small hours

plural noun

1. hours after midnight; early morning hours.

   We danced into the small hours.

small hours

plural noun

1. the early hours of the morning, after midnight and before dawn

Word History and Origins

Origin of small hours¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Idioms and Phrases

Also, wee hours. The hours following midnight, as in I stayed up working through the small hours, or The parents didn't come home until the wee hours. The adjectives small and wee both refer to the low numbers of those hours (one o'clock, two o'clock, etc.). [c. 1830]