NIGHT OWL Definition & Meaning

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night owl

[ nahyt oul ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Informal.

a person who often stays up late at night; nighthawk.

night owl

noun

informal.
a person who is or prefers to be up and about late at night

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of night owl¹

First recorded in 1585–95

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Idioms and Phrases

A person who habitually stays up late and is active at night, as in You can call her after midnight, for she's a night owl . This colloquial term, originally used in the late 1500s for an owl that is active at night, was transferred to nocturnal human beings in the mid-1800s.

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Example Sentences

"You need to figure out who are the night owls and who are the morning larks. It is no good putting people in at the opposite end of the scale."

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Mom was the consummate night owl, accomplishing her best work well after midnight.

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The new album’s title may hint at sunshine and waking hours, but make no mistake, Yoakam is a night owl, a man for whom work begins around dusk and often stretches into dawn.

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I’m a huge night owl and I stay up until 2 in the morning watching TV shows and movies.

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Fortunately, the moon will set around midnight in Southern California, removing that lunar pollution for night owls.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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