dead of night

dead of night

The middle of the night. Why are you calling me in the dead of night? Can't this wait till morning? A: "What are you doing walking through the woods in the dead of night?" B: "I could ask you the same question, sir!" Don't worry, if the baby ends up being born in the dead of night, I'll call you first thing in the morning.

See also: dead, night, of

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

dead of

The period of greatest intensity of something, such as darkness or cold. For example, I love looking at seed catalogs in the dead of winter, when it's below zero outside. The earliest recorded use of dead of night, for "darkest time of night," was in Edward Hall's Chronicle of 1548: "In the dead of the night ... he broke up his camp and fled." Dead of winter, for the coldest part of winter, dates from the early 1600s.

See also: dead, of

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

the dead of night

the quietest, darkest part of the night.

See also: dead, night, of

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

(in) the ˌdead of (the) ˈnight

,

at ˌdead of ˈnight

in the quietest, darkest hours of the night: She crept in at dead of night, while they were asleep. OPPOSITE: in broad daylight

See also: dead, night, of

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

dead of night/winter, the

The time of most intense stillness, darkness, or cold. This usage dates from the sixteenth century. Shakespeare had it in Twelfth Night (1.5), “Even in the dead of night,” and Washington Irving used the alternate phrase in Salmagundi (1807–08), “In the dead of winter, when nature is without charm.”

See also: dead, night, of

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer