Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dawn

Dawn (dan) , intransitive verb

[Old English dawnen, dawen, dagen, daien, Anglo-Saxon dagian to become day, to dawn, from dag day; akin to Dutch dagen, German tagen, Icelandic daga, Danish dages, Swedish dagas. See Day. r71.]

1.
To begin to grow light in the morning; to grow light; to break, or begin to appear; as, the day dawns; the morning dawns.
In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene... to see the sepulcher. — Matt. xxviii. 1
2.
To began to give promise; to begin to appear or to expand.
In dawning youth. — Dryden
When life awakes, and dawns at every line. — Pope
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid. — Heber,

Dawn , noun

1.
The break of day; the first appearance of light in the morning; show of approaching sunrise.
And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve. — Thomson
No sun, no moon, no morn, no noon, No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day. — Hood
2.
First opening or expansion; first appearance; beginning; rise.
The dawn of time. — Thomson
These tender circumstances diffuse a dawn of serenity over the soul. — Pope