Eventides

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The times of day that occur during twilight and herald the arrival of night
2. The period when day transitions to evening, often imbued with a sense of calm and reflection
3. Moments characterized by fading light, representing the close of day and the onset of nighttime activities

Etymology: "Eventide" is a compound of "even," meaning evening, and "tide," which in Old English meant a time or season, not the rise and fall of the sea. The same "tide" survives in "Christmastide" and "Yuletide," and in "Eastertide" and "Whitsuntide," so "eventide" is simply "evening-time." The "even" in the word is the older Old English "æfen," the same root that gives German "Abend," and it has been used for the evening hours since the Anglo-Saxon period. "Eventides" is the plural of that noun, so it refers to several evenings or to the evening hours considered repeatedly over time. Writers have often used the plural to suggest a recurring stretch of time, a sense of many quiet evenings passing one after another.

Synonyms: twilight, dusk, evening, nightfall, sundown

Antonyms: daybreak, dawn, morning, sunrise, noon