sun

Etymology 1

From Middle English sonne, sunne, from Old English sunne, from Proto-West Germanic *sunnā, from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, from heteroclitic inanimate Proto-Indo-European *sh₂wen-, oblique of Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). See also Saterland Frisian Sunne, West Frisian sinne, German Low German Sünn, Dutch zon, German Sonne, Icelandic sunna; outside of Germanic, Welsh huan, Sanskrit स्वर् (svar), Avestan 𐬓𐬇𐬧𐬔 (xᵛə̄ṇg)). Related to sol, Sol, Surya, and Helios. More at solar.

noun

1. (astronomy) 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 warmth which is received from the sun; sunshine or sunlight.
3. (figurative) Something like the sun in brightness or splendor.
   1649, Charles I of England (attributed), Eikon Basilike I will never consent to put out the sun of sovereignity to posterity.
4. (uncountable, chiefly literary) Sunrise or sunset.
   Imogen:[…]Pr'ythee, speak, / How many score of miles may we well ride / 'Twixt hour and hour / Pisanio: One score, 'twixt sun and sun, / Madam, 's enough for you; and too much too. / Imogen: Why, one that rode to his execution, man, / Could never go so slow. 1609-11, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act III, scene 2
   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.
7. The nineteenth trump/major arcana card of the Tarot.
8. (cartomancy) The thirty-first Lenormand card.

verb

1. (transitive) To expose to the warmth 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
2. (transitive) To warm or dry in the sunshine.
3. (intransitive) To be exposed to the sun.
4. (intransitive, alternative medicine) To expose the eyes to the sun as part of the Bates method.

Etymology 2

From Japanese 寸 (sun). Doublet of cun.

noun

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

Etymology 3

noun

1. Alternative form of sunn (“the plant”)