▪ I. noon, n.
(nuːn)
Forms: α. 1 nón, 2–5 non, 4 noen, 3–6 none, 4–7 noone, 3– noon. β. north. and Sc. 4 noun(e, nown, 5 novne, nowne, noyn(e; nun, nvne, 7– nune.
[OE. nón neut. = ON. nón (MSw. and Norw. non) neut., OS. *nôn (noon, nuon), MDu. (and Du.) noen, obs. G. non fem., ad. L. nōna (sc. hōra), fem. sing. of nōnus ninth: cf. none n. and nones. A weak fem. form, more directly representing the L., appears in OS. and OHG. nôna (MLG. and MHG. nône), ON. nóna, MDu. none, noene: cf. also F. none, † nonne.]
† 1. a. The ninth hour of the day, reckoned from sunrise according to the Roman method, or about three o'clock in the afternoon. Obs.
Chiefly as a direct rendering of L. nona (hora), and in later use most frequent in accounts of the Crucifixion.
| Beowulf 1600 Ða com non dæᵹes: næs ofᵹeafon hwate Scyldingas. c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. v. (Schipper) 204 Þæt hi þy feorðan wicdæᵹe & þy syxtan fæstan to nones. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 140 Sele drincan on þreo tida, on undern, on middæᵹ, on non. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 45 Ic ham ȝeue reste..from non on saterdei a þa cume monedeis lihting. c 1275 Passion our Lord 478 in O.E. Misc. 50 Hit wes welneyh mydday, þo þusternesse com, In alle Middenherde fort þet hit wes non. a 1300 Cursor M. 988 He was wroght at vndern tide, At middai eue draun of his side,..þai war bath don out at none. 13.. Sir Beues 3237 Þe sonne schon, hit drouȝ to vnder,..Middai com, hit drouȝ te noune. 1382 Wyclif Mark xv. 33 Derknessis ben maad..til in to the nynthe our, that is, noon. c 1420 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 277 Ȝet he was in suffryng..Tyl it was pacyd non. |
† b. Eccl. The hour or office of
nones.
Obs.| c 960 æthelwold Rule St. Benet (Schröer 1885) 40 Eornostlice on þysum tidum we herien urne scyppend.., on middæᵹ, on non, on æfen. a 1000 Colloq. ælfric in Wr.-Wülcker 101 We..sungon non, cantauimus nonam. a 1225 Ancr. R. 20 Siggeð non efter mete þe hwule þet sumer lested. c 1300 St. Brandan 225 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 225 Þe foweles sunge ek here matyns..& vnderne siþþe & middai & afterwardes none. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 928 Þey shuld nat werche Lengyr þan þey rong none at þe chyrche. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 41 But late lewid freris seie..for prime, tierce, vndren & noon, for eche of hem seuene pater nostris. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xvii, Were thritty trentalles done, By-twyxene vndrone and none, My saule were saluede fulle sone. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 10, I haue yete to saye my sexte, none, and myn euensonge. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 164 b, The chirche..entendeth to honour & worshyp at vij tymes in the daye, that is to saye, in matyns,..none, euensonge & complyn. 1561 Bp. Parkhurst Injunctions, Whether they..vse muche iangling in festiuall daies in ringing none or curphew. |
2. a. Twelve o'clock in the day; mid-day.
The same change in the time denoted by
noon, probably due to anticipation of the ecclesiastical office or of a meal-hour, has taken place with
Du. noen, and with F.
none in older (and still in dialect) use. By the 14th
cent. it appears to have been the ordinary sense of the word in English, although in many examples there is no clear indication of the time intended. The common phrases (
be)fore noon and
after noon have given rise to the
ns. forenoon and
afternoon.
high noon: see
high a. 11.
