witching hour

American  

noun

• witching hours
  plural

1. midnight.

   a rendezvous at the witching hour.

---

witching hour British  

noun

1. the hour at which witches are supposed to appear, usually midnight

---

witching hour Idioms  

1. Midnight, as in They arrived just at the witching hour. This term alludes to older superstitions concerning a time appropriate to witchcraft and other supernatural occurrences. Shakespeare and others wrote of “the witching time of night.” The precise phrase was first recorded in 1835.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• witching hours
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of witching hour

First recorded in 1825–35

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

witching hour

As the witching hour approached, a buzzing crowd mingled, played themed character games and snagged official “Iron Flame” merch as they waited to pick up their limited-edition hardcovers at midnight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2023

Dusk is the witching hour at Accra Zoo.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2023

It's the closest to that witching hour we've ever been.

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2020

As Farage conducted a countdown to the witching hour, he ventured some wild “we happy few” Shakespearean claims about the significance of the moment in our island history.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 1, 2020

Perhaps, she told herself, this was what they called the witching hour.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---