bedtime

English

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: bĕdʹtīm, IPA(key): /ˈbɛdtaɪm/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪm

Noun

bedtime (countable and uncountable, plural bedtimes)

  1. The time or hour at which one retires to bed in order to sleep.
    • 1908 September 23, “In Turkey”, in A[rthur] H[amilton] Folwell, editor, Puck, volume LXIV, number 1647, New York, N.Y.: Keppler & Schwarzmann, →OCLC:
      The Sultan (impatiently).—Confound this dadblasted collar-bolt! I wish it had— Izzet Aintit Wazzit Pasha (custodian of the imperial wardrobe).—Can I be of any assistance, Sire? The Sultan.—Well, you might get a can of oil and a monkey-wrench and help me off with this undershirt. It’s long past bedtime now.
    • 2004, Vartan Gregorian, The Road to Home: My Life and Times, page 55:
      I read every evening, sometimes late into the night, with the help of kerosene lamps, often secretly, past my bedtime.
    • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:
      Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.
      Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.

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