Word for the day: sun

sun /sʌn/                                                              *sol (en Español) DEFINITIONnoun1 (also Sun ) the star around which the earth orbits.• any star in the universe similar to the sun, with or without planets.The sun is the central body of the solar system. It provides the light and energy that sustains life on earth, and its position relative to the earth's axis determines the terrestrial seasons. The sun is a star of a type known as a G2 dwarf, a sphere of hydrogen and helium 870,000 miles (1.4 million km) in diameter that obtains its energy from nuclear fusion reactions in its interior, where the temperature is about 15 million°C. The surface is a little under 6,000°C.2 (usu. the sun) the light or warmth received from the earth's sun: we sat outside in the sun.• literary a person or thing regarded as a source of glory or inspiration or understanding: the rhetoric faded before the sun of reality.• literary used with reference to someone's success or prosperity: the sun of the Plantagenets went down in clouds.3 literary a day or a year: after going so many suns without food, I was sleeping.

verb ( suns, sunning , sunned ) (sun oneself)sit or lie in the sun: Buzz could see Clare sunning herself on the terrace below.• [ with obj. ] expose (something) to the sun, esp. to warm or dry it: the birds are sunning their wings.
PHRASESagainst the sun Nautical against the direction of the sun's apparent movement in the northern hemisphere; from right to left or counterclockwise.catch the sunmake hay while the sun shines.on which the sun never sets(of an empire) worldwide.[applied in the 17th cent. to the Spanish dominions, later to the British Empire.]place in the sun see.shoot the sun Nautical ascertain the altitude of the sun with a sextant in order to determine one's latitude.under the sun on earth; in existence (used in expressions emphasizing the large number of something): they exchanged views on every subject under the sun.with the sun Nautical in the direction of the sun's apparent movement in the northern hemisphere; from left to right or clockwise.
DERIVATIVESsunlike|-ˌlīk|adjective.sunward|-wərd|adjective& adverb.sunwards|-wərdz|adverb
ORIGIN Old English sunne, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zon and German Sonne, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek hēlios and Latin sol .

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