# midnight

Pronunciation: say "MID-nyt" US/UK /ˈmɪd(ˌ)naɪt/, AUS /ˈmɪd(ˌ)nɑet/

## Noun

1. Twelve o'clock at night exactly, marking the division between one day and the next.
   - Simple: Twelve o'clock at night, when one day ends and the next begins.
   - _The train departs at midnight, so passengers should arrive early._
   - _She finished writing her report just after midnight._
2. The middle of the night, the sixth temporal hour, falling halfway between sunset and sunrise.
   - Simple: The middle of the night, halfway between sunset and sunrise.
   - _The monks rose at midnight to pray, the night only half spent._
   - _Deep in the desert, midnight brought the coldest air of the long night._
4. A roll showing two sixes in dice games, also called boxcars.
   - Simple: In dice games, a roll that shows two sixes.
   - _She groaned as her opponent rolled midnight for the second time._
   - _Landing midnight at that moment swung the whole game in his favor._

## Adjective

3. Utterly dark or black, without any trace of light. *(literary)*
   - Simple: Completely dark or black, with no light at all.
   - _The raven's midnight feathers gleamed faintly in the candlelight._
   - _Beneath the midnight surface of the sea, nothing stirred._

## Origin

From Middle English "midnight," from Old English "midniht," from Proto-Germanic *midjanahts, formed from "mid-" plus "night." It is related to German "Mitternacht," Dutch "middernacht," Danish "midnat," and Swedish "midnatt."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/midnight (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).