View synonyms for

small hours

plural noun

hours after midnight; early morning hours.
We danced into the small hours.

small hours

plural noun

the early hours of the morning, after midnight and before dawn

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Word History and Origins

Origin of small hours¹

First recorded in 1830–40

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, wee hours. The hours following midnight, as in I stayed up working through the small hours, or The parents didn't come home until the wee hours. The adjectives small and wee both refer to the low numbers of those hours (one o'clock, two o'clock, etc.). [c. 1830]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Savage added that this joy in the face of institutional indifference to our suffering, our dancing into the small hours of the night, was indispensable for establishing political force and pushback during the AIDs crisis.

From

Michaels’ new friend Paul Simon would often be over, smoking a joint with his host and gabbing away until the wee small hours of the morning.

From

Meetings stretching into the small hours of Doha's hot evenings became common during the final stretch of the negotiations.

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Then maybe home for dinner and then somewhere for a party into the small hours.

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But as the puddles swell and the temperature drops in the small hours at Battersea Park Athletics Club, the only thing on runners’ minds is survival.

From

small holding small intestine

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