Saturday nightn.
/ˌsatədeɪ ˈnʌɪt/, /ˌsatədɪ ˈnʌɪt/, U.S. /ˈˌsædərˌdeɪ ˈnaɪt/, /ˈˌsædərdi ˈnaɪt/ The night of Saturday.Traditionally a time for recreation and social events because the next day is not a working day.
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the world > time > period > a day or twenty-four hours > specific days > [noun] > Saturday > night
SunnightOE
sun's nighta1400
Saturday night1489
1489 W. Caxton De Roye's Doctrinal of Sapyence xlii. sig. Gj It happend that on a satreday nyght that he in wayllyng & wepyng fylle aslepe and the gloriouse virgyne appierde to hym.
1568 E. Dering Sparing Restraint 92 Primasius saith, that in certaine places of Syria and Egipt, men came together on Saterday night.
1589 C. Ocland Fountaine Variance, Sedition & Deadlie Hate 36 On saterday night when ye enemies came to an anker.
1611 T. Middleton & T. Dekker Roaring Girle i. sig. G2 Alex. And see thy newes be true. Trap. As a barbars euery satterday night.
1671 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc. 1670) 6 2177 I met with a glow-worm last Saturday night, on which I made these observations, upon putting her into a small thin box.
1741 Boston Weekly News-let. 17 Sept. 2/1 New-York, Sept. 7. Last Saturday Night arrived here His Majesty's Ship Sea-Horse under the command of Captain Allen.
1799 R. Smelt Let. 6 Dec. in B. Ward Dawn Catholic Revival (1909) II. xxxi. 220 We sailed from Palermo on Saturday night, November ye 2nd.
1818 Times 10 Apr. 3/4 On the Saturday night of the murder, he was at a free and easy club.
1872 B. Jerrold London xix. 158 These street-fairs are held chiefly on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings.
1942 M. Walker For my People 46 One Saddy night Old Gus got high Drinking moonshine.
1976 ‘W. Trevor’ Children of Dynmouth iii. 77 There was wife-swapping every Saturday night at parties on the new estate.
2000 Time Out 26 Jan. 55/3 Last Saturday night was a sore point for me. I landed in a sprawling central London venue, struggling to dance in four rooms of flailing limbs and beered-up aggression.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, esp. in relation to recreational activities, social events, etc., typically involving the consumption of alcohol, taking place on a Saturday night.
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1648 Mercurius Censorius No. 1. 3 The reading of three Collects on the next Sunday morning for the King, with a prayer for the Queen and royall Progeny, redeems their Saturday-night deboistnesse.
1847 H. Melville Omoo xii. 49 The evening of the last day of the week was always celebrated by what is styled on board of English vessels, ‘The Saturday-night bottles’. Two of these were sent down into the forecastle, just after dark.
1896 ‘M. Rutherford’ Clara Hopgood xii. 121 Saturday-night drunkenness and looseness in the relations between the young men and young women.
1918 W. Cather My Ántonia ii. viii. 224 I never missed a Saturday night dance.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §509/17 Saturday-night habit, week-end habit, indulgence in small amounts of narcotics at irregular intervals.
1970 M. Laurence Loons in M. Atwood & R. Weaver Oxf. Bk. Canad. Short Stories (1986) 143 Sometimes old Jules, or his son Lazarus, would get mixed up in a Saturday-night brawl.
2001 Village Voice (N.Y.) 4 Dec. 103/2 Tabou Combo stoke the heat at this wee-hours Saturday-night party with..their own spin on Brazilian rock called konpal.
C2.
Saturday night palsy n. Medicine temporary weakness or paralysis of the hand and forearm, with wrist drop and inability to extend the fingers, resulting from injury to the radial nerve when the arm is pressed against a hard surface for a prolonged period of time (as during sleep following a bout of drinking); an instance of this.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders affecting muscles > [noun] > spasm or cramp > type of spasm > of specific muscles
dog spasm1615
wry-mouth1661
risus sardonius1663
lifeblood1733
locked jaw1754
laryngismus1822
podism1858
blepharospasm1872
Saturday night palsy1887
wrist clonus1888
cardiospasm1896
pylorospasm1898
wrist jerk1899
histrionic spasm1912
main d'accoucheur1926
twister's cramp-
1887 J. M'Lachlan Anat. Surg. xxiii. 415 This last form (‘Saturday night palsy’) is peculiarly apt to be first discovered on Sunday morning, the patient usually applying for advice and explanation on the following Monday.
