midnight

Etymology

From Middle English midnight, from Old English midniht, 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”).

noun

1. The middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise.
   Thanks to its sonar, the narwhal can remain active even at midnight, unhindered by the darkness.
2. Twelve o'clock at night exactly.
3. (dice games) Synonym of boxcars (“a pair of sixes”)

adj

1. (poetic) Utterly dark or black.
   Free and falling, his midnight hair flowed out all around us like a silk canopy. 2013, Sharon Ricklin, Ravenswynd Legends, page 143