Yesternights

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The night preceding the most recent day
2. the time a day before today in the context of last night
3. a term indicating the darkness and events of the previous night

Etymology: "Yesternights" is simply the plural of "yesternight," a noun meaning the night before the present day. The singular passed into English from Old English "ġiestranniht," which combined "giestran," meaning "yesterday" or "last night," with "niht," meaning "night." The Old English stem is the same root that gave modern English "yester-" in "yesterday," so the word has always been built on the idea of the day just gone. Middle English later rendered it as "yesternyght" and "yisternight," and the spelling shifted as the language changed. The compound pattern is transparent: "yester-" marks the previous day, and "night" marks the dark hours within it. Because the word is a plural of a noun, it is used when several such nights are meant, as in plural references to a series of past evenings.

Synonyms: last night, previous night

Antonyms: tonight, this night