crepuscular, adj.
Frequency (in current use):
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Etymology: < Latin crepusculum + -ar suffix1. Compare French crépusculaire.
1. Of or pertaining to twilight.
1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. i. i. 3
The Difference..between the crepuscular and the Noon-tide Light.
1791 E. Darwin Bot. Garden: Pt. I i. Notes 12
The crepuscular atmosphere, or the region where the light of the sun ceases to be refracted to us, is estimated..to be between 40 and 50 miles high.
1867 G. F. Chambers Descr. Astron. i. v. 59
A faint crepuscular light extending beyond the cusps of the planet.
1755—1867(Hide quotations)
2.
a. figurative. Resembling or likened to twilight; dim, indistinct.
1668 Philos. Trans.
(Royal Soc.)
3 730
And perhaps I might have lost the Crepuscular remains of my Sight.
1860 J. P. Kennedy Mem. W. Wirt II. ix. 157
[The law is] at best, a crepuscular labyrinth.
1879 H. James Hawthorne 132
The crepuscular realm of the writer's own reveries.
1668—1879(Hide quotations)
b. esp. Resembling or likened to the morning twilight as preceding the full light of day; characterized by (as yet) imperfect enlightenment.
1679 T. Puller Moderation Church of Eng.
(1843)
254
Proportionable to the first crepuscular and duskish light of those times.
1797 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. 24 509
The favourable influence even of a partial and crepuscular day on the morals..and the happiness of the people.
1842 J. L. Motley Let. 10 Jan. in Corr.
(1889)
I. iv. 96
The state of crepuscular civilization to which they have reached.
1852 Fraser's Mag. 46 679
That crepuscular period, when the historical sense was scarcely brought to a full state of activity.
1679—1852(Hide quotations)
3. Zoology. Appearing or active in the twilight.
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol.
(1828)
IV. xlix. 525
Crepuscular insects.
1877 E. Coues & J. A. Allen Monogr. N. Amer. Rodentia (U.S. Geol. Surv. Territories, vol. XI) 653
Animals..of crepuscular or nocturnal habits.
1826—1877(Hide quotations)
