizabeth B. Browning
6. : temperature produced by the sun ; also : climate
thought he would freeze there in the arctic sun
7. : a sunlike object: as
a. : a heraldic representation of a sun surrounded with rays
b. : parhelion
8. : glory , power , splendor
young men fresh from the wars striding … luminous with the sun of conquest — Hassoldt Davis
problems of the human mind over which the sun of hope seemed to be rising — Van Wyck Brooks
9. : an astrological hot and dry temperate masculine diurnal planet which if well aspected is fortunate, the mansion of which is Leo, the exaltation 19° Aries, the depression 19° Libra, and the orb 15°
•
- in the sun
- under the sun
II. verb
( sunned ; sunned ; sunning ; suns )
transitive verb
1. : to expose to or as if to the rays of the sun : place in the sunshine
nursemaids sunning their charges beside the sea — D.G.Gerahty
sunned himself … in the rays of his great friendships — American Guide Series: New Jersey
2. : to shine upon : illumine or irradiate like the sun
dandelions sun the lawn — Philip Booth
3. : to affect by or as if by sunlight or exposure to it
intransitive verb
1. : to become exposed to sunlight : bask in the sun
patchwork quilts sunning on the back fence — American Guide Series: North Carolina
they swam and sunned and ate — Elizabeth Hardwick
2. : to emit radiance : shine