MIDNIGHT
ADJECTIVES
► BIMERIDIAN recurring at midday and midnight → 1869
► MESONOXIAN relating to midnight → 1623
► MIDNIGHTLY taking place at midnight, or every midnight → 1874
► MID-NOCTIAL relating to midnight → 1593 obs.
ADVERBS
► MIDNIGHTLY every midnight → 1836
NOUNS
► BELL, THE midnight on New Year’s Eve, the striking of midnight on New Year’s Eve → 1984 Sc.
► BULL’S NOON midnight → 1800 Eng. dial.
► DEAD HOUR OF NIGHT, THE midnight → 1870 Sc.
► DEVIL’S DANCING HOUR midnight → 1900 Eng. dial. (Bk.)
► DEVIL’S DINNER-HOUR midnight; the small hours → 1909 UK sl.
► DUZ midnight → 1941 African-American sl.
► EARLY HOURS, THE the time after midnight and before dawn → 1852
► HEAD OF THE DIM, THE midnight → 1900 Sc. (Bk.)
► LITTLE HOURS, THE the early hours of the morning after midnight → 1540
► LONG HOUR, THE midnight → 1511
► MIDDLE-NIGHT the middle of the night; midnight → c1205 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
► MIDNIGHT-TIDE midnight → 1393 poetic usage
► MIRK-NIGHT midnight, the darkest hour of the night → 1819 Sc.
► NIGHT’S MERIDIAN midnight → 1826 poetic usage, obs.
► NOON OF NIGHT midnight → 1710 poetic usage
► SMALL HOURS the early hours after midnight denoted by the small numbers, one, two, etc. → 1718
► TWELVE O’ NIGHT midnight → 1873 Sc.
► WITCHING HOUR, THE midnight → 1762
► ZERO HOUR the hour from which a new cycle of time is measured; midnight, as the beginning of the day → 1939
PHRASES
► HALF PAST A COLORED MAN half past midnight – reply to one who asks ‘what time is it?’ → 1944 African-American sl.
► HALF PAST A MONKEY’S ASS half past midnight → 1996 African-American sl.
► TURN OF THE NIGHT passing midnight → 1913 Amer. dial. (Bk.)
Lexicophilia 