| α c 1205 Lay. 14039 Þa þe non wes icumen, þa weoren Peohtes ouer-cumen..& alle dai heo fluȝen. c 1290 St. Michael 403 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 311 Þe sonne..is euene a-boue þin heued riȝt atþe nones stounde. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 890 Bitvene þe none and þe niȝt Last þe batayle. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §3 From .xi. of the clokke byforn the howre of noon til on of the clok next folwyng. c 1410 Hoccleve Compl. Virg. 135 O sonne, with thy cleere bemes brighte, Þat seest my child nakid this nones tyde. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. xxi. 835 Euery day..from vnderne tyl hyhe none hys myght encreaced tho thre houres. 1472–3 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 23 The houre of xii, comenly called the houre of none, of the seid fourty day. 1529 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 324 Whiche I trust shalbe to morow at nyght or wenesday by none. 1565 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 332 Fra sex houris in the morning to xi houris at none, and fra ane eftir none to sex houris at evin. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 81 b, Before noone when it waxeth hotte..you must digge it. 1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Del. i. x. (1635) 232 When the one hath his Noone, the other inioyes his midnight. 1656 Heylin Surv. France 423 It was full noon before we were under sail. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 615 'Twas Noon; the sultry Dog-star from the Sky Scorch'd Indian Swains. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 232 ¶1 The Noons have been of late pretty warm. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 58 Now at noon..The season smiles,..And has the warmth of May. 1812 Woodhouse Astron. i. 5 Noon is determined by the Sun being on the meridian. 1836–7 Dickens Sk. Boz, Scenes i, We come to the heat, bustle, and activity of Noon. 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn, Prel. 23 But noon and night, the panting teams Stop under the great oaks. |
| fig. 1819 Shelley Cenci iv. i. 82 She shall stand shelterless in the broad noon Of public scorn. 1839–52 Bailey Festus 160 Whose hearts have a look southwards, and are open To the whole noon of nature. |
| β 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 659 Apon sic maner can thai ficht Quhill it wes neir noyne of the day. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 769 Fasting..fryday fra þe novne til sonday at þe mes be done. c 1460 Towneley Myst. ix. 81 Or noyn of the day, I dar you hyght, to bryng hym by the hand. c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 611 Be ane our nowne at Bothwell ȝeit he was. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 154 It is not lesum to pack, or peill fish, bot fra eleven houres, to twa after nune. |
b. transf. The most important hour of the day.
| 1712 Steele Spect. No. 454 ¶2 The fashionable World, who have made Two a Clock the Noon of the Day. 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxxv, At the noon of London time you see a light-yellow carriage. 1855 ― Newcomes vi, It is 5 o'clock, the noon in Pall Mall. |
c. The mid-day sun.
| 1858 Sears Athan. vi. 53 The noon is blazing down upon the Syrian plain. |
† 3. The mid-day meal. (
Cf. noonmeat.)
Obs.| a 1175 Cott. Hom. 231 Me..sceolde..ȝiefe him his formemete, þat him to lang ne þuhte to abiden oð se laford to þe none inn come. c 1205 Lay. 16595 Þa þe þridde dæi com & þat folc hafde imaked non. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 378, I..ouer-seye me at my sopere and some tyme at nones. 1393 ― P. Pl. C. ix. 290 Let hem abyde..Til alle þyn nedy neihebores haue none ymaked. a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 56 For hys chambre brekefast, none, soupers & lyvery for all nyght vii loves. |
4. a. The time of night corresponding to mid-day; midnight. Chiefly in
phr. (the) noon of night.
| 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus v. vi, When arrived you? About the noon of night. 1648 Herrick Hesper., The Hag iii, While mischiefs,..At noone of Night are a-working. 1697 Dryden æneid iv. 744 Hoary simples,..With brazen sickles reap'd at noon of night. 1745 Warton Pleas. Melanch. 50 Nor undelightful is the solemn noon Of night. 1796 Moser Hermit Caucasus I. 21 At the noon of night their ears were assailed by the..sound of a trumpet. 1820 Shelley Witch Atl. xlvii, When the weary moon was in the wane, Or in the noon of interlunar night. 1830 Tennyson Poems 123 Night hath climbed her peak of highest noon. 1867 J. Ingelow Dreams that came true xliv, For the moon Was shining in, and night was at the noon. |
b. The place of the moon at midnight.
