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dead of night. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
dead of night, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
dead of night in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
dead of night you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Noun
dead of night
- (idiomatic) Middle of the night.
- Synonyms: deep of night; see also Thesaurus:midnight
c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Write loyal cantons of contemnèd love / And sing them loud even in the dead of night.
1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII:I was feeling just as I had felt in the old Malvern House epoch when I used to sneak down to [the schoolmaster]'s study at dead of night in quest of the biscuits he kept there in a tin on his desk, and there came back to me the memory of the occasion when, not letting a twig snap beneath my feet, I had entered his sanctum in pyjamas and a dressing-gown, to find him seated in his chair, tucking into the biscuits himself.
Usage notes
- Commonly used as “in the dead of night”, but sometimes “at dead of night” (as if “at midnight”).
Translations