▪ I. midnight, n.
(ˈmɪdnaɪt)
Forms: α. see mid a. and night; in 1 inflected midder, mid(d)re, middyre niht(e; β. 1 middernæht, 3 midderniht(e.
[OE. midniht = MDu. midnacht, middenacht, OHG. mittinaht (MHG. mitnaht), Sw. midnatt (ON. had a derivative form, miðnǽtti:—*miđjonahtjo{supm}), f. mid a. + night. OE. had also the syntactical combination midde niht, frequently occurring in the dative as middre niht; this inflected form survived into the 13th c.; it corresponds to Du. middernacht, G. mitternacht, which from the 14th c. have been used in all cases.]
1. The middle of the night; 12 o'clock at night.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. x. (1890) 286 Þa ongon heo semninga on midde neaht cleopian þæm þe hire þeᵹnodon. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xi. 5 Sua huelc iuer hæfeð friond & gaeð to him æd middernæht [etc.]. a 1000 Phœnix 262 æt middre nihte. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 125 Alswa wel onbuten mid-niht alswa on mid-daiȝ. c 1205 Lay. 15943 ælche middernihte heo bigunneð to fihten. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1748 Ha wenden from hire, abuten þe midniht. 1382 Wyclif Judg. vii. 19 Gedeon wente in..into a part of the tentis, bigynnynge the watchis of the mydnyȝt. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. xiv. (1859) 81 Sodenly the belle gan sowne the hour of mydnyght. 1535 Coverdale Matt. xxv. 6 At mydnight there was a crye made. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 67 'Tis now dead midnight. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 58 By Night he fled, and at Midnight return'd From compassing the Earth. 1726–46 Thomson Winter 202 As yet 'tis midnight deep. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab v. 146 Specks of tinsel, fixed in heaven To light the midnights of his native town! 1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xix. 143 There are not many subjects upon which, if he takes up his pen at ten o'clock, he cannot by midnight turn out a chatty and readable column for the next morning. |
2. transf. and
fig. Intense darkness or gloom; a period of intense darkness.
| 1593 B. Barnes Parthenophil Sonn. xxiii. in Arb. Garner V. 352 Her forehead's threatful clouds from hope removed me, Till Midnight reared on the mid-noctial line. c 1665 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1885) I. 99 When the dawn of the gospel began to break upon this isle, after the dark midnight of papacy. 1781 Cowper Charity 376 Philosophy,..while his province is the reasoning part, Has still a veil of midnight on his heart. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 182 It was the darkest midnight of the world's history. |
† 3. slang.
mother midnight (see
quots.).
Obs.| 1602 F. Herring Anat. 11 One while hee playeth the Apothecarie, other whiles serueth in stead of Mother Midnight. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Mother Midnight, a Midwife (often a Bawd). 1715 S. Centlivre Gotham Elect. Wks. 1872 III. 180 [To the Midwife] And you too, Mrs. Midnight; kiss me, you old Jade you—. |
4. attrib. passing into adj. a. Of or pertaining to midnight, occurring at midnight, meeting at midnight.
spec. as
midnight mass.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 260 That was ate mydnyht tyde. 1634 Milton Comus 103 Mean while welcom Joy, and Feast, Midnight shout and revelry. 1665–7 J. Lauder Jrnls. in Publ. Scottish Hist. Soc. (1900) XXXVI. 118 The rest of our Scotsmen ware so curious as to go hear Midnight Masses. 1698 [R. Ferguson] View Eccles. 32 The fittest and best Qualified Candidate to be A Midnight Gold Gatherer or an Emptier of Houses of Office. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vii. 1244 Survey this Midnight Scene. 1815 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 70 About fifty armed men came..and swore all the inhabitants to be faithful to the new system enacted by the midnight legislators of this country [sc. Kilkenny]. 1848 J. H. Newman Let. 25 Dec. (1962) XII. 382 The midnight mass was a high one. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. iv. Refectory, Are you such asses As to keep up the fashion of midnight masses? 1866 G. M. Hopkins Lett. to R. Bridges (1955) 16 It is not much more than an hour to Xmas day: I am sitting up for the midnight mass. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 26 Sept. 7/3 The mishap occurred to the midnight train from Liverpool-street to Norwich. 1960 A. Christie Adventure of Christmas Pudding 33 Who's going to brave the snow and go to midnight mass? |
b. Dark as midnight.
