dead of night

dead of night

The middle of the night. Why are you calling me in the dead of night? Can't this wait till morning?
See also: dead, night, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

dead of

The period of greatest intensity of something, such as darkness or cold. For example, I love looking at seed catalogs in the dead of winter, when it's below zero outside. The earliest recorded use of dead of night, for "darkest time of night," was in Edward Hall's Chronicle of 1548: "In the dead of the night ... he broke up his camp and fled." Dead of winter, for the coldest part of winter, dates from the early 1600s.
See also: dead, of
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

the dead of night

the quietest, darkest part of the night.
See also: dead, night, of
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

(in) the ˌdead of (the) ˈnight

,

at ˌdead of ˈnight

in the quietest, darkest hours of the night: She crept in at dead of night, while they were asleep. OPPOSITE: in broad daylight
See also: dead, night, of
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

dead of night/winter, the

The time of most intense stillness, darkness, or cold. This usage dates from the sixteenth century. Shakespeare had it in Twelfth Night (1.5), “Even in the dead of night,” and Washington Irving used the alternate phrase in Salmagundi (1807–08), “In the dead of winter, when nature is without charm.”
See also: dead, night, of
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • the dead of night
  • in the dead of night
  • dead of
  • dead of night/winter, the
  • dead president
  • president
  • dead drunk
  • dead cinch
  • dead broke
  • dead easy
References in classic literature
"Who is it," said he, "that goes thus about the host and the ships alone and in the dead of night, when men are sleeping?
"Fear not," replied Ulysses, "let no thought of death be in your mind; but tell me, and tell me true, why are you thus going about alone in the dead of night away from your camp and towards the ships, while other men are sleeping?
Iliad
In a little narrow corridor, near by, they showed us where many a prisoner, after lying in the dungeons until he was forgotten by all save his persecutors, was brought by masked executioners and garroted, or sewed up in a sack, passed through a little window to a boat, at dead of night, and taken to some remote spot and drowned.
The Innocents Abroad
In the dead of night the echoes of his own words, which had rolled Heaven knows how far away in the daytime, came back instead, and abided by him until morning.
Hard Times
She was as true as tempered steel; there were not two of us to whom she wrote and sent roses at dead of night. It was her one chance of writing to me.
"And that letter!" I rejoined, in a fresh wave of bitterness: "that letter she had written at dead of night, and stolen down to post, it was the one I have been waiting for all these days!
A Thie in the Night
Careful search of the room revealed nothing to explain either the identity or business of the person who had thus secretly sought me in the dead of night.
Warlord of Mars
In the dead of night Ninaka and his party had crawled away under the very noses of the avengers, taking the chest with them, and by chance von Horn and the two Dyaks cut back into the main trail along the river almost at the very point that Ninaka halted to bury the treasure.
The Monster Men
These are the questions which torment me when I am alone in the dead of night. My bed becomes a place of unendurable torture.
The Two Destinies
It was whisperingly asserted that footsteps, in the dead of night, had been heard descending the garret stairs, and patrolling the house.
Uncle Toms Cabin
The pale young gentleman's nose had stained my trousers, and I tried to wash out that evidence of my guilt in the dead of night. I had cut my knuckles against the pale young gentleman's teeth, and I twisted my imagination into a thousand tangles, as I devised incredible ways of accounting for that damnatory circumstance when I should be haled before the Judges.
Great Expectations
"Seven days ago, after her audience with Zat Arras, Dejah Thoris attempted to slip from the palace in the dead of night. Although I had not heard the outcome of her interview with Zat Arras I knew that something had occurred then to cause her the keenest mental agony, and when I discovered her creeping from the palace I did not need to be told her destination.
The Gods of Mars
Captain Kidd buried untold wealth in the chowder kettle at the dead of night, and shot both the trusting villains who shared the secret of the hiding place.
Eight Cousins
He was buried at dead of night in his own cathedral and laid by Stella's side, and over his grave were carved words chosen by himself which told the wayfarer that Jonathan Swift had gone "Where savage indignation can no longer tear at his heart.
English Literature For Boys And Girls
And to come down in the dead of night, when the house is wrapped in slumbers and weiled in obscurity.' And there she stopped and shivered, for her modesty caught cold at the very thought.
Barnaby Rudge A Tale Of The Riots Of Eighty