night meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

night

noun

UK /ˈnɑjt/ · US, UK /ˈnaɪ̯t/

Etymology

From Middle English nighte, night, nyght, niȝt, naht, from Old English niht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht (“night”), from Proto-Germanic *nahts (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”). Cognates Cognate with Scots nicht (“night”), Yola neeght, nieght, nyeght (“night”), North Frisian naacht, Nacht, noach, nåcht (“night”), Saterland Frisian Noacht (“night”), West Frisian nacht (“night”), Cimbrian and Dutch nacht (“night”), German and Low German Nacht (“night”), Luxembourgish Nuecht (“night”), Mòcheno nòcht (“night”), Vilamovian naocht (“night”), Yiddish נאַכט (nakht, “night”), Danish nat (“night”), Faroese nátt (“night”), Icelandic nátt, nótt (“night”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish natt (“night”), Scanian nøtt (“night”), Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (nahts, “night”); also Breton noz (“night”), Cornish and Welsh nos (“night”), Irish anocht (“tonight”), Manx noght (“tonight”), Scottish Gaelic a-nochd, an nochd (“tonight”), Latin nox (“night”) (whence English nox, a doublet), Greek νύχτα (nýchta, “night”), Albanian natë (“night”), Latgalian and Latvian nakts (“night”), Lithuanian naktis (“night”), Belarusian ноч (noč, “night”), Bulgarian нощ (nošt, “night”), Czech, Polish, and Slovak noc (“night”), Macedonian ноќ (noḱ, “night”), Russian ночь (nočʹ, “night”), Serbo-Croatian ноћ, noć (“night”), Slovene noč (“night”), Ukrainian ніч (nič, “night”), Tocharian A nakcu (“last night; at night”), Tocharian B nekcīye (“last night; at night”), Hittite 𒉈𒆪𒊻 (nekuz, “evening, nightfall; dawn, twilight”), Sanskrit नक्त् (nákt).

9 senses

1The time when the Sun is below the horizon when the sky is dark.
2The period of darkness beginning at the end of evening…
3A period of time often defined in the legal system as…
4An evening or night spent at a particular activity.
5A day, or at least a night.
6Nightfall.
7Darkness (due to it being nighttime).
8A dark blue colour, midnight blue.
9A night's worth of competitions, generally one game.

The time when the Sun is below the horizon when the sky is dark.

Most animals are awake at day and sleep at night.
The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

2 more examples

The night is the time of stealthy prowling, of lightning attack, of fear, of death.1911, Charles Livingston Bull, Under the Roof of the Jungle: A Book of Animal Life in the Guiana Wilds, L.C. Page & Company, page 4:
Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:

Astronomy, Natural sciences The period of darkness beginning at the end of evening astronomical twilight when the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon, and ending at the beginning of morning astronomical twilight.

Law A period of time often defined in the legal system as beginning 30 minutes after sunset, and ending 30 minutes before sunrise.

An evening or night spent at a particular activity.

a night on the town
From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

A day, or at least a night.

I stayed my friend's house for three nights.

Nightfall.

from noon till night

Darkness (due to it being nighttime).

The cat disappeared into the night.

A dark blue colour, midnight blue.

Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Colloquial A night's worth of competitions, generally one game.

