bedtime

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The time or hour at which one retires to bed in order to sleep.

   I read every evening, sometimes late into the night, with the help of kerosene lamps, often secretly, past my bedtime.

2. 2
   noun

   the time you go to bed

From Middle English bedtyme, bed-tyme, bedetyme, bedde tyme, equivalent to bed + time. Compare earlier Old English bedtīd (“bedtime”). Compare also West Frisian bêdtiid (“bedtime”), Dutch bedtijd (“bedtime”), Saterland Frisian Bädegungenstied (“bedtime”, literally “bed-goings-time”), German Low German Beddgahnstied, Bettgahnstiet (“bedtime”, literally “bed-goings-time”).

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