| witching hour | |
| —n | |
| the witching hour the hour at which witches are supposed to appear, usually midnight | |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
witching hour
Midnight, as in They arrived just at the witching hour. This term alludes to older superstitions concerning a time appropriate to witchcraft and other supernatural occurrences. Shakespeare and others wrote of "the witching time of night." The precise phrase was first recorded in 1835.