Dictionary

overnight en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio
• /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English overnyght, from Old English ofer niht (“through the night, overnight”), equivalent to over + night. Verbal use (late 19th c.) may have been influenced by German übernachten (16th c.), though it could also have developed independently. Compare also Dutch overnachten (“to overnight”), Middle Low German ȫvernachten (“to overnight”), West Frisian oernachtsje (“to overnight”), Saterland Frisian uurnoachtje (“to overnight”).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Occurring between dusk and dawn.
   • The overnight ferry docked at 10 a.m.
   • Her stepfather, Duane Childers, was also asleep after working an overnight shift, […] 2026 August 6, Nicholas Muhoro, “An Ohio Teen Vanished During a One-Mile Drive in 1994. Her Locked Car Was Found Hours Later”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2026:
2. (not-comparable) Complete before the next morning.
   • Federal Express handled 225 million overnight and second-day packages, cornering a 50-percent share of the entire domestic overnight market[…]. 1988 August 22, Julie Webber, “The Fastest Data Delivery: Three Services Provide Quick Information”, in Info World, volume 10, number 34, page S10:
   • I like cold overnight oats eaten straight from the fridge. 2018 March 20, Jessica Merchant, The Pretty Dish: More than 150 Everyday Recipes and 50 Beauty DIYs to Nourish Your Body Inside and Out, Rodale, →ISBN, page 4:
   • Don't expect overnight delivery.
3. (not-comparable) For which participants stay overnight.
   • They sent their kids to overnight camp.
   • Overnight visitation in the park is controlled by the National Park Service and limited by the availability of lodging and camping facilities. 2000 November, National Park Service, Final Yosemite Valley Plan: Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, volume 1A, page 3-154:
   • We went on an overnight ski trip.

Forms

Deriveds

overnight case · overnight bag · overnight oats

Translations (8)

fr nocturne (during a single night) · ru ночно́й (during a single night) · es nocturno (during a single night) · it notturno (during a single night) · fi öinen (during a single night) · he לילי leylí (during a single night) · pt noturno (during a single night) · bg нощен (during a single night)

overnight en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio
• /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English overnyght, from Old English ofer niht (“through the night, overnight”), equivalent to over + night. Verbal use (late 19th c.) may have been influenced by German übernachten (16th c.), though it could also have developed independently. Compare also Dutch overnachten (“to overnight”), Middle Low German ȫvernachten (“to overnight”), West Frisian oernachtsje (“to overnight”), Saterland Frisian uurnoachtje (“to overnight”).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past.
   • Overnight, as the storm bore down on urban flood zones, city officials ramped up emergency spaces to shelter thousands more people, mostly in public schools and colleges. 2012 November 20, Nina Bernstein, “Storm Bared a Lack of Options for the Homeless in New York”, in New York Times:
   • They delivered the package overnight.
   • I have heard of a man, who having been drunk overnight, and passed over a very narrow Bridge, which no sober Horseman durst attempt, being brought the next day to see what danger he went through, fell down in a swoon upon the sight of it. 1677, N. Ingelo, A Discourse Concerning Repentance, London, page 36:
   • There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;[…]. 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
   • […]then put the glass into a damp cellar, on sand, and the gold will overnight shoot into crystals, which take out, and let them dissolve again in distilled vinegar[…]. 1765 February, “The Art of Guilding”, in The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, volume 36, London: John Hinton, page 81:
   • Let it run overnight and we'll check on it in the morning.
2. (figuratively, not-comparable) In a very short (but unspecified) amount of time.
   • Overnight, the vivacious young actress became a caricature, a relic of the previous decade, whose hard-partying socialite image seemed frivolous and out of touch amid the ensuing years of the Great Depression. 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 27:
   • "You can't overnight turn everyone into an expert on everything. [...]." 2021 December 29, Paul Stephen, “Rail's accident investigators”, in RAIL, number 947, page 32:
   • The change seemed to happen overnight.

Forms

Deriveds

overnight diaper · overnight nappy · girl rented overnight · overnighter · nonovernight

Translations (68)

