forenight

English

Alternative forms

• fore-night

Etymology

From Middle English fore-niht, from Old English foranniht, equivalent to fore- +‎ night. Cognate with Dutch voornacht, German Vornacht.

Noun

forenight (plural forenights)

1. (Scotland) The evening time, between twilight and bedtime.
   • 1895, William Gordon Stables, “Book I”, in On to the Rescue: A tale of the Indian Mutiny:

     Yes, it is a low fire with an immense iron crane over it, on which half a dozen pots at a time can swing in comfort; a hearth on which logs of wood and peat can burn, a hearth that a dozen happy and contented faces can scarce encircle on a winter's forenight.

   • 1900, S. R. Crockett, The House on the Muir:

     “Then I minded the tales my father used to tell me in the winter forenight of Wicked Wat Fergus of Craignesslin, how he used to rise from his bed and blow his horn and ride off to the Whig-hunting

   • 1909, Harold Edward Bindloss, “Chapter 1”, in The Greater Power:

     the rancher, who has sheep to lose, sits shivering in his log house through the long forenights with a Marlin rifle handy, while the famished timber wolves prowl about his clearing.

Synonyms

• eve, eventide, undern; see also Thesaurus:evening

References

• “fore-night”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• fothering