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small hours. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
small hours, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
small hours in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
small hours you have here. The definition of the word
small hours will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
small hours, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From the small number used to identify such hours (e.g. 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock).
Noun
small hours pl (plural only)
- The very early morning, just after midnight, when most people are asleep.
1949 September and October, “The "Nord Express"”, in Railway Magazine, page 336:Cologne Hauptbahnhof is reached in the small hours, and the traveller new to postwar Germany is spared the sight of the devastated city.
1962 April, J. N. Faulkner, “Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways, page 265:Then follows a quiet period during the small hours, marked by the departure of the other newspaper trains and some van trains, and by the arrival of the mail train from Weymouth.
2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian:...the writer conjured up a dystopian fantasy more berserk than anything you might find yourself listening to in the small hours at the Stone Circle.
Usage notes
Almost always used with the definite article (the small hours), or occasionally with a demonstrative adjective (these small hours, those small hours).
Synonyms
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