evening
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English
Alternative forms
- ev'ning (obsolete)
Etymology 1
From Middle English evening, evenyng, from Old English ǣfnung, from ǣfnian < ǣfen (from Proto-West Germanic *ābanþ, from Proto-Germanic *ēbanþs), corresponding to even + -ing.
Pronunciation
- enPR: ēv'nĭng, IPA(key): /ˈiːvnɪŋ/
Audio (UK): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈivnɪŋ/
Audio (US): (file)
Noun
evening (countable and uncountable, plural evenings)
- A vague time of day sometime between sunset and midnight.
- Toward evening, there was heavy rain.
- 2013 July–August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
- Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
- The time of the day between the approximate time of midwinter dusk and midnight (compare afternoon); the period after the end of regular office working hours.
- 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
- At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
- (figuratively) A concluding time period; a point in time near the end of something; the beginning of the end of something.
- It was the evening of the Roman Empire.
- 1950 January, “Notes and News: The North Cornwall Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 62:
- The latter [locomotive] had worked on the Hampton Court branch for many years, and was spending the evening of its life in the West Country.
- A party or gathering held in the evening.
- 1980, Management Services, page 50:
- A few Gorllewin Cymru/West Wales Branch members attended an evening at the Dragon Hotel, Swansea, titled Photographic Techniques in Industry.
Synonyms
- (time of day): eve, eventide; see also Thesaurus:evening
Coordinate terms
- (times of day) time of day; dawn, morning, noon/midday, afternoon, dusk, evening, night, midnight (Category: en:Times of day)
Derived terms
- bigfruit evening primrose
- evening bat
- evening cicada
- evening class
- evening dress
- evening-dressed
- evening glove
- evening gown
- evening-gowned
- evening grosbeak
- evening gun
- eveningness
- evening newspaper
- evening out
- evening prayer
- evening primrose
- evening primrose oil
- evening school
- evening-snow
- evening star
- evening tea
- eveningtide
- evening trumpet flower
- evening walk
- eveningwear
- evening wrap
- family home evening
- good evening
- lady of the evening
- Missouri evening primrose
- parents' evening
- this evening
- yesterevening
Related terms
Translations
time of day between dusk and night
|
time of day between the approximate time of midwinter dusk and midnight
|
figurative: concluding time period
a party or gathering held in the evening
Etymology 2
Inflected forms.
Pronunciation
Verb
evening
- present participle and gerund of even
Etymology 3
Inflected forms.
Verb
evening
- present participle and gerund of evene
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
evening f (plural eveningen)
- (obsolete) levelling, equalisation, act or process of making or becoming even or equal
- (obsolete) equinox
- Synonyms: dag-en-nachtevening, equinox, nachtevening
Derived terms
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms suffixed with -ing
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Times of day
- English 3-syllable words
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms
- English heteronyms
- Dutch terms suffixed with -ing
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch feminine nouns
- Dutch terms with obsolete senses