Definition for Night (-s, -'s)

night (-s, -'s), n. [OE.]

  1. Nox; [personification] time of darkness from dusk to dawn.
  2. Time preceding daylight; hours from sunset to sunrise; period when the sun is beneath the horizon.
  3. Evening; time prior to the next day.
  4. Darkness; decline of the day.
  5. Ignorance; moral darkness; warped state; concealment from the eyes; obscurity.
  6. Death; end of life.
  7. Dark half of day; twelve hours of darkness; [fig.] brief time of death; short period of dying.
  8. Adversity; distress; state of unrest.
  9. Phrase. “Good night”: evening greeting; salutation for bedtime; [fig.] farewell to deceased loved one.
  10. Phrase. “Wild nights”: process of dying; time of death; passing away to the other side (see L331, ED's 1869 letter to Perez Cowan, “Dying is a wild Night”).
  11. Phrase. “Last night”: the previous evening; the evening of the day before.

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