nightertale
nounEtymology Inherited from Middle English nyghtertale, alteration of Old Norse náttarþel.
1
Archaic, No plural The period of night; nighttime.
- A person (as their books make her) raised up by power divine, only for succour to the French estate, then deeply in distress, in whom, for planting a credit the rather, first the company that towards the Dauphin did conduct her, through all dangerous, as held by the English, where she never was afore, all the way and by nightertale safely did she lead; […]1867, Charles Knight, editor, The Pictoral Works of Shakspere: Histories — Volume II, George Routledge & Sons, pages 21–22:
- All through the nightertale I longed for thee, […]1926, Arthur Mache, Notes and Queries, Spurr & Swift, page 14:
2 more examples
- And since Thomas of Gloucester was Arundel's friend, and only God and His Saints knew which way the redeless King would jump, the future was so dangerful that Edmund of York could neither relish his meat nor sleep sound at nightertale.1975, Georgette Heyer, My Lord John, Arrow Books, published 2011, →ISBN, page 44:
- 'Did I offend thee in my japishness, my son? Or did slumber forsake thee a nightertale last?'2011, Arthur D Bardswell, The Poor Preachers: The Adventures of the First Lollards, WestBow Press, →ISBN, page 288: