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first night

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noun
  1. opening night.
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Origin of first night

First recorded in 1705–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

debutbeginningopeningpremierepreviewopenersneak

Examples from the Web for first night

Historical Examples

  • First-night, as I have said, was a specially “go-as-you-please” occasion at the school.

    The Cock-House at Fellsgarth

    Talbot Baines Reed

  • It struck me forcibly as I looked over the first-night audience.

  • The sudden relief, the feeling of irresponsibility, the first-night excitement.

    Life on the Stage

    Clara Morris

  • How did the first-night audience of public, and critics, receive the new play?

    Oscar Wilde

    Leonard Cresswell Ingleby

  • She saw Jarvis before the curtain, making a first-night speech.

    Bambi

    Marjorie Benton Cooke

British Dictionary definitions for first night

first night

noun
    1. the first public performance of a play or other production
    2. (as modifier)first-night nerves
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012