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vespertine

[ves-per-tin, -tahyn]
adjective
  1. of, relating to, or occurring in the evening: vespertine stillness.
  2. Botany. opening or expanding in the evening, as certain flowers.
  3. Zoology. appearing or flying in the early evening; crepuscular.
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Also ves·per·ti·nal [ves-per-tahyn-l] /ˌvɛs pərˈtaɪn l/.

Origin of vespertine

1495–1505; < Latin vespertīnus, equivalent to vesper vesper + -tīnus adj. suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for vespertine

Historical Examples

  • Odors from strong bacon and boiling coffee contended against the cut-plug fumes from the vespertine pipe.

    The Trimmed Lamp

    O. Henry

  • Up Broadway Chandler moved with the vespertine dress parade.

  • The vespertine hour was nigh, and over this iron landscape there floated the moon, an opal button in the sky.

    Visionaries

    James Huneker

British Dictionary definitions for vespertine

vespertine

adjective
  1. botany zoology appearing, opening, or active in the eveningvespertine flowers
  2. occurring in the evening or (esp of stars) appearing or setting in the evening
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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

Word Origin and History for vespertine

adj.

c.1500, "of the evening," from Latin vespertinus, from vesper (see vesper).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper