► night the time when it is dark and the sun cannot be seen:
It was a cold night and I could hear the wind outside.I stayed up all night to finish writing the paper.She reads in bed at night before going to sleep.➔ When you are mentioning a time before midnight, use night: It was ten o'clock at night. When you are mentioning a time after midnight, use morning: The phone rang at three in the morning.Use tonight, not “this night,” to mean the night that will come after the time when you are speaking. Don't say: I'll call you this night. Say: I'll call you tonight.► nighttime the time during the night when the sky is dark:
It was nighttime and the streets were dark and empty. ➔ GRAMMAR: Nighttime can be used before other nouns to talk about things that happen during the night: The troops were preparing for a possible nighttime battle.► midnight twelve o'clock at night:
It was after midnight when we finally got home.► the middle of the night the time during the night when most people are asleep:
I woke up when I heard a strange noise in the middle of the night.► the early hours of the morning so late at night that it is almost the time when the sun comes up:
The baby wakes up in the early hours of the morning because she is hungry.