queen of the nightn.

?1610 J. Fletcher Faithfull Shepheardesse v. i. sig. L^v Hold by the Moone, and gently make Suite to the pale Queene of the night, For a Beame to giue thee light.

1680 T. Otway Hist. Caius Marius ii. 16 The Queen of Night Shines fair with all her Virgin-stars about her.

1699 P. A. Motteux Island Princess iv. ii. 29 Hear, gentle Moon, pale Queen of Night, And ye refulgent Orbs of Light.

1720 S. Browne Hymns & Spiritual Songs iii. 335 And the pale moon shone out with borrow'd ray, Queen of the night, as he [sc. the sun] commands the day.

1743 P. Francis tr. Horace Secular Poem iv, in P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Odes II. 369 Sweetly-shining Queen of Night.

1777 London Mag. Aug. 429/2 How harmless and sweet are the joys of the plain,..When shines the bright moon, radiant queen of the night.

1831 Royal Lady's Mag. Mar. 159 ‘Queen of the night, how I bless thy light !’ Cried the maid.

1879 Pop. Sci. Monthly Jan. 291 So, then, this queen of the night, once supposed to be a kind of lantern,..is our nearest celestial neighbour.

1904 Collier's 7 May 22/3 His opinion naturally excites much interest among astronomers, and among all who are accustomed to watch and admire the queen of night, even though they take little interest in the scientific problems she presents.

1957 New Scientist 26 Dec. 21/1 In the youth and relative innocence of your species, the Moon was a sign in the firmament, a silver goddess, the Queen of the Night.

1998 P. Haydn Astrological Moon ii. 6 The Sun became identified as the King of Day, the God of Light; the Moon became known as the Queen of Night, the Goddess of Darkness.

2007 P. Bond Distant Worlds iv. 69 (heading) The moon: queen of the night.

1642 A. Ross Mel Heliconium ii. 55 When they thought he had been slain, He reviv'd and rose again. Hecate queen of the night Held him not for all her might.

1647 A. Ross Mystagogvs Poeticvs viii. 114 Hecate..is indeed the childe of hell, and queen of the night, for shee domineers in times of darknesse.

1994 D. J. Conway Maiden, Mother, Crone ix. 92 Hecate was called the Silver-Footed Queen of the Night, as was Persephone.

2010 D. Facaros & M. Pauls Tuscany (ed. 5) 429 A fine Roman alabaster Hecate, the queen of the night.

1870 Appletons' Jrnl. Lit., Sci. & Art 12 Nov. 574/2 The sublime ‘queen of the night’ (Cereus nycticalus), whose large, snow-white corolla expands at evening, and gives forth its fragrant odor.

1920 N. L. Britton & C. F. Millspaugh Bahama Flora 294 Selenicereus grandiflorus... Queen-of-the-Night. Often cultivated.

1971 Fashion Panorama (Ceylon) Apr.–June 21 The Queen of the night was in full bloom outside and its heavy and overpowering scent reached her from the garden.

2000 Marie Claire (Johannesburg) Oct. 149/2 The heart of the fragrance blends figs and the Queen of the Night cactus flower, which blooms for only one night a year.