If police officers carry out a dawn raid, they go to someone's house very early in the morning to search it or arrest them.
Thousands of pounds worth of drugs were seized in dawn raids yesterday.
2. countable noun
If soldiers carry out a dawn raid, they attack enemy soldiers very early in the morning.
3. countable noun
If a person or company carries out a dawn raid, they try to buy a large number of a company's shares at the start of a day's trading, especially because they want to buy the whole company.
[business]
They acquired 11.2 per cent of the company in a dawn raid on Monday.
dawn raid in British English
noun
stock exchange
an unexpected attempt to acquire a substantial proportion of a company's shares at the start of a day's trading as a preliminary to a takeover bid
Examples of 'dawn raid' in a sentence
dawn raid
Two were arrested in dawn raids yesterday.
The Sun (2006)
Scores of journalists have been arrested following dawn raids and then left to languish for months on bail.
The Sun (2013)
TWO female cops have been arrested in dawn raids at home in a police corruption probe.
The Sun (2012)
Six days previously, some of its most senior journalists had been arrested in dawn raids over alleged payments to public officials.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
FIVE men suspected of helping smuggle 2,000 illegal immigrants were arrested in dawn raids yesterday.
The Sun (2009)
Unlike last week's looters, there were no dawn raids to arrest the ringleaders.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
FIVE footie hooligans were arrested in dawn raids as part of a World Cup crackdown on louts who have refused to hand in their passports.