bedtime
(ˈbɛdtaɪm)
[see time.]
a. The hour or time for going to bed. fig. = ‘hour of death.’
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 324 Ich singe an eve..And soththe won hit is bed-time. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 34 What dances shall we haue..Between our after supper, and bedtime? 1743 Wesley Jrnl. (1749) 62 The Lord's prayer, which they were made say at rising and bed-time. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxvii. 406 Master opens it, and reads the label, ‘Draught to be taken at bedtime’. |
| fig. 1870 Alford in Life (1873) 457, I only hope the Master's work may be got done by bedtime. |
b. attrib. bedtime story, a story told (to a child) at bedtime; also
fig.| 1894 S. Fiske Jack's Partner iv. §iii. 80 Rose had suggested this partnership to John during a bed-time conference. 1899 (title, Blackie & Son) Bedtime Stories, a picture-book for little folk. 1926 A. Huxley Jesting Pilate iii. 254 Racing results and bed-time stories. 1940 A. Hocking Wicked Flee viii. 173 If we come to the conclusion that it's all just a bedtime story, you're left to assume that Lavinia is unhinged. |