afternoon
(ˌɑːftəˈnuːn, æ-)
[after- 1 + noon; orig. a phrase; cf. L. post meridiem.]
1. a. The time from mid-day to evening. Formerly preceded by at, now in the, during the; and as a date on.
| a 1300 K. Horn 358 ‘Go nu,’ quaþ heo, ‘sone And send him after none.’ 1450 Gregory Chron. (1876) 196 That same day, the aftyr non, the Duke of Yorke roode thoroughe London. 1463 Manners & Househ. Exp. Eng. 228 The nyte next afore tyl the sayd day at aftyr noyn. 1527 Gardiner in Pocock Rec. Ref. 38 I. 73 We abide passage which we trust to have this afternoon. 1570–87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) II. 70 A terrible eclipse of the sun, at three of the clocke at afternoone. 1587 Turbervile Trag. Tales The king..To take a nappe at after noone, Into his chamber gotte. 1601 A. Dent Path-way to Heaven 123 These men serue God in the fore-noone, and the diuell in the after-noone. 1669 Pepys Diary (1879) VI. 2 Spent the afternoon in several places. a 1704 T. Brown Com. View Wks. 1730 I. 146 Afternoon sleepy in most churches. 1829 Scott Guy M. 217 The funeral was to proceed at one o'clock afternoon. 1842 Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 3 In the afternoon they came unto a land, In which it seemed always afternoon. 1877 W. Lytteil Landmarks ii. ii. 97 She had often sat on summer afternoons admiring the majesty of the Arran Fells. |
b. pl. as adv.: in the afternoon; of an afternoon. Cf. nights adv.
| 1896 Vermont Agric. Rep. XV. 36, I prefer to gather sap afternoons. 1911 Rep. Lab. & Soc. Conditions in Germany III. 31 The boys..attended school from 8 o'clock till 11 in the forenoon, and from 2 to 4 afternoons. |
c. good afternoon: see good a. 10 c. In informal speech often shortened to afternoon. Cf. morning n. 2 b
| 1921 E. O'Neill Diff'rent i, in Emperor Jones 223 Afternoon, Harriet—and Alf. Harriet. Afternoon, Ma. 1954 W. Faulkner Fable 141 The brigadier himself sitting at a desk..said: ‘Afternoon. As you were a moment, will you?’ 1966 T. Frisby There's Girl in my Soup i. 5 Afternoon, Mr Hunter. Mr. Danvers's taxi is waiting. |
2. fig. as in the afternoon of life.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 186 Euen in the after-noone of her best dayes. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 461 My lady's cousin Half-sickening of his pensioned afternoon. 1871 Burr Ad Fidem ix. 162 The world's latest afternoon. |
3. a. attrib.
| 1577 Tusser Husb. lxix. 2 Afternoone doings till suppertime come. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Pet. iii. 3 (1865) 609/1 Calling for their afternoon-bevers, before they have concocted their dinners. 1711 Shaftesbury Charact. (1737) II. 258 Reading an afternoon-lecture to his pupils. 1748 Richardson Clarissa I. xvii. 110, I will go down..and excuse your attendance at afternoon tea. 1754 Fielding Voy. Lisbon (1755) 104 Our ladies..drank their afternoon tea at an alehouse. 1850 C. Reade Christie Johnst. 155 The afternoon beams sprinkled gold on a long grassy slope. 1879 M. E. Braddon Vixen III. 185 How fond you gentlemen pretend to be of afternoon tea. 1882 [see tea n. 4 a]. 1903 A. Bennett Leonora iii. 76 He was admiring the spacious room and herself in her beautiful afternoon dress. 1927 E. Glyn ‘It’ xii. 111 She had put on her most demure garment—an afternoon frock of crimson crêpe. 1931 A. Christie Sittaford Mystery i. 10 Two women in afternoon frocks rose to greet the staunch old warrior. |
b. attrib. or quasi-adj., in sense ‘procrastinating, slow, lazy’, as afternoon farmer. dial. (see E.D.D.).
| 1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husb. June iii. 30 Others, where the Crop is thin, will not hough at all; but these are your Afternoon Farmers, as we call them. 1889 Standard 28 Nov. 2/1 The rain and snow..have come too soon for a few ‘afternoon farmers’, who have not yet put in all their wheat. 1894 N. & Q. V. 153/2 In West Middlesex the expression ‘an afternoon farmer’ is frequently used in talking of a farmer who is behind hand in his work. |
4. Comb. afternoon('s)-man, a tippler.
| 1614 Overbury A Wife, etc. (1638) 196 Make him an afternoones man. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel., Democr. to Reader (1657) 44 Beroaldus will have drunkards, afternoon men, and such as more then ordinarily delight in drink, to be mad. |
Hence (rare) afterˈnoony a.
| 1885 T. H. Huxley Let. 23 Feb. in L. Huxley Life of T. H. H. (1900) II. vi. 96 There is something idle and afternoony about the air which whittles away one's resolution. |