he בִּן לַיְלָה (in a very short amount of time) · fr du jour au lendemain (in a very short amount of time) · es de un día para otro (in a very short amount of time) · tr kısa sürede (in a very short amount of time) · pl przez noc (throughout the night) · bg изведнъж (in a very short amount of time) · tr bir anda (in a very short amount of time) · de über Nacht (throughout the night) · ru за́ ночь (during a single night) · fi yön yli (throughout the night) · ang ofer niht (during a single night) · eo dum la nokto (throughout the night) · pdt äwanacht (throughout the night) · ru вдруг (in a very short amount of time) · bg цяла нощ (throughout the night) · pt em uma noite (during a single night) · pt de um dia para o outro (in a very short amount of time) · pt durante a noite (throughout the night) · bcl mag-aga (throughout the night) · cmn 一夜之間 /一夜之间 (in a very short amount of time) · tr bir gecede (during a single night) · cy dros nos (throughout the night) · rm sur notg (throughout the night) · ru внеза́пно (in a very short amount of time) · hi रात भर (throughout the night) · vi qua đêm (throughout the night) · it da un momento all'altro (in a very short amount of time) · it da un giorno all'altro (in a very short amount of time) · ang ofer niht (throughout the night) · nb over natta (throughout the night) · ro peste noapte (in a very short amount of time) · da natten over (during a single night) · pt do dia para a noite (in a very short amount of time) · cmn 一夜 (in a very short amount of time) · ru всю ночь (throughout the night) · ro peste noapte (throughout the night) · pl migiem (in a very short amount of time) · de über Nacht (in a very short amount of time) · nl van de ene dag op de andere (in a very short amount of time) · da i nattens løb (throughout the night) · fi yhdessä yössä (during a single night) · de über Nacht (during a single night) · nb over natta (in a very short amount of time) · ro într-o noapte (during a single night) · nn over natta (in a very short amount of time) · nl 's nachts (throughout the night) · it dall'oggi al domani (in a very short amount of time) · tr bir gecede (in a very short amount of time) · he בִּן לַיְלָה (during a single night) · da pludselig (in a very short amount of time) · de von einem Tag auf den anderen (in a very short amount of time) · cmn 通宵 (throughout the night) · ar بَيْنَ لَيْلةٍ وَضُحاهَا (in a very short amount of time) · tr aniden (in a very short amount of time) · nn over natta (throughout the night) · it di botto (in a very short amount of time) · it di colpo (in a very short amount of time) · ru в одноча́сье (in a very short amount of time) · da straks (in a very short amount of time) · tr o gece (during a single night) · fi yhdessä yössä (in a very short amount of time) · cy dros nos (during a single night) · nl van vandaag op morgen (in a very short amount of time) · de von heute auf morgen (in a very short amount of time) · nl overnachts (in a very short amount of time) · ja 一夜 (throughout the night) · tr geceleyin (throughout the night) · es de la noche a la mañana (in a very short amount of time)

overnight en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio
• /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English overnyght, from Old English ofer niht (“through the night, overnight”), equivalent to over + night. Verbal use (late 19th c.) may have been influenced by German übernachten (16th c.), though it could also have developed independently. Compare also Dutch overnachten (“to overnight”), Middle Low German ȫvernachten (“to overnight”), West Frisian oernachtsje (“to overnight”), Saterland Frisian uurnoachtje (“to overnight”).

Meanings

1. An item delivered or completed overnight.
   • Have you looked at the overnights yet?
2. An overnight stay, especially in a hotel or other lodging facility.
   • Some will also have to work less coveted schedules like overnights and weekends just to start building their career and demo tape. Vault Career Guide to Journalism and Information Media (page 70)
3. (in-plural) Viewership ratings for a television show that are published the morning after it is broadcast, and may be revised later on.
   • Word spread that Barney was on his way out to the location and that the Nielsen overnights had been terrific, or why else would he come. 2000, Dorothy C. Swanson, Story of Viewers For Quality TV: From Grassroots to Prime Time:
   • The TV critic had the results of the June rating survey by Arbitron and Nielsen. […] He has the hard numbers on the June book plus the recent Nielsen overnights. 2006, A. D. Brown, News-Daze, page 3:
4. (obsolete) The fore part of the previous night; yesterday evening.
   • Pardon me, madam: If I had given you this at overnight, She might have been o'erta'en c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

Forms

Translations (15)

pt pernoita (overnight stay) · ru ночёвка (overnight stay) · fr nuitée (overnight stay) · ro înnoptat (overnight stay) · pt pernoitada (overnight stay) · es pernocta (overnight stay) · sv övernattning (overnight stay) · ko 일박 (overnight stay) · pt pernoite (overnight stay) · bg нощувка (overnight stay) · es pernoctación (overnight stay) · pt pernoitamento (overnight stay) · fi yöpyminen (overnight stay) · ro înnoptare (overnight stay) · de Logiernacht (overnight stay)

overnight en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio
• /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English overnyght, from Old English ofer niht (“through the night, overnight”), equivalent to over + night. Verbal use (late 19th c.) may have been influenced by German übernachten (16th c.), though it could also have developed independently. Compare also Dutch overnachten (“to overnight”), Middle Low German ȫvernachten (“to overnight”), West Frisian oernachtsje (“to overnight”), Saterland Frisian uurnoachtje (“to overnight”).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To stay overnight; to spend the night.
   • His visits to Paris (which he had not allowed his son to visit until he was a teenager) became less frequent too: he never over-nighted there, for example, after 1744. 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 128:
2. (US, transitive) To send something for delivery the next day.
   • We can overnight you the documents for signature.

Forms