sundown

English

Etymology

sun +‎ down

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

sundown (countable and uncountable, plural sundowns)

1. (now chiefly US) Sunset.

   We’ll meet by the pier at sundown.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XL, page 63:

     Yet oft when sundown skirts the moor
     ⁠An inner trouble I behold,
     ⁠A spectral doubt which makes me cold,
     That I shall be thy mate no more, […]

2. (countable) A hat with a wide brim to shade the eyes from sunlight.

Synonyms

• dusk, mirkning, nightfall; see also Thesaurus:dusk

Derived terms

• sundown syndrome

 

Translations

sunset — see sunset

Verb

sundown (third-person singular simple present sundowns, present participle sundowning, simple past and past participle sundowned)

1. (intransitive) to experience an episode or an onset of some detrimental mental condition like agitation, anxiety, hallucination or dementia, daily at nightfall.
   • 2009, Kay Cameron, Tim Rhodus, Life With God 101‎^[1]:

     "She also “sundowned”, and someone had to keep an eye on her 24-7."

Derived terms

• sundowner
• sundowning
• sundown town