Evening in its primary meaning is the period of the day between afternoon and night. Though the term is subjective, evening is typically understood to begin just before dusk, when temperatures begin to fall, and last until just after nightfall, when complete darkness has been reached.
Companies often use the time of 5:00 pm to mark the beginning of the evening, for example with evening telephone call rates.
Informally, the term "evening" is used in place of "night", especially in the context of an event which takes place over the course of said "evening".
In the vernacular of at least parts of the rural American South (notably Appalachia) and in some British dialects, "evening" ( /ˈiːvnɪn/) is used to mean "afternoon", as the main meal of the day, dinner, traditionally has occurred at midday. While the exact meaning of the word in this sense is subject to interpretation, "evening" in the rural American South usually has been thought of as beginning at about noon and extending roughly until sunset or suppertime.
Famous quotes containing the word evening:
“There is an evening coming in
Across the fields, one never seen before,
That lights no lamps.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Here, with whitened hair, desires failing, strength ebbing out of him, with the sun gone down and with only the serenity and the calm warning of the evening star left to him, he drank to Life, to all it had been, to what it was, to what it would be. Hurrah!”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)
“And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)