Evening

Pronunciation

• enPR: Ä“v'nÄ­ng, IPA: /ˈiːvnɪŋ/

From Old English ǣfnung, from æfnian < æfen (from Proto-Germanic *ēbandaz), corresponding to even (Etymology 3) + -ing.

Full definition of evening

Noun

1. The time of the day between dusk and night, when it gets dark.
• 2013, Henry Petroski, Geothermal Energy, Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
2. The time of the day between the approximate time of midwinter dusk and midnight (compare afternoon); the period after the end of regular office working hours.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 2, That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
3. (figuratively) A concluding time period; a point in time near the end of something; the beginning of the end of something.
   It was the evening of the Roman Empire.

Derived terms

• evening dress
• evening gown
• evening grosbeak
• evening prayer
• evening primrose
• evening star
• evening trumpet flower
• eveningwear
• evening wrap
• good evening
• this evening

Related terms

• eve
• even

Pronunciation

• enPR: Ä“'vÉ™nÄ­ng, IPA: /ˈiːvÉ™nɪŋ/

Inflected forms.

Verb

1. Present participle of even