witching hour

American  

noun

• witching hours
  plural

1. midnight.

   a rendezvous at the witching hour.

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witching hour British  

noun

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

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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.

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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 was approaching 10 p.m., the witching hour when the hotel’s restaurant, like those throughout the city, is required to close in compliance with restrictions imposed because of the countrywide rise in coronavirus cases.

From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 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

‘It’s full of tiny dark streets and there are very few people about in the witching hour.’

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl