| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| night |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  n t |
| NOUN: | 1a. The period between sunset and sunrise, especially the hours of darkness. b. This period considered as a unit of time: for two nights running. c. This period considered from its conditions: a rainy night. 2. The period between dusk and midnight of a given day: either late Thursday night or early Friday morning. 3a. The period between evening and bedtime. b. This period considered from its activities: a night at the opera. c. This period set aside for a specific purpose: Parents' Night at school. 4a. The period between bedtime and morning: spent the night at a motel. b. One's sleep during this period: had a restless night. 5. Nightfall: worked from morning to night. 6. Darkness: vanished into the night. 7a. A time or condition of gloom, obscurity, ignorance, or despair: “In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning” (F. Scott Fitzgerald). b. A time or condition marked by absence of moral or ethical values: “He never would have let us go untroubled into the night of private greed” (Anthony Lewis). | | ADJECTIVE: | 1. Of or relating to the night: the night air. 2. Intended for use at night: a night light. 3. Working during the night: the night nurse. 4. Active chiefly at night: night prowlers. 5. Occurring after dark: night baseball. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old English niht. See nekw-t- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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