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

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

The witching hour still abides elsewhere in TV, but even so this comedy draws you into its thrall from the very first episode.

From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2019

She longed to duck underneath them and lean out of the window to see what the world looked like now that the witching hour was at hand.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl