ˈday-star
Also 3 -stern, 5 -sterne, -starne.
1. The morning star.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xxxii. 26 Nu gæð dæᵹ steorra up. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 270 Seo sunne & se mona & æfen steorra & dæᵹ steorra. a 1250 [see day-rim]. a 1300 E.E. Psalter cix. 3 Bifore dai-stern gat I þe. 14.. Lydg. Temple of Glas 1355 Fairest of sterres..o Venus..O myȝti goddes, daister after nyȝt. 1483 Cath. Angl. 89 A Day⁓sterne, lucifer vel phosphoros. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 39 Early in the morning, so soone as the day starre appeared. 1845 R. W. Hamilton Pop. Educ. vii. (ed. 2) 157 Such men are as day-stars, breaking the night and hastening the dawn. |
2. The sun, as the orb of day. poet.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. Babylon 577 His Heav'n-tuned harp, which shall resound While the bright day-star rides his glorious Round. 1637 Milton Lycidas 168 So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams. 1789 Wordsw. Evening Walk 190 Sunk to a curve, the day-star lessens still, Gives one bright glance, and drops behind the hill. |
3. fig.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Pet. i. 19 Til the day bigynne for to ȝiue liȝt, and the day sterre springe in ȝoure hertis. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 118 Haylle lytylle tyne mop [the infant Jesus] Of oure crede thou art crop: I wold drynk on thy cop, Lytylle day starne. 1500–20 Dunbar Ballat of our Lady 26 Haile, bricht, be sicht, in hevyn on hicht! Haile, day sterne orientale! 1738 Wesley Hymns, ‘We lift our Hearts’ i, We lift our Hearts to Thee, O Day-Star from on High! 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. xiii. 466 The day⁓star of the American Union. |