sun

Pluralsuns, sun

Formssuns, sunning, sunned

1. 1
   daytime starnouncountable or uncountable

   The star at the center of our solar system, which the earth orbits and which gives it light and heat; also, any similar star at the center of a planetary system.

   Many stars far larger than our sun burn at the heart of distant systems.

   Astronomers have confirmed thousands of planets orbiting suns beyond our own.

   UsageUsually the sun for ours; other stars can be suns: planets orbiting distant suns.

   Similarstar

   Note

   Because it names a class of star, it is countable. Science fiction makes good use of that, giving each world its own: BioWare's Mass Effect 2 (2010) speaks of Haestrom's sun overwhelming a planet's magnetosphere. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • BioWare's science-fiction game Mass Effect 2 was released in 2010. news.ea.com
   • Mass Effect 2's Haestrom Codex entry describes the planet's sun overwhelming its magnetosphere. en.wiktionary.org
2. 2
   warm raysnouncountable or uncountable

   Light and heat from the sun as experienced on earth; sunshine or sunlight.

   She pulled the curtains to keep the afternoon sun off the paintings.

   After days of rain, everyone rushed outside to enjoy the sun.

   UsageUsually the sun, with in: sit in the sun, keep it out of the sun.

   Similarsunshine, sunlight, light

   Oppositeshade

   Note

   Here the word means what arrives, not what shines. It usually takes the article and a preposition, as in Shakespeare's lambs that "did frisk i' the sun." The plural is a quieter, literary idiom for the sunshine of a climate. Bulwer-Lytton's Rienzi (1835) writes of a face little browned by "the suns of Italy." Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • The quoted wording occurs in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Act I, scene ii, spoken by Polixenes. gutenberg.org
   • Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote Rienzi. en.wikipedia.org
   • Rienzi was first published in 1835. static-prod.lib.princeton.edu
   • Rienzi's narrator describes a complexion little browned by 'the suns of Italy'; the quoted phrase is exact. gutenberg.org
3. 3
   daybreak or nightfallnounliteraryuncountable

   Sunrise or sunset; the rising or setting of the sun.

   From sun to sun the shepherds followed their flocks across the hills.

   Hired hands on the old farms worked from sun to sun for a dollar a day.

   UsageUsed without an article in from sun to sun and between sun and sun.

   Similarsunrise, sunset, dawn, dusk

   Note

   Literary English keeps this sense alive in two fixed phrases, from sun to sun and between sun and sun, meaning the whole span of daylight. Shakespeare's Cymbeline and Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy use it, and Thoreau does in 1849. Harry S. Truman still did as President, saying he had to do five jobs "between sun and sun." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Shakespeare's Cymbeline uses this sense, in a line spoken by Pisanio. en.wikisource.org
   • Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy uses 'from sun to sun'. gutenberg.org
   • Thoreau uses 'between sun and sun' in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. en.wikisource.org
   • The first edition of Thoreau's A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers dates from 1849. en.wikisource.org
   • Harry S. Truman, while President, said he had to perform five jobs 'between sun and sun'; the remarks date from October 1, 1952. trumanlibrary.gov
4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To put something out in the sunshine to warm, dry, or bleach it.

   Similardry, bleach, air

5. 5
   verbintransitive

   To lie or sit out in sunlight, usually to warm oneself or get a tan; very often used reflexively, as in sun oneself.

   Lizards sun on the warm rocks every morning.

   He sunned by the pool the whole afternoon.

   Similarbask, sunbathe, tan

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