DAWLISH

dawlish, a watering-place in the ashburton parliamentary division of devonshire, england, on the english channel, near the outflow of the exe, 12 m. s. of exeter by the great western railway. pop. of urban district (1901) 4003. it lies on a cove sheltered by two projecting headlands. a small stream which flows through the town is lined on both sides by pleasure-grounds. dawlish owes its prosperity to the visitors attracted, in spring and early summer, by the warm climate and excellent bathing. an annual pleasure fair is held on easter monday, and a regatta in august or september. until its sale in the 19th century, the site of dawlish belonged to exeter cathedral, having been given to the chapter by leofric, bishop of exeter, in 1050. dawn (the 16th-century form of the earlier "dawing" or "dawning," from an old verb "daw," o. eng. _dagian_, to become day; cf. dutch _dagen_, and ger. _tagen_), the time when light appears (daws) in the sky in the morning. the dawn colours appear in the reverse order of the sunset colours and are due to the same cause. when the sun is lowest in both cases the colour is deep red; this gradually changes through orange to gold and brilliant yellow as the sun approaches the horizon. these colours follow each other in order of refrangibility, reproducing all the colours of the spectrum in order except the blue rays which are scattered in the sky. the colours of the dawn are purer and colder than the sunset colours since there is less dust and moisture in the atmosphere and less consequent sifting of light rays.