Natural light from the sun during daytime; also used idiomatically as in 'scare the daylights out of someone.'
Compound of 'day' and 'light,' first recorded in the 14th century. The idiomatic use suggesting 'vital essence' or 'wits' emerged in the 18th century, perhaps from the idea of consciousness being associated with daylight.
The phrase 'beat the living daylights out of' transforms daylight into a metaphor for life force itself. It's as if our ancestors believed that consciousness and daylight were so intertwined that losing one meant losing the other!
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