afternoons

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of afternoon.

   Her free afternoons were devoted to painting and long walks.

   Rainy afternoons kept the campers indoors for most of the week.

   Note

   A regular plural formed with -s, spelled the same as the habitual adverb. You can tell the noun by its company: it takes a determiner or an adjective (her free afternoons, rainy afternoons) and can be the subject of a sentence. The singular also has an archaic adverb meaning "in the afternoon". Today, though, the adverbial job falls to the plural, so the bare singular rarely does that work now.

2. 2
   adverb

   Regularly during the hours after noon; on each successive afternoon as a recurring routine.

   The corner bakery closes afternoons throughout the summer.

   Afternoons, the old man would sit by the window watching the street.

   Note

   The plural doing an adverb's job with no preposition attached. We are closed afternoons means the same as "closed in the afternoons", and it is the natural phrasing for opening hours. It usually follows the verb, though it can lead a sentence when set off by a comma. Unlike the plain plural noun, it takes no article or adjective, and it cannot be compared.

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