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Webster 1913 Edition

Midnight

Mid′nightˊ

,
Noun.
[AS.
midniht
.]
The middle of the night; twelve o’clock at night.
The iron tongue of
midnight
hath told twelve.
Shakespeare

Mid′nightˊ

,
Adj.
Being in, or characteristic of, the middle of the night;
as,
midnight
studies;
midnight
gloom.
“Midnight shout and revelry.”
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Midnight

MID'NIGHT

,
Noun.
The middle of the night; twelve o'clock at night.

MID'NIGHT

,
Adj.
Being in the middle of the night; as midnight studies.
1.
Dark as midnight; very dark; as midnight gloom.

Definition 2024

midnight

midnight

English

Noun

midnight ‎(plural midnights)

  1. The middle of the night; 12:00 am; on a 12-hour clock, 12:00 at night; on a 24-hour clock, 00:00.
    • Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:
      "She twisted her hands behind her;
      but all the knots held good!
      She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
      They stretched and strained in the darkness,
      and the hours crawled by like years,
      Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
      Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
      The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
  2. The middle of the night: the moment of time, which is equidistant between sunset and sunrise.

Antonyms

Derived terms

See also

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English midnight, midnyght, mydnyght, (also as middelniȝte), from Old English midniht, middeniht, middeneaht, (also as midderneaht and middelniht), from Proto-Germanic *midjanahts ‎(“midnight”), equivalent to mid- +‎ night.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Midnoacht ‎(“midnight”), Old High German mittinaht ‎(“midnight”), Danish midnat ‎(“midnight”), Swedish midnatt ‎(“midnight”), Icelandic miðnætti ‎(“midnight”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Middernoacht ‎(“midnight”), Dutch middernacht ‎(“midnight”), German Mitternacht ‎(“midnight”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɪdˌnaɪt/

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