in the dead of night
15
4.6
- idiom
:
a altas horas de la noche
- The only sign you have entered the sleepless city is a certain unceasing murmuring, even in the dead of night.
- wake up in the dead of night
- awaken in the dead of night
- leave in the dead of night
But then they're also again, like riding the Chicago subway, streetcar, whatever you call it in the dead of night, like they're in their cars blasting the radio.
- But then they're also again, like riding the Chicago subway, streetcar, whatever you call it in the dead of night, like they're in their cars blasting the radio.
- And on foot, four months in the UK, gathering people in rooms, speakeasies in the dead of night in places that you shouldn't gather.
- It's taking on the corruption and greed in Washington, taking on the special interests that write legislation in the dead of night.
Examples
-
Then suddenly in the dead of night, you disappear without a trace.
-
The hours of silence in the dead of night are great for getting focused.
Blog text (14) -
Who could be playing in the dead of night?
-
A very close artist friend of mine came to pay me a visit in the dead of night.
Academic text (1996) -
All the real stuff happened in the dead of night.
Fiction book (1995) -
Her voice sounds strange in the dead of night.
Fiction book (2002) -
As he rose in the dead of night, he heard another distinct human voice.
Fiction book (1991) -
Juan Antonio hurried out in the dead of night.
-
Sometimes, in the dead of night... a man'll just come out of his tent just start walking... like he lives around the corner, like he's going home.
-
The children crept out in the dead of night to see the stars.
Synonyms
27
2.7
Until very late at night
1
3.7
The late part of the night when most people are asleep
Antonyms
How Late
4
4.9
15
4.6
27
2.7
798
1.0
5
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The expression uses 'dead' metaphorically to mark the most intense, silent part of 'night', so a learner who knows 'dead' and 'night' can partially infer it denotes a very late, very quiet hour. However, mapping 'dead' from its literal meaning ('no longer alive') to 'completely silent/intense' is a conventionalized metaphor, so the exact idiomatic nuance and timing may not be fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
In the dead of night uses dead to paint the picture of a night that looks lifeless and very still, like a street where no one moves. That's why it means 'at a very late hour, when it is very quiet and dark'.