subs. (common).—1. The eyes. Cf., quots. under DARKEN THE DAYLIGHTS. For synonyms, see GLIMS.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1823. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Dictionary of the Turf, etc. [quoted in] p. 64.
| The hero (Achilles) in his tent they found, | |
| His DAY-LIGHTS fixed upon the cold, cold ground. |
2. (general).—The space in a glass between liquor and brim: inadmissible in bumpers at toasts: the toast-master cries ‘no DAYLIGHTS nor heeltaps!’
TO DARKEN ONE’S DAYLIGHTS, verbal phr. (pugilistic).—1. To give a black-eye; ‘to sew up one’s sees.’
1762. FIELDING, Amelia, bk. I., ch. x. If the lady says such another word to me, d—n me, I will DARKEN HER DAYLIGHTS.
1786. The Microcosm, No. 2. The nobility and gentry were taught theoretically as well as practically, to bruise the bodies, and (to use a technical term) DARKEN THE DAYLIGHTS of each other, with the vigour of a Hercules, tempered with the grace of an Apollo.
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 3.
| If the Fine Arts | |
| Of fibbing and boring be dear to your hearts; | |
| If to level, to punish, to ruffian mankind, | |
| And to DARKEN THEIR DAYLIGHTS, be pleasures refin’d. |
1822. DAVID CAREY, Life in Paris, p. 200. So here’s at DARKENING HIS DAY-LIGHTS for the advantage of his mummer.
