Overnighter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who remains at a location through the night, usually temporarily or unexpectedly
2. A person spending the night away from their usual home or place of residence
3. An individual who stays at a place during the night, often for a short visit or specific purpose

Etymology: "Overnighter" is a simple formation: the adjective-turned-adverb "overnight" (meaning during the night, or for one night) with the agent suffix "-er," which turns it into a noun for a person. The result describes someone who stays put for a single night, whether they planned to or not, and the word is applied to a traveller who has been put up at a hotel, a friend who has been asked to stay on, or anyone who has reached a place too late to go further. The base word itself has a clear logic. "Overnight" joins "over" in an older sense of "throughout" with "night," so it means "through the night," and from there it came to mean "for the duration of one night." The suffix "-er" is one of English's most productive ways of naming people by what they do, as in "walker" or "visitor," so the formation follows a familiar pattern rather than a single coinage.

Synonyms: short trip, overnight stay