English Reference
Idiom idiom

dead of night


Middle of the night.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

The dog barked in the dead of night.

CONTEXTUAL

A strange noise woke me up in the dead of night, so I checked the front door.

COMPLEX

The weary traveler arrived at the remote village in the dead of night, finding only silence and shadows under the pale moon.


Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    bank night

    An event where patrons are enticed to buy entry tickets into some venue, for example a movie theater, with the anticipation that they will be entered into a drawing to win an amount of money if their ticket is drawn and they are on-site at the time of the winning.

  2. 02

    beat a dead horse

    To persist or continue far beyond any purpose, interest or reason.

  3. 03

    brown bread

    [Cockney slang]dead

  4. 04

    call it a night

    To go to bed to sleep.

  5. 05

    call it an early night

    To go to bed or cease one's activities earlier in the evening than usual.

  6. 06

    come back from the dead

    To experience a resurgence after one's productive years are assumed to have ended.

  7. 07

    creature of the night

    A prostitute.

  8. 08

    day or night

    At any time; 24/7

Last updated August 10, 2026