Emily Dickinson Lexicon

NIGHT, n. [nite; Sax. niht; Goth. nahts; D. nagt; G. nacht; Sw. natt; Dan. nat, contracted; L. nox; Gr. νυξ; Sp. noche; Port. nôite; It. notte; Fr. nuit; Ir. nocht; Russ. noch; Slav. nosch; Sans. nischa. The sense may be dark, black, or it may be the decline of the day, from declining, departing, like the Shemitic ערב.]

1. That part of the natural day when the sun is beneath the, horizon, or the time from sunset to sunrise.
2. The time after the close of life; death. John ix. She closed her eyes in everlasting night. Dryden.
3. A state of ignorance; intellectual and moral darkness; heathenish ignorance. Rom. xiii.
4. Adversity; a state of affliction and distress. Is. xxi.
5. Obscurity; a state of concealment from the eye or the mind; unintelligibleness. Nature and nature's works lay hid in night. Pope. In the night, suddenly; unexpectedly. Luke xii. To-night, in this night. To-night the moon will be eclipsed.