different between nighttime vs gloaming

English

Alternative forms

• night-time

Etymology

From Middle English nyght tyme, ny?ttyme, equivalent to night +? time. Compare Dutch nachttijd, German Nachtzeit, Danish nattetid, Swedish nattetid. Compare also Middle English ny?ter tyme (“nighttime”), from Old Norse náttartími, nætrtími (“nighttime”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?na?t?ta?m/, [?na??ta?m]

Noun

nighttime (countable and uncountable, plural nighttimes)

1. The hours of darkness between sunset and sunrise; the night.

Synonyms

• nightertale, nighttide; see also Thesaurus:nighttime

Antonyms

• day, daytime; see also Thesaurus:daytime

Derived terms

• night-times

Translations

Adjective

nighttime (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to nighttime; appropriate to the night.
2. Happening during the night.

Synonyms

• (pertaining to nighttime): night
• (happening during the night): night, nocturnal

Antonyms

• (pertaining to nighttime): day, daytime
• (happening during the night): daytime, diurnal

Translations

English

Etymology

From a dialectal variant of glooming, from Middle English *gloming, from Old English gl?mung, from Old English gl?m (“twilight”); synchronically gloom +? -ing. Related to glow.

The OED notes: "The vowel of the modern gloaming is anomalous, as Old English gl?mung should normally become glooming. The explanation is probably that the ? was shortened in the compound ?fen-glommung (as the spelling seems to show was actually the case), and that from this compound there was evolved a new subject gl?mung, which by normal phonetic development became Middle English gl?ming, modern English gloaming."

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??l??.m??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??lo?.m??/
• Rhymes: -??m??

Noun

gloaming (plural gloamings)

1. (poetry, Scotland, Northern England) Twilight, as at early morning (dawn) or (especially) early evening; dusk.

   Synonyms: crepuscule, glooming, vespers; see also Thesaurus:twilight

   Antonyms: daytime, daylight, nighttime, darkness
2. (obsolete) Sullenness; melancholy.

   Synonyms: crepuscule, glooming, misery, sadness, sorrow, woe

Translations

Verb

gloaming

1. present participle of gloam

References