nights

[nahyts]

adverb

at or during the night regularly or frequently: He worked during the day and wrote nights.

Origin of nights

before 900; Middle English nightes, Old English nihtes. See night, -s¹

night

[nahyt]

noun

the period of darkness between sunset and sunrise.

the beginning of this period; nightfall.

the darkness of night; the dark.

a condition or time of obscurity, ignorance, sinfulness, misfortune, etc.: the long night of European history known as the Dark Ages.

(sometimes initial capital letter) an evening used or set aside for a particular event, celebration, or other special purpose: a night on the town; poker night; New Year's Night.

adjective

of or relating to night: the night hours.

occurring, appearing, or seen at night: a night raid; a night bloomer.

used or designed to be used at night: to take a night coach; the night entrance.

working at night: night nurse; the night shift.

active at night: the night feeders of the jungle.

Origin of night

before 900; Middle English; Old English niht, neaht, cognate with German Nacht, Gothic nahts, Latin nox (stem noct-), Greek nýx (stem nykt-)

Related formsnight·less, adjectivenight·less·ly, adverbnight·like, adjective

Can be confusedknight night

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for nights

midnight, duskiness, gloom, evening, darkness, nighttime, dark, eventide, blackness, nightfall, twilight, obscurity, bedtime, black, dim, nighttide

Examples from the Web for nights

Contemporary Examples of nights

After two nights in detention, he was scheduled to be deported back to Turkey on Monday.
Pope-Shooter Ali Agca’s Very Weird Vatican Visit
Barbie Latza Nadeau
December 29, 2014
That is how we did the Talladega Nights and Stepbrothers deals.
Inside Sony’s ‘Pineapple Express 2 Drama’: Leaked Emails Reveal Fight Over Stoner Comedy Sequel
William Boot
December 21, 2014
For nearly a decade on Comedy Central, four nights a week, a late night talk show host told a story.
The End of Truthiness: Stephen Colbert’s Sublime Finale
Noel Murray
December 19, 2014
I know when Ferguson was going down those first few nights, I was watching feeds on the ground on Twitter, not CNN.
Ava DuVernay on ‘Selma,’ the Racist Sony Emails, and Making Golden Globes History
Marlow Stern
December 15, 2014
I worked a lot of 11-7 shifts, and so had to stay awake, although most of the nights other people slept.
James Patterson Goes Full ‘Fahrenheit 451’ With Burning Book Video
William O’Connor
November 25, 2014

Historical Examples of nights

In your service I have spent many toilsome days and sleepless nights.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
For three days and three nights, Paralus remained in complete oblivion.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
Between them, his days and nights were occupied to crowding.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
"I jest can't keep him off the streets nights," was his chief complaint.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
I should be b-a-d, and I should sit up nights to invent new ways of evil.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for nights

nights

adverb

informal at night, esp regularlyhe works nights

night

noun

the period of darkness each 24 hours between sunset and sunrise, as distinct from day

(modifier) of, occurring, working, etc, at nighta night nurse

the occurrence of this period considered as a unitfour nights later they left

the period between sunset and retiring to bed; evening

the time between bedtime and morningshe spent the night alone

the weather conditions of the nighta clear night

the activity or experience of a person during a night

(sometimes capital) any evening designated for a special observance or function

nightfall or dusk

a state or period of gloom, ignorance, etc

make a night of it to go out and celebrate for most of the night

night and day continuallythat baby cries night and day

Related formsRelated adjective: nocturnal

Derived Formsnightless, adjectivenightlike, adjective

Word Origin for night

Old English niht; compare Dutch nacht, Latin nox, Greek nux

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

Word Origin and History for nights

night

Old English niht (West Saxon neaht, Anglian næht, neht) "night, darkness;" the vowel indicating that the modern word derives from oblique cases (genitive nihte, dative niht), from Proto-Germanic *nakht- (cf. Old Saxon and Old High German naht, Old Frisian and Dutch nacht, German Nacht, Old Norse natt, Gothic nahts).

The Germanic words are from PIE *nekwt- "night" (cf. Greek nuks "a night," Latin nox, Old Irish nochd, Sanskrit naktam "at night," Lithuanian naktis "night," Old Church Slavonic nosti, Russian noch', Welsh henoid "tonight"), according to Watkins, probably from a verbal root *neg- "to be dark, be night." For spelling with -gh- see fight.

The fact that the Aryans have a common name for night, but not for day (q.v.), is due to the fact that they reckoned by nights. [Weekley]

Cf. German Weihnachten "Christmas." In early times, the day was held to begin at sunset, so Old English monanniht "Monday night" was the night before Monday, or what we would call Sunday night.

To work nights preserves the Old English genitive of time. Night shift is attested from 1710 in the sense of "garment worn by a woman at night" (see shift (n.1)); meaning "gang of workers employed after dark" is from 1839. Night soil "excrement" (1770) is so called because it was removed (from cesspools, etc.) after dark. Night train attested from 1838. Night life "habitual nocturnal carousing" attested from 1852.

Idioms and Phrases with nights

night

In addition to the idioms beginning with night

night and day
night owl

also see:

black as night
call it a day (night)
dead of (night)
different as night and day
good night
make a day (night) of it
ships that pass in the night