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 li...