| 1605 Drayton Man in the Moone 37 Now the goodly Moone Was in the Full, and at her Nighted Noone. 1632 Milton Penseroso 68 To behold the wandring Moon, Riding neer her highest noon. 1638 Quarles Elegies xiv. Wks. (Grosart) III. 25 The Queen of light,..in her young Noone of night. |
5. The culminating or highest point.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. vii, Thou, thyself out-going in thy noon, Unlook'd on diest. 1624 Donne Serm. xliii. 429 But the meridianall noone is in faith. 1671 Milton Samson 683 Thou oft Amidst thir highth of noon, Changest thy countenance. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam viii. xxix, In the bright wisdom of youth's breathless noon. 1844 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile 1960 In the set noon of time, shall one from Heaven..Descend before a woman. 1869 Martineau Ess. II. 229 Shadows..deaden the colors of the noon of life. |
6. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
noon-beam,
noon-bell,
noon-dew,
noon-height,
noon-reek,
noon rest,
noon-scape,
noon-top, etc.;
noon-bright,
noon-clear,
noon-fierce,
noon-hot,
noon-maned,
noon-slight,
noon-wandering,
noon-wide,
noon-wild adjs.;
noon-aglow adv.| 1919 W. De La Mare Flora 33 Her billowing summits heaving *noon-aglow. |
| 1776 Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 407 The sultry *noon-beam shines the lovers' aid. |
| 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 2250 So stod Beues in þat þring, Til *noun belle be-gan to ring. |
| 1858 Bonar Hymns Faith & Hope 120 My sky was once *noon-bright. |
| 1874 Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. i. 5 In her *noon-clear sense that she had never loved him she forgot for a moment, [etc.]. |
| 1953 E. Sitwell Gardeners & Astronomers 9 Holding small stars for seeds And planets of *noon-dew. |
| 1656 W. Dugard tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. 190 Leav a breakfast, & *noon-dinner to labourers. |
| 1954 W. Faulkner Fable (1955) 42 He would whisper the one word against the *noon-fierce stone under his face. |
| 1869 D. G. Rossetti Let. 26 Aug. (1965) II. 720 Every sense..Now labours o'er the stark *noon-height To reach the sunset's desolate disarray. |
| 1940 Auden Another Time 37 Every crevice of the *noon-hot landscape. |
| 1946 Dylan Thomas Deaths & Entrances 17, I see the togron in tears In the androgynous dark, His striped and *noon maned tribe striding to holocaust. |
| 1468 Medulla Gram. in Promp. Parv. 361 note, Anticenia, a *nonemele. |
| 1578 Chr. Prayers in Priv. Prayers (1851) 444 That sun of thine.. is always at *noon-point with them, ever bright, ever shining. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 155 The heavy *noonreek tickled the top of Mr Bloom's gullet. |
| 1538 Elyot, Meridiatio, *noone reste. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxviii. 615 We found water enough for our noon rest in the hollowed surface of a rock. |
| 1926 V. Sackville-West Land 71 Then, with the *noonscape, underneath the hedge..the random reaper drains his pint of ale. |
| 1461 Paston Lett. I. 540 Yowr letter was delyveryd to me the xxiii. day of Januar abowthe *none seasson. |
| a 1646 J. Gregory Posthuma (1650) 300 Of Oxford the Sign-Regent is Capricorn, the *Noonshadows are Heteroscian. 1807 Montgomery West Indies iv. (1810) 63 Where the noon shadow shrinks beneath the sun. |
| 1936 L. B. Lyon Bright Feather Fading 16 He loved to shoulder A far cloud or brush the *noon-Slight sickle moon. |
| 1868 Whittier Among Hills 11 The locust by the wall Stabs the *noon-silence with his sharp alarm. |
| 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 156 Many are in each Region passing fair As the *noon Skie. |
| 1933 C. Day Lewis Magnetic Mountain 9 Spirit mating afresh shall discern him On the world's *noon-top purely poised. |
| 1820 Shelley Witch Atl. xlvi, A *noon-wandering meteor flung to heaven. |
| 1935 ― Time to Dance 25 Buoyed, embayed in heaven's *noon-wide reaches. |
| 1936 L. B. Lyon Bright Feather Fading 41 Battlement that once glowed *Noon-wild is warier lit. |
b. Special combs., as
noon-basket U.S., a lunch-basket;
† noon-devil (see
meridian a. 1 b);
noon-flower, a name given to plants of the genus
Mesembryanthemum, and to the Goat's-beard (
Tragopogon pratensis);
† noon-hall, ? a dining-hall;
noon-halt, a halt made in the middle of the day;
noon-hour,
U.S. the hour of dinner or rest in the middle of the day;
noon-house U.S., a house used for rest and meals at midday; now
Hist.;
noon-line, the line marking the hour of noon on a sun-dial;
noon-mark, a mark which indicates when it is noon; midday; now
Hist.;
noonshine,
joc. form of
nuncheon;
noon-spell U.S., a rest taken in the middle of the day;
noon-sprite (
cf. noon-devil above);
† noon-tender (see
quot. 1684).