1889 J. M'Lachlan Appl. Anat. I. xxiv. 447 When the trunk of the musculo-spiral is paralysed, as in ‘crutch palsy’, in ‘Saturday night palsy’, and by pressure of the axillary pad in cases of fracture of the clavicle, this muscle is paralysed.
1974 R. Passmore & J. S. Robson Compan. Med. Stud. III. xxxiv. 35/1 Wrist drop thus produced is known as a ‘Saturday night palsy’.
2007 Boston Globe (Nexis) 5 Mar. c4 An extreme example of pins and needles is ‘Saturday night palsy’, when a person becomes drunk and sleeps so heavily in one position that it can take weeks for crushed nerves to recover.
Saturday night paralysis n. = Saturday night palsy n.
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1892 C. A. Herter Diagnosis Dis. Nerv. Syst. v. 492 So often does this occur in patients who have fallen asleep after excess in alcohol that it is known as ‘Saturday-night paralysis’, or ‘Sunday-morning paralysis’.
1942 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Apr. 22/2 A similar ailment is called ‘shelter paralysis’—formerly known as ‘Saturday night paralysis’ because its victims were generally payday tipplers.
1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris (U.K. ed.) xii. 216 Berthe was suffering from what is known in the United States as Saturday-night paralysis,..when drunken men go to sleep in gutters, with one arm across a sharp kerbstone.
Saturday-night pistol n. U.S. colloquial = Saturday-night special n.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > pistol > types of
dag1587
key gun1607
pocket pistol1612
key pistol1663
holster-pistol1679
troop pistol1688
horse pistol1704
screw-barrel1744
saddle pistol1764
air pistol1780
Wogdon1786
belt pistol1833
dueller1835
Colt1838
tickler1844
Derringer1853
cocking pistol1858
belt size1866
bulldozer1880
saloon pistol1899
Luger1904
Police Positive1905
Steyr1920
Saturday-night pistol1929
muff pistol1938
PPK1946
Makarov1958
Saturday-night special1959
puffer1963
snub nose1979
snubby1981
1929 M. A. Gill Underworld Slang 11/1 Saturday night pistol, 25 automatic.
2003 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) (Nexis) 6 Nov. a1 We are not talking about Saturday-night pistols... We will be packing heavy metal. We are gonna be packing automatic weaponry that can fire 30 or 40 shots.
Saturday night soldier n. colloquial (somewhat depreciative) a member of the Territorial Army or other voluntary armed force.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier by branch of army > [noun] > auxiliary or reserve
volunteer1642
redif1836
home guard1850
reservist1854
reserve1897
Saturday night soldier1911
weekend soldier1970
1911 G. Acorn One of Multitude xviii. 142 My mother then dwelt at some length upon the social degradation that must inevitably ensue even through playing at ‘Saturday Night Soldiers’.
1974 Maclean's Oct. 30/1 My husband was a Saturday Night soldier, the militia, and he couldn't wait for the war and when it started, zoom, he was called up and then he was happy.
2007 Telegraph-Jrnl. (St. John, New Brunswick) (Nexis) 25 Jan. a4 These men and women, once considered Saturday Night Soldiers, are now an essential part of all the forces deployed.
Saturday-night special n. U.S. colloquial a cheap, low-calibre handgun such as might be used by a petty criminal.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > pistol > types of
dag1587
key gun1607
pocket pistol1612
key pistol1663
holster-pistol1679
troop pistol1688
horse pistol1704
screw-barrel1744
saddle pistol1764
air pistol1780
Wogdon1786
belt pistol1833
dueller1835
Colt1838
tickler1844
Derringer1853
cocking pistol1858
belt size1866
bulldozer1880
saloon pistol1899
Luger1904
Police Positive1905
Steyr1920
Saturday-night pistol1929
muff pistol1938
PPK1946
Makarov1958
Saturday-night special1959
puffer1963
snub nose1979
snubby1981
1959 News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Mich.) 27 June ii. 7/1 Three farm laborers were arrested on drunk and disorderly charges early today after a ‘Saturday Night Special’ revolver was fired during an alleged brawl.
1968 N.Y. Times 17 Aug. 1/1 Title IV of that law bans the importation of the cheap, small-caliber ‘Saturday night specials’ that are a favorite of holdup men.
2001 G. Joseph Homegrown xxiii. 315 ‘This,’ said Jerry, holding up a small black revolver, ‘is a .22. “Saturday-night special” they call it in the States.’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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