ˈTwelfth-night
Forms: see twelfth and night.
The evening before Twelfth-day, formerly observed as a time of merry-making. Also attrib.
| c 900 O.E. Chron. an. 878 Her hiene bestæl se here on midne winter ofer tuelftan niht to Cippanhamme. 13.. K. Alis. (Laud MS.) 6388 Of þat cite comen..þe kynges thre, Þat foloweden goddis sterre..In cristemasse, on þe twelueþ niȝth. 1601 Shakes. (title) Twelfe Night, Or what you will. 1649 Milton Eikon. Pref., Wks. 1851 III. 333 Quaint Emblems..begg'd from the olde Pageantry of some Twelfe-nights entertainment. 1764 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 45/1 The ancient custom of public hazard playing at court on twelfth night. 1826 Twelfth-night-cake [see Twelfth-cake]. 1854 Thackeray Rose & Ring Prel. (1866) 3 Twelfth-Night characters—those funny painted pictures of the King, the Queen, the Lover, the Lady, the Dandy, the Captain, and so on—with which our young ones are wont to recreate themselves at this festive time. 1863 Chambers' Bk. Days I. 64/1 In the last century, Twelfth-Night cards represented ministers, maids of honour, and other attendants of a court. |