Phrase guide

witching hour

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈwɪt͡ʃɪŋ ˌaʊə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈwɪt͡ʃɪŋ ˌaʊ(ə)ɹ/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Often preceded by the: midnight, when witches and other supernatural beings were thought to be active, and to which bad luck was ascribed; also (generally), the middle of the night, when unfortunate things are thought to be more likely to occur; the dead of night.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: literary, poetic

Examples

  • I wanted to get home before the witching hour.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A time of day, usually in the early evening, when babies and young children are more fretful and likely to cry or fuss.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The final hour of trading each month during which certain stock options expire, leading to a higher trading volume and greater price volatility.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

Topics: business, finance, stock-market

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The hour between 3:00 and 3:59 a.m., associated with demons.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncommon

Topics: human-sciences, mysticism, occult, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From witching (“of or pertaining to witchcraft or sorcery, or to witches or sorcerers”, adjective) + hour. Sense 1 (“midnight”) was popularized by the reference to the “witching time of night” in the play Hamlet (written c. 1599–1602; published 1603) by William Shakespeare (1564–1616): see the quotation.

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: ساعة السحر — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Cebuano: tinggawas — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Czech: hodina duchů — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Finnish: keskiyö — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • French: l'heure du crime — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • German: Geisterstunde — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Italian: ora delle streghe — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Italian: ora del diavolo — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Macedonian: глува доба (gluva doba) — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Polish: godzina duchów — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Russian: час ведьмовства (čas vedʹmovstva) — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Serbo-Croatian: глуво доба — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Serbo-Croatian: gluvo doba — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Spanish: hora de las brujas — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Swedish: spöktimme — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Swedish: spöktimmen — midnight, as an hour bringing bad luck — see also midnight
  • Finnish: iltahuuto — time of day when babies and young children are more fretful
  • Finnish: suden hetki — hour between 3:00 and 3:59 a.m., associated with demons
  • Macedonian: глува доба (gluva doba) — hour between 3:00 and 3:59 a.m., associated with demons