Definitions

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

  • noun Twelve o'clock in the daytime; midday.
  • noun The time or point in the sun's path at which the sun is on the local meridian.
  • noun The highest point; the zenith.
  • noun Archaic Midnight.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The ninth hour of the day according to Roman and ecclesiastical reckoning, namely the ninth hour from sunrise, or the middle hour between midday and sunset—that is, about 3 p. m.; later, the ecclesiastical hour of nones, at any time from midday till the ninth hour.
  • noun Midday; the time when the sun is in the meridian; twelve o'clock in the daytime.
  • noun The middle or culminating point of any course; the time of greatest brilliancy or power; the prime.
  • noun plural The noonday meal. Compare nones, 2.
  • Meridional.
  • A Middle English form of none.
  • To rest at noon or during the warm part of the day.

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

  • intransitive verb To take rest and refreshment at noon.
  • noun The middle of the day; midday; the time when the sun is in the meridian; twelve o'clock in the daytime.
  • noun Hence, the highest point; culmination.
  • noun the exact meridian; midday.
  • noun [Poetic] midnight.
  • adjective obsolete No. See the Note under No.
  • adjective Belonging to midday; occurring at midday; meridional.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete The ninth hour of the day counted from sunrise; around three o'clock in the afternoon.
  • noun Time of day when the sun is in its zenith; twelve o'clock in the day, midday.
  • noun obsolete The corresponding time in the middle of the night; midnight.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the middle of the day

Etymologies

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

[Middle English non, from Old English nōn, canonical hour of nones (3 PM in early Middle Ages), from Late Latin nōna (hōra), ninth (hour after sunrise), nones, feminine sing. of Latin nōnus, ninth; see newn̥ in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English nōn, from a Germanic borrowing of classical Latin nōna ("ninth hour") (short for nōna hōra), feminine of nōnus ("ninth"). Cognate with Dutch noen, obsolete German Non, Norwegian non.

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Examples

  • "_At Forty-three_" which he calls the noon hour of life -- "_man must live what he believes or he will eventually believe as he lives_."

    Catholic Problems in Western Canada George Thomas Daly 1914

  • The troop halted for what they called their noon meat at the abode of a hospitable Yorkshire knight; but King Henry, in order that the good gentleman's means should not be overtasked, had given directions that only the ladies and the princes should enter the house, while the rest of the suite should take their meal at the village inn.

    The Caged Lion Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862

  • The claim that CS tear gas was injected in any quantity before noon is a lie.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Waco 2010

  • Because they worked mornin ', noon, an' night, all hands, women an 'kids.

    CHAPTER I 2010

  • I think the young kid who catches a 7-pound largemouth off the family dock at high noon is probably just lucky.

    Lucky vs. Good 2009

  • The best take on the shoot-out at high noon from a fun movie adapted from a great book

    Lance Mannion: 2008

  • The comment about duals at noon is what you like??

    Obama Claims ‘Wild Bill’ Heritage in a Challenge to McCain - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • The best take on the shoot-out at high noon from a fun movie adapted from a great book

    Can a bold-talking one-eyed fat man be a hero-king? 2008

  • If the only way to get a shower before noon is to pop in Baby Einstein, then chat baby up the rest of the day to cover the lost vocabulary. -- m

    Uh-oh Roger Sutton 2007

  • Miller; “for we call noon the dinner-hour at Kennaquhair?”

    The Monastery 2008

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  • High Tech Noon:

    February 23, 2008