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May 11, 2022
This week’s theme
Words related to time

This week’s words
timeous
yealing
witching hour
meridian
ephemeral

witching hour
“Snack time! It’s the witching hour. It is the sandwiching hour.”
Video clip: The Office

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

witching hour

PRONUNCIATION:
(WICH-ing our)

MEANING:
noun: Midnight.

ETYMOLOGY:
From the belief that witches are the most active at that time. Earliest documented use: 1762.

NOTES:
Some say the witching hour is midnight while others believe it’s 3-4 am. The term witching hour has also been applied to early evening when babies supposedly cry more often. In the world of stock markets, it is the last hour of trading on the third Friday of certain months when there’s more volatility. So which one is it? Only witches know.

USAGE:
“Mari, a student, prefers to be awake, and spends the witching hours drinking coffee and reading in an all-night restaurant.”
Sleepless in Tokyo; The Economist (London, UK); May 17, 2007.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant. -Salvador Dali, painter (11 May 1904-1989)

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