small hours
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From the small number used to identify such hours (e.g. 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock).
Noun
[edit]- The very early morning, just after midnight, when most people are asleep.
- 1949 September and October, “The "Nord Express"”, in Railway Magazine, page 336:
- Cologne Hauptbahnhof is reached in the small hours, and the traveller new to postwar Germany is spared the sight of the devastated city.
- 1962 April, J. N. Faulkner, “Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways, page 265:
- Then follows a quiet period during the small hours, marked by the departure of the other newspaper trains and some van trains, and by the arrival of the mail train from Weymouth.
- 2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian[1]:
- ...the writer conjured up a dystopian fantasy more berserk than anything you might find yourself listening to in the small hours at the Stone Circle.
Usage notes
[edit]Almost always used with the definite article (the small hours), or occasionally with a demonstrative adjective (these small hours, those small hours).
Synonyms
[edit]- (very early morning): wee hours, wee small hours, ungodly hours; see also Thesaurus:early morning
Translations
[edit]very early morning
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