Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. On or during the present or coming night.
- n. This night or the night of this day.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In the present night, or the night after the present day.
- During the preceding night; last night.
- n. The present night; the night after the present day.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. On this present or coming night.
- adv. obsolete On the last night past.
- n. The present or the coming night; the night after the present day.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. during the night of the present day
- n. the present or immediately coming night
Etymologies
- From Old English tōniht. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English to night, from Old English tō niht, at night : tō, at, on; see to + niht, night; see night. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“President Obama will deliver the second State of the Union speech of his term tonight at 9 p.m., a highly anticipated address that functions as the informal kickoff of the new congressional term.”
The Washington Post: 5 things to watch for in the State of the Union
“Of course the fact that I worked all night last night and work again tonight is a mere technicality.”
“Yep, I made a roast chicken again tonight" is not what I feel like writing, anyhow.”
“The one reason we didn't win tonight is that we got drawn into the kind of game they wanted to play," Maple Leafs center Alyn”
“WOODRUFF: I don't think anybody has any doubt coming out of this speech what the president's intentions are when it comes to Iraq, when it comes to -- he didn't use the term tonight axis of evil, but he made it clear he's thought about the distinction between Iran, North Korea and Iraq.”
“I saw a remarkable book about three years ago -- I wish I could remember the title tonight -- but it was a portrait of children who had grown up in the most unimaginable, difficult circumstances, who had done wonderfully well in life.”
“The do- nothing Congress could be living up to the nickname tonight once again.”
“Long disagreed with Jericho, and said Swagger will defend the title tonight against Chris Jericho AND Edge, in a Triple-Threat Match.”
“The 18th-ranked Bulldogs (26-5) will face second-seeded Saint Mary's, a 69-55 winner over No. 3 Portland, for the title tonight at 6.”
“Cactus must either win the title tonight or he must retire.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tonight’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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POL - What is Mitt talking about?
Key terms from Mitt Romney's election campaign
good and generous..., hard fought election, go back to work, optimistic and po..., confident in the ..., optimism, uniquely American, nation of immigrants, want a better life, life in that plac..., pursuit of the ri..., richness of this ... and 369 more...
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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POL - campaign tokenisms
Positive words and vague promises. THE words and expressions to use when you want to win over the masses or just don't know what to say.
"CAPITAL" stands for the administrative capital...grow, greatest country, greatest, grow the economy, great nation, great decisions, great, government, great NATIONAL su..., good times, good job, good and generous... and 751 more...
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Most of the Nouns from Joanna Newsom'...
meadowlark, sparrow, spree, pharoah, pharisees, comb, meadow, pines, marrow, bones, birches, spires and 95 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Love
words I love
clipside, shoreline, céu, nuvem, brilho, saudade, silver, you, never, circumstance, introvert, seconds and 19 more...
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rienafaire's Words
rien, draco, thesis, follies, company, book, literature, gravity, fantastic, swell, tonight, fool and 6 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tonight.
lampbane A word frequently abused by weather reports, and as a consequence, I now despise this word.
I always check the weather in the morning so I know what to wear. Winter coat, windbreaker, or no coat at all? Sweater or t-shirt? Regular shoes, or boots? Should I bring an umbrella? A hat?
Now, they'll give you the current temperature, and that's fine, because if you're going out now you should prepare for the weather as it exists right now. But the tricky part is the weather later, when you come back. You know what it's like when you go to work, because the weather report will tell you and you can always look outside. But what about coming home?
The weather report will tell you the high and the low. "Today, the high will be 69 degrees." And today is simple enough. If it's the high and it's today, they're most likely referring to midday, between 12-2, when most people go to lunch. But then they'll say, "tonight, the low will be 42 degrees." Now, you could assume that tonight means the middle of the night, like after midnight. But then the same report will give you the overnight temperatures! And unless you work really late or hang out really late, that doesn't do you any good. And it doesn't resolve what "tonight" refers to.
Is it when the sun goes down? That would make it as early as 4pm in some places. Is it when the evening begins? But does the evening start at 6pm or 8pm?
"Tonight" certainly doesn't mean when I leave work. If I prepare for the low temperature, I'm often overdressed at 6pm. I thought maybe it was 8pm, but again, I've been overdressed. Now I check the hour-by-hour temperatures to see what it's like when I leave work, and you know when those "tonight" temperatures usually hit?
10pm.
According to Weather.com, anyway. Whether there's been a big meeting amongst meteorologists to determine the exact meaning of "today" and "tonight" and "overnight" I don't know, but I'm going to guess no, because they still can't get the weather report right.
This was all brought to you by the fact that in New York City today, the high is supposed to be 66 and the low 42.
I don't know exactly how one dresses for that. Guess I'm using layers. Dec 3, 2009