| 1865 A. D. Whitney Gayworthys vi. 71 Don't you remember what we used to say at school, when we opened our *noon-baskets? |
| 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 30 b, The Scripture warneth us, to beware of the *noone Devill, & the fliynge Arrowe. 1621 Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. iv. ii. 265 At this day the Russians feare and reuerence the noone deuil. |
| 1856 Delamer Fl. Gard. (1861) 95 *Noon Flower.―An immense genus of succulents, mostly shrubby. 1864 Prior Plant-n., Noon-flower, or Noon-tide, from its closing at midday, and marking the hour of noon. |
| 1665 Pepys Diary 20 Apr., This night I am told the first play is played in White Hall *noon-hall, which is now turned to a house of playing. |
| 1843 J. C. Frémont Rep. Exploring Expedition 15 At our *noon halt, the men were exercised at a target. 1854 J. R. Bartlett Pers. Narr. Explor. Texas II. xxxvii. 395 On our return we made a noon halt on the banks of the river. a 1918 G. Stewart On Frontier I. 115 John Dickery rode ahead from our noon halt to try to kill a sage hen. |
| 1889 Charity Organis. Rev. Aug. 341 He asked a few men to call every day at his *noon hour at the place where he worked. |
| 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. 110 Several elderly men and women retired to what was called a ‘*Noon House’, a small building..where they ate dinner and had a prayer. 1891 A. Earle Sabbath 102 There might have been seen a hundred years ago, by the side of many an old meeting-house in New England, a long, low, mean, stable-like building... This was the ‘noon-house’, or ‘Sabba-day house’... It was a place of refuge in the winter time, at the noon interval between two services. |
| 1596 Blagrave Vran. Astrolabe E 3 The *noone-line brought to the sunnes chief Apex. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. iii. 4 The Gnomon..erected upon the Noon-line, or Line of 12 a Clock. |
| 1854 B. F. Taylor Jan. & June i. 131 The sun..has reached the *noon-mark on the threshold. 1889 R. T. Cooke Steadfast xxv. 275 Goodness! tis most noon-mark and I haven't took a step towardst dinner. 1948 Amer. N. & Q. Nov. 121/2, I should like to know whether..the term ‘noon mark’ was once common. |
| 1808 Jane Austen Let. 20 June (1952) 195 The Moores came..between one & two o'clock, &..after the *noonshine which succeeded their arrival, a party set off for Buckwell. Ibid. 24 Oct. 228 The tide is just right for our going immediately after noon-shine. |
| 1839 C. M. Kirkland New Home xlv. 300 Even the ‘*noon⁓spell’ shines no holiday for the luckless subjects of her domination. 1887 J. Kirkland Zury 18 Wait till noon⁓spell, then we'll see! 1889 R. T. Cooke Steadfast ii. 30 Its nigh about noonspell now. |
| 1892 Child Ballads IV. 440/2 The Wends have the proverbial phrase, to ask as many questions as a *noon-sprite. |
| 1684 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. ii. (ed. 15) 245 Sixteen *noon-tenders, who attend the goods on the keys whilst the other officers go to dinner. 1710 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. 494 Noon-tenders, at 16l. each per Ann. |
▪ II. noon, v. U.S. (
nuːn)
[f. noon n. Cf. W. Flem. noenen, G. dial. nonen, Norw. dial. nona, nöna.] intr. (also with
it.) To halt or rest at noon, or in the middle of the day; to stop for, or partake of, the mid-day meal.
| 1806 Lewis & Clark Exped. (1893) 1061 We arrived..where we had nooned it on the 12th of Sept. last. 1850 B. Taylor Eldorado xix. 135 We nooned at Sanchez' Ranche. 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur vii. v. 459 The third day of the journey the party nooned by the river Jabbok. |
▪ III. noon obs. form of
none.
▪ IV. † noon obs. aphetic form of
anon.
| 1462 Paston Lett. II. 102 And noon upon thys same langwage, yong Debnam spake to hys fader. |