Living Daylights

Posted by ESC on June 04, 2008 at 10:11

In Reply to: Living Daylights posted by Nate on June 03, 2008 at 20:38:

: My question deals with the phrase "Living Daylights." I have hear a Different version of it than is listed on the website but I seem to only hear this meaning from Blacksmiths. What I have heard is that "Beating the daylight out of..." originally came from the Gun barrel Blacksmiths. This came about because the iron used for the barrel had to be bent around a rod and then beaten until no daylight could be seen. I honestly don't know if it is true but on many occasions I have hear Blacksmiths say that that is where it originated. Also I have heard that it does not just apply to gun barrels but many other rings and circular items. Please let me know if you know anything about this!

Another theory -- according to one reference, it "probably" refers to eyes - daylights. And the first recorded use of the noun daylights meaning eyes dates back to 1884."The driver bangs the mule that is ostensibly pulling his daylights out..." "Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume II, D-H, by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1991, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England).Nye, "Baled Hay."