Synonyms: evening, sleep, dark, dusk, nightfall, sundown, sunset, blackness, darkness, gloom, obscurity, shadow
Antonyms: day, brightness, daylight, light
Derived terms: 346 terms
admin night, all cats are gray at night, all cats are grey at night, all cats are grey by night, all night, all-night, all-nighter, allnighter, all-night-man, alnight, amateur night, anight, at night, Azara's night monkey, back-to-school night, bank night, barnight, because you touch yourself at night, benight, be on nights, bin night, birthnight, black as night, born at night but not last night, buck's night, Burns Night, Burns night, by night, call it an early night, call it a night, clubnight, club night, Cracker Night, creature of the night, dark night, dark night of the soul, date night, day and night, day-and-night, day for night, day-night, day-night cycle, day or night, day-to-night, dead of night, deepnight, early night, election night, Eleventh Night, evennight, everynight, field night, fireworks night, fly-by-night, forenight, fortnight, fortnightly, Friday night lights, girls' night out, go gentle into that good night, go night-night, good-night, goodnight, gray night, grey night, guest night, guinea pig night, half-night stand, have a night of it, hell night, hen night, hens' night, holinight, how can you sleep at night, how do you sleep at night, internight, intranight, it'll be all right on the night, keep someone up at night, ladies' night, lady of the night, late-night, late night, like night and day, long night moon, make a night of it, midnight, morning after the night before, morning-noon-and-night, multinight, night adder, night after night, night air, night-and-day, night and day, night-ape, night auditor, night-bat, night bird, night-biter, night biter, night-blind, night blind, night blindness, night-blooming cereus, night-blooming jasmine, night blue, nightbreak, nightbreeze, night-bright, night-cap, nightcap, night cap, night-cart, night cart, night-cellar, night chair, nightchurr, night class, nightcloth, nightclothes, night club, nightclub, nightclubbing, nightcore, night court, night courting, nightcrawler, night crawler, night crawling, night cream, night diaper, nightdream, nightdreaming, night-dress, nightdress, night eating syndrome, night emission, nighten, nighter, nightery, night eye, night-fall, nightfall, nightfaring, night-fear, nightfear, night fear, night fighter, nightfire, nightfish, night flit, night-flowering jasmine, night fly, night food, nightfowl, nightfright, night frog, nightful, night game, nightgear, night-glass, night glass, nightgloom, nightglow, night-gown, nightgown, night green, nightguard, night hag, night-hag, nighthawk, night hawk, night heron, night-heron, night house, night-house, night hunter, night hunting, nightie, nightingale, nightish, night-jar, nightjar, night jasmine, night job, nightlamp, nightless, night letter, nightlife, night-lifer, night light, nightlight, nightlike, nightline, night lizard, nightlong, nightly, night-man, nightman, night man, nightmarcher, nightmare, nightmarish, night market, night meal, night mode, night monkey, night moth, night nappy, night-night, night night, Night of Broken Glass, night of long knives, Night of Sevens, night of the long knives, night out, night-owl, night owl, night palsy, night parrot, night person, nightpiece, night-rail, night-raven, night rider, nightrider, night-riding, nightrobe, night safe, nightscape, night school, nightscope, nightshade, night shelter, night shift, nightshining, night-shining cloud, nightshirt, nightside, night sky, night-sky, night snake, night-soil, night soil, night soil man, nightspot, night spot, night-stalker, nightstand, night start, night stick, nightstick, nightstool, nightsuit, night sweats, nightswimming, night table, night terror, nighttide, night time, nighttime, night-time, night tremor, night-tripping, night vision, nightwalker, nightwalking, nightward, nightwards, night watch, night-watch, nightwatch, night-watching, night watchman, nightwatchman, night-watchman, night-watchman state, night watchman state, nightwear, night wind, night work, nightwork, nightworker, night writing, nighty, nighty-night, nighty night, nine night, noon of night, one-dog night, one-night stand, opening night, outnight, overnight, over night, paynight, polar night, pretty-by-night, Punkie Night, queen of the night, Saturday night palsy, Saturday-night special, Saturday night special, school night, sennight, sevennight, seven-night, ships in the night, ships passing in the night, ships that passed in the night, ships that pass in the night, soap night, stag night, stay the night, stranger in the night, the freaks come out at night, the night before last, the night is young, thief in the night, things that go bump in the night, three dog night, three-dog night, time of night, Tobias night, tonight, to-night, Trafalgar Night dinner, Twelfth Night pie, twinight, twi-night, under cover of night, Walpurgis night, watchnight, watch night, watch-night, watch of the night, wedding night, weeknight, whatever helps you sleep at night, white night, Whitsun-night, woman of the night, worknight, work nights, yesternight
Hypernyms: 24-hour day
Hyponyms: first night, last night, midnight, tomorrow night, tonight, Twelfth Night, yesterday night

night

intj

Etymology

Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of good night.

Night, y'all! Thanks for a great evening!

night

verb

Etymology

To spend a night (in a place), to overnight.

So I took seat and ate somewhat of my vivers, my horse also feeding upon his fodder, and we nighted in that spot and next morning I set out[.]1885, Richard F. Burton, Arabian Nights, in 16 volumes, published 2008, page 284: