overnight

Meaning

Adv

1. (not-comparable) During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past.
2. (figuratively, not-comparable) In a very short (but unspecified) amount of time.

Adj

1. (not-comparable) Occurring between dusk and dawn.
2. (not-comparable) Complete before the next morning.
3. (not-comparable) For which participants stay overnight.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To stay overnight; to spend the night.
2. (US, transitive) To send something for delivery the next day.

Noun

1. An item delivered or completed overnight.
2. An overnight stay, especially in a hotel or other lodging facility.
3. (in-plural) Viewership ratings for a television show that are published the morning after it is broadcast, and may be revised later on.
4. (obsolete) The fore part of the previous night; yesterday evening.

Synonyms

all night

all-night

during the night

nightlong

one evening

suddenly

unceremoniously

unexpectedly

one night

since last night

abruptly

night stop

at night

in the night

nightly

nocturnal

quickly

Translations

über Nacht

du jour au lendemain

de la noche a la mañana

geceleyin

ganze Nacht

di notte

au jour le jour

pendant la nuit

birdenbire

durante a noite

Logiernacht

Nacht-

übernachten

αποβραδίς

a la nit

Pronounced as (IPA)

/əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: overnyght

Inherited from Old English: ofer niht

In summary

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.