ˈnight-cap
[f. night n. + cap n.1]
1. a. A covering for the head, worn especially in bed.
| c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 609 She him saugh up sittinge in his sherte, In his night-cappe, and with his nekke lene. 14.. Rule Syon Monast. liii. in Collect. Topogr. I. (1834) 31 Up on ther hedes they may have a nyghte kerchyf and a nyghte cappe. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §142 Purse, dagger, cloke, nyght cap, kerchef. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. iii. 9 Making exchaunge of certaine red night caps with the Negroes for Bracelets of Iuory. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass i. v, Ther's a fellow with a night cap on his head. 1655 Culpepper, etc. Riverius i. i. 7 If by Fumes he find pain in his head, you may only perfume his night-caps every evening. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 260 ¶1 That some Ladies..may be persuaded to wear warm Night-Caps this cold Season. 1791 Boswell Johnson (1831) I. 234 With his little black wig on the top of his head, instead of a night-cap. 1836 Marryat Japhet xl, His head was covered with a white nightcap. 1887 Besant The World Went i, His head, covered with a padded silk night-cap, was sunk deep in the pillows. |
† b. night-cap wig, ? a close-fitting wig resembling a night-cap.
Obs.| 1709 Steele Tatler No. 26 ¶4 Some new Alteration in our Night-cap-Wigs and Pockets. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 129 ¶10 A Gentleman that had accoutered himself in a Night-Cap Wig [etc.]. 1829 Lytton Devereux ii. i, A tall, gaunt fellow, in a coat covered with tarnished lace, a night-cap wig [etc.]. |
2. a. In
transf. or
fig. applications.
† horse('s) nightcap, a halter.
| 1593, etc. [see horse n. 28]. c 1667 Roxb. Ball. (1891) VII. 360 His Wife too will scoff, when he comes lamely off, And gave him a Night-cap of Horn. 1770 Gentl. Mag. XL. 560 To express the Condition of an Honest Fellow and no Flincher under the Effects of good Fellowship he is said to..[have] Got his Night Cap on. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xxxix, Foker..voted Erith a prig and a dullard, the nightcap of the House of Commons. |
† b. A nocturnal bully.
Obs. rare.
| 1623 Webster Duchess Malfi ii. i, Be sure you are taken for one of the prime night-caps. ― Devil's Law Case ii. i, Among a shoal or swarm of reeking night-caps. |
c. A cloud of mist covering a mountain-top.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §819 They say in Wales, When certain Hills have their Night-caps on, they mean mischief. 1817 Paulding Letters from South I. 160 It is a rainy morning; the mountains have all got on their nightcaps of mist. |
3. An alcoholic drink taken immediately before going to bed in order to induce sleep. Also, a non-alcoholic drink taken at bedtime.
| 1818 The Cook's Oracle (ed. 2) 503 A pint of table beer, (or Ale, if you make it for a ‘Night-Cap’) [etc.]. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xxiii, A pint of hot brandy and water..by way of a nightcap. 1862 Sala Accepted Addr. 118 Drinks..cunningly compounded..by way of night-caps. 1887 T. A. Trollope What I remember II. ii. 21, I neither took, or cared to take, any wine with my dinner, and never wanted any description of ‘nightcap’. 1930 Daily Tel. 9 Apr. 11/7 (Advt.), ‘Ovaltine’... The world's best ‘night-cap’ to ensure sound, natural sleep. 1959 New Statesman 1 Aug. 141/3 A greater number of housewives than ever before realised the goodness of Bovril..for use as a beverage during the day, a night-cap, and for adding to savoury dishes. 1975 ‘C. Aird’ Slight Mourning ii. 18 Sloan's own nightcap was usually milky coffee. |
| attrib. 1844 Hewlett Parsons & W. xlv, The only glass that a man ought to take ‘solus’ is..the night-cap tumbler. |
4. The final event in one day's series of sporting contests;
spec. the second of two baseball games played by the same two teams on a single day.
N. Amer. colloq.| 1939 Webster Add., Nightcap, the final race or contest of a day's sports. 1941 Sun (Baltimore) 22 Sept. 1/1 The Cardinals pulled the opening game out of the fire with a daring bit of base running..to win 6–5, and took the nightcap, 7–0. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §675/6 Second game of a ‘double-header’,..nightcap. 1969 Internat. Herald Tribune (Paris) 6 Nov. 13/1 In the nightcap, Baltimore's Wes Unseld..sat out much of the game because of foul trouble. 1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 17/1 In the nightcap, Jerry Reuss permitted seven hits. 1974 Union (S. Carolina) Daily Times 22 Apr. 6/2 The Orioles edged New York 6–5 in 13 innings in the opener of a doubleheader and then protested the nightcap, which they lost 3–0. |
Hence
ˈnight-capped (
-kæpt)
a., covered with, or wearing, a night-cap or night-caps.
| a 1658 Lovelace Poems (1864) 230 When the sick sea with turbants night-cap'd was. 1826 Pounden France & It. 3 A squalid night-capped set of gentlemen. 1873 Mrs. H. Wood Mast. Greylands ix, The window..was flung open.., and Mrs. Bent's night-capped head came out. |