definded:

Dailies, in filmmaking, are the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture project. They are called this because usually at the end of each day, that day's footage is developed, synced to sound, and printed on film in a batch (or telecined onto video tape or disk) for viewing the next day by the director, director of photography, some members of the crew, and actors. Dailies serve as an indication of how the filming and the actors' performances are progressing. However, the term can be used to refer to any unedited footage, regardless of when it is developed or printed.

Another way to describe film dailies is "the first positive prints made by the laboratory from the negative photographed on the previous day".

In some regions such as the UK and Canada, dailies are usually referred to as rushes or daily rushes, referring to the speed at which the prints are developed.

CURRENTLY:

Today, Dailies are created not only for viewing purposes, they are also used for offline edits in post production. This process now also allows clients to review unedited footage for all the same reasons that are listed above but also to allow editors to work with smaller files that do not need to be rendered throughout their edit allowing for quicker editing turnarounds. SetNet has developed a transcoding process that provides clients with quick deliverables of those dailies, whether it be to a dailies server for review or to a post house to begin the editing process.