Dusk is the time of evening when the sun has set below the horizon but some light still remains in the sky. The world isn't quite dark yet: you can still see shapes and colors, but streetlights begin to flicker on and the first stars appear. Dusk has a soft, gentle quality, with the sky often glowing in shades of deep blue, purple, and orange.

Unlike the sudden flip of a light switch, dusk is a gradual transition. It's that period when you're playing outside and realize you need to squint a little to see the ball, or when the temperature drops and you feel the coolness of evening settling in. Farmers and sailors have long paid attention to dusk because it signals the end of the working day and the approach of night.

The opposite of dusk is dawn, when morning light gradually brightens the sky before sunrise. People sometimes call dusk twilight, though twilight technically includes both dusk and dawn. When someone says they'll meet you at dusk, they mean that beautiful in-between time when day becomes night.