Also 4–6 sonne, sunne set, 5 sonsett, 6 soonne sette; 7 sunnes-set. [app. f. SUN sb. + SET sb.1, but perhaps arising partly (like SUNRISE) from a clause (e.g., ere the sunne set).
OE. (Northumb.) sunset (Lindisf. Gosp.) was prob. an adoption of ON. sólarseta, -setr: see SET sb.1, etym. note.]
1. The setting, or apparent descent below the horizon, of the sun at the end of the day; the time when the sun sets, the close of day. Also, the glow of light or display of color in the sky when the sun sets.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 257. Riht evene upon the Sonne set.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 3050. Als sone as þe son vp soȝt þe slaȝtere begynnes, And so to þe son-sett [Dubl. MS. And to sett was þe same] slakid þai neuire.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 257 b. At the houre of complyn, whiche is aboute the sonne set.
1542. Udall, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 6. In the evenyng after soonne sette.
1599. Sandys, Europæ Spec. (1632), 5. Thrice a day, at sunrise, at noone, and sun-set.
1623. Fletcher & Rowley, Maid in Mill, IV. ii. It has lasted Too many Sun-sets.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 110, ¶ 1. The Butler desired me with a very grave Face not to venture my self in it after Sun-set.
1822. Byron, Heaven & Earth, I. i. They have kindled all the west, Like a returning sunset.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872), I. 39. After sunset, the horizon burned and glowed with rich crimson and orange lustre.
1873. B. Harte, What B. Harte Saw in Fiddletown, etc., 98. A flash of water, tremulous and tinted with sunset.
1874. Burnand, My Time, xi. 90. The Jews begin their Sabbath on Friday at sunset.
2. fig. Decline or close, esp. of a period of prosperity or the like.
[1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. v. 128. When the Sun sets, the Earth doth drizzle daew, But for the Sunset of my Brothers Sonne, It raines downright.]
1613. W. Basse (title), Great Brittaines Sunnes-set, bewailed with a shower of teares.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 2. Old age … may be called the sunne set of our dayes.
1690. Temple, Misc., II. iv. 45. So many Ages after the Sun-set of the Roman Learning and Empire together.
1801. Campbell, Lochiel’s Warning, 55. ’Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, And coming events cast their shadows before.
1898. Illingworth, Div. Imman., i. The gloom that darkens, or the hope that glorifies the sunset of our days.
3. attrib. and Comb., as sunset clock, hue, light, mist, ray; sunset-blue, -flushed, -lighted, -purpled, -red, -ripened adjs.; sunset-gun, a gun fired at sunset. Also quasi-adj. = western, westerly, as sunset clime, and quasi-adv. = westward, as sunset-gazing.
1874. R. Tyrwhitt, Our Sketching Club, 68. Any *sunset-blue tint,—say cobalt and rose-madder.
a. 1853. G. P. Morris, Poems (1860), 155. All this *sunset clime became Familiar with Victoria’s name.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 7. True to his *sunset-clock he kept, His Goody and his cot to find.
1833. Tennyson, Lotus Eaters, 17. Far off, three mountain-tops … Stood *sunset-flush’d.
1902. W. Watson, Coronat. Ode. Deira with her sea-face to the morn, And Cambria *sunset-gazing.
1861. Dickens, Gt. Expect., ii. There was a conwict off last night … after *sunset-gun.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 30 Nov., 2/1. Draperies of silk of *sunset hues.
1886. Stevenson, Kidnapped, viii. I wondered … at the lateness of the *sunset light.
1898. Watts-Dunton, Aylwin, XIII. iv. Masses of *sunset mist.
1838. Ld. Houghton, Switzerland & Italy, v. The *sunset-purpled ground.
1833. Tennyson, Hesperides, iv. 21. The luscious fruitage … *Sunset-ripened.
Hence Sunsetty a. (U.S.), suggestive of sunset.
1869. Mrs. Whitney, We Girls, i. ‘West over’ … We always thought it was a pretty, sunsetty name.
1887. T. N. Page, Ole Virginia (1891), 45. Her arms so white, an’ her face sort o’ sunsetty.
