different between oclock vs midnight

English

Etymology

From Middle English midnight, midnyght, mydnyght, (also as middelni?te), from Old English midniht, middeniht, middeneaht, (also as midderneaht and middelniht), from Proto-Germanic *midjanahts (“midnight”), equivalent to mid- +? night. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Midnoacht (“midnight”), Old High German mittinaht (“midnight”), Danish midnat (“midnight”), Swedish midnatt (“midnight”), Icelandic miðnætti (“midnight”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Middernoacht (“midnight”), Dutch middernacht (“midnight”), German Mitternacht (“midnight”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?dn??t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?d?na?t/
• Hyphenation: mid?night

Noun

midnight (countable and uncountable, plural midnights)

1. The middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise.

1. 12 o'clock at night exactly.
   • Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:

     "She twisted her hands behind her;

     but all the knots held good!

     She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!

     They stretched and strained in the darkness,

     and the hours crawled by like years,

     Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,

     Cold, on the stroke of midnight,

     The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

Synonyms

• (12 o'clock at night): 12 am; 00:00, 12 a.m. (sometimes proscribed), 12 midnight; see also Thesaurus:midnight

Antonyms

• noon, midday

Derived terms

• burn the midnight oil
• midnight regulation
• midnight sun
• postmidnight

Translations

Adjective

midnight (not comparable)

1. (poetic) Utterly dark or black.

See also

• (times of day) time of day; dawn, morning, noon/midday, afternoon, dusk, evening, night, midnight ^{(Category: en:Times of day)}