Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The period between sunset and sunrise, especially the hours of darkness.
  • noun This period considered as a unit of time.
  • noun This period considered from its conditions.
  • noun The period between dusk and midnight of a given day.
  • noun The period between evening and bedtime.
  • noun This period considered from its activities.
  • noun This period set aside for a specific purpose.
  • noun The period between bedtime and morning.
  • noun One's sleep during this period.
  • noun Nightfall.
  • noun Darkness.
  • noun A time or condition of gloom, obscurity, ignorance, or despair.
  • noun A time or condition marked by absence of moral or ethical values.
  • adjective Of or relating to the night.
  • adjective Intended for use at night.
  • adjective Working during the night.
  • adjective Active chiefly at night.
  • adjective Occurring after dark.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The dark half of the day; that part of the complete day during which the sun is below the horizon; the time from sunset to sunrise. See day.
  • noun Evening; nightfall; the end of the day: as, he came home at night.
  • noun Figuratively, a state or time of darkness, depression, misfortune, or the like.
  • noun The darkness of death or the grave.
  • noun A time of sadness or sorrow; a dreary period.
  • noun Old age.
  • To grow dark; approach toward night.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That part of the natural day when the sun is beneath the horizon, or the time from sunset to sunrise; esp., the time between dusk and dawn, when there is no light of the sun, but only moonlight, starlight, or artificial light.
  • noun Darkness; obscurity; concealment.
  • noun Intellectual and moral darkness; ignorance.
  • noun A state of affliction; adversity; as, a dreary night of sorrow.
  • noun The period after the close of life; death.
  • noun A lifeless or unenlivened period, as when nature seems to sleep.
  • noun nightly; many nights.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The Manx shearwater (Puffinus Anglorum).
  • noun (Med.) See Hemeralopia.
  • noun a cart used to remove the contents of privies by night.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the nightjar.
  • noun a bird that cries in the night.
  • noun a dog that hunts in the night, -- used by poachers.
  • noun Ignis fatuus; Will-o'-the-wisp; Jask-with-a-lantern.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any creature that flies in the night, as some birds and insects.
  • noun a spyglass constructed to concentrate a large amount of light, so as see objects distinctly at night.
  • noun iodine green.
  • noun a witch supposed to wander in the night.
  • noun (Zoöl.) an American bird (Chordeiles Virginianus), allied to the goatsucker. It hunts the insects on which it feeds toward evening, on the wing, and often, diving down perpendicularly, produces a loud whirring sound, like that of a spinning wheel.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English niht; see nekw-t- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English night, nyght, niȝt, naht, from Old English niht, neht, nyht, neaht, næht ("night"), from Proto-Germanic *nahts (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”). Cognate with Scots nicht, neicht ("night"), West Frisian nacht ("night"), Dutch nacht ("night"), Low German Nacht ("night"), German Nacht ("night"), Danish nat ("night"), Swedish natt ("night"), Icelandic nótt ("night"), Latin nox ("night"), Greek νύχτα (núchta, "night").

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Examples

  • Hijra are night stalkers, night denizens, sleep is a misnomer for hijras, hijras sleep in the day time ..night is for full body massage under the hands of young raw masseur boys..the boys do it clinically but are highly paid for added nocturnal escapades.

    Archive 2009-07-01 photographerno1 2009

  • During crop time, the book-keepers had to be up every night till twelve o'clock, and every other night _all night_, superintending the work in the boiling-house, and at the mill.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • On one plantation, where I spent a few weeks, the slaves were called up to work long before daylight, when business pressed, and worked until late at night; and sometimes some of them _all night_.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 3 of 4 American Anti-Slavery Society

  • On one plantation, where I spent a few weeks, the slaves were called up to work long before daylight, when business pressed, and worked until late at night; and sometimes some of them _all night_.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • On such a night the suggestion comes uncommonly near to me that I wish to be _a sharer in the delight, a portion of tempest, of night_; [8] mounted on a runaway horse, to dash down the cliffs into the falls of the Rhine, or something similar.

    The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 10 Prince Otto Von Bismarck, Count Helmuth Von Moltke, Ferdinand Lassalle Kuno Francke 1892

  • She remained a few hours to supply herself with refreshments, and as night fell took her station; but not at the distance of a marine league _during the night_.

    The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter Raphael Semmes 1843

  • Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face, contains but one figurative expression, _the mask of night_; and every one reading this speech with the context, must have felt the peculiar propriety of its simplicity, though perhaps without examining the cause of an omission which certainly is not fortuitous.

    Characteristics of Women Moral, Poetical, and Historical 1827

  • I took with me every night into my bed-room a brace of loaded pistols, that never missed fire, and my double-barrelled gun, charged and fresh primed; and any number of men less than four would not have gained admittance alive into my house in the _night time_.

    Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. — Volume 3 Henry Hunt 1804

  • (§501. 14) «noctū», abl. used as adv. [[cf. «nox», _night_]], _at night, by night_

    Latin for Beginners Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge 1900

  • i am making sure the night goes smoothly ... without tornados in ardmore ... yes. night*

    vampishone Diary Entry vampishone 2003

Comments

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  • It's night here, what about there? (Am I just tired or also something else?)

    November 16, 2008

  • Oh, I think it's time to me to go to sleep. Just look what I am writing. My doings are getting a bit tired. I'm going to listen to Bach's Air and then drag myself to bed. I should have gone to sleep almost one and a half hours ago but I can't resist staying up when my parents are not home. Ok, no one's even interested anymore. Good night.

    November 16, 2008

  • Kamtsatka, you might like the insomnia page. It's a secret Wordie community... Goodnight.

    November 16, 2008