| 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. D 8 Whilst there I lie in midnight-dark immur'd, My friends emblazoned forth mine injurie. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. ii. 770 It is an Antichristian Opera Much us'd in midnight times of Popery. 1755 Young Centaur 99 Dungeon them in midnight Dens of Fraud and Destruction. 1855 Browning Bp. Blougram's Apol. 253 What's midnight doubt before the dayspring's faith? 1860 Hawthorne Marble Faun xi, In all that labyrinth of midnight paths. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
midnight-shrouded,
midnight-woven adjs.;
midnight appointments U.S. politics, appointments made during the last hours of an administration; specifically, those so made by President John Adams (
Cent. Dict.);
† midnight banquet = midnight feast;
midnight black, an intense black colour; also
attrib.;
midnight blue, a very dark shade of blue; also
attrib. or as adj.;
† midnight cart, a cart for carrying away night soil;
midnight feast, a feast at midnight;
spec. a children's secret feast in a school dormitory or the like;
midnight matinée, a special theatrical performance presented at midnight;
midnight oil, used
fig. in phrase
to burn (etc.) the midnight oil, to sit up or work after midnight;
midnight sun, the sun as seen in the Arctic regions at midnight;
midnight-tide poet., midnight.
| 1896 C. M. Yonge in C. Coleridge C. M. Yonge (1903) iii. 114 She invited the other young ladies to a *midnight banquet..in their night-caps and dressing gowns. |
| 1922 H. Crane Let. 2 Mar. (1965) 80 Pastel tinted flowers on a background of *midnight black. 1925 J. Gregory Bab of Backwoods xvi. 201 Monte made out vaguely the slim form in white, a whitish blur against a midnight-black curtain. |
| 1916 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 8 July 12/1 (Advt.), The same style [of shoe] in jungle brown, *midnight blue and bronze. 1935 R. Hichens Afterglow 86 A silken collar and a midnight blue tie. 1937 Times 10 July 15/4 Dressed in midnight-blue crêpe-de-chine. 1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xxxviii. 289 His dinner clothes were midnight blue. 1972 Guardian 5 Dec. 11/2 Toga dress..in..midnight blue. |
| 1698 J. Collier Immor. Stage 204 To present Nature under every Appearance would be an odd undertaking. A *Midnight Cart, or a Dunghil would be no Ornamental Scene. |
| 1938 A. Christie Appointment with Death i. vii. 52 This is rather fun... Rather like the *midnight feasts we used to have at school. 1964 C. Hodder-Williams Main Experiment i. vi. 57 ‘When will you be back from London?’ ‘Late tonight.’ ‘We'll have a midnight feast, then.’ 1972 Listener 2 Nov. 614/1 Midnight feasts, practical jokes and all the fun of the dormitory. |
| 1952 Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 118 *Midnight matinée. 1963 Daily Express 25 Sept. 1/4, I don't honestly see why the Stationery Office have to put on a midnight matinee for the Denning Report, even if it has got a U Certificate. |
| 1635 Quarles Embl. ii. ii. 33 Wee spend our mid-day sweat, our *mid-night oyle; Wee tyre the night in thought; the day, in toyle. 1744 Shenstone Elegies xi, I trimm'd my lamp, consum'd the midnight oil. 1882 W. Ballantine Exper. iii. 32, I cannot say that I burnt much midnight oil. |
| 1857 Dufferin Lett. High Lat. (ed. 3) 316 The nights were even brighter than the days, and afforded Fitz an opportunity of taking some photographic views by the light of a *midnight sun. |
| 1918 W. de la Mare Motley 4 At cold of *midnight-tide. |
| 1810 Associate Minstrels 76 Then desolation's *midnight-woven pall Shall in one sable fold envelope all. |
▪ II. † ˈmidnight, v. [f. midnight n.] trans. To plunge into midnight darkness.
| 1627–47 Feltham Resolves i. lxi. 187 Of all objects of sorrow, a distressed king is the most pitifull; because it presents most the frailty of humanity: and cannot but most midnight the soule of him that is falne. |