Gate Night

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) So called because the Gates of Hell supposedly opened up the night before Halloween, which would allow demons to wander towns and cause mischief. In some areas, the name refers to the mischief of lifting residential gates off their hinges and either exchanging them with other people's gates, or placing them in awkward places such as suspended in trees.

Proper noun

Gate Night (plural Gate Nights)

1. (around New York City, Connecticut, Winnipeg, Rhode Island) A particular night, commonly the night of the 30th to the 31st of October, during which young people play pranks and do mischief in their neighborhoods.

Synonyms

• see list in Mischief Night

References

• The Dialect Survey