dawn noun
1 early morning
ADJ. grey
VERB + DAWN greet (literary) He always got up to greet the dawn.
DAWN + VERB break, come (up) Dawn was breaking over the valley.
DAWN + NOUN light, sky | chorus The dawn chorus (= birds singing) woke Robyn at five. | patrol, raid Ammunition was seized during a dawn raid on the flat.
PREP. at ~ That morning, she rose at dawn. | before ~, by ~, till/until ~, towards ~
PHRASES (at) the crack of dawn (= as soon as it begins to be light), from dawn to dusk He works from dawn to dusk, and often well into the night.
2 beginning
ADJ. false This sudden success may prove to be a false dawn (= not the beginning of continued success). | new
PREP. ~ of the dawn of civilization/history/a new era Let's think back to the dawn of time.