mid-afternoonn.adv.adj.
/ˌmɪdɑːftəˈnuːn/, /ˌmɪdaftəˈnuːn/, U.S. /ˈˌmɪdˌæftərˈnun/ A. n.
The middle of the afternoon. Cf. midovernoon n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > afternoon > [noun]
evenOE
overnoonOE
midovernoona1325
afternoonc1330
mid-afternoona1400
undern1470
after-dinner1576
postmeridian1583
evening1587
post meridiem1647
none1656
noon1667
postnoon1686
aft1772
p.m.1776
after1906
pip emma1912
arvo1933
pee em1933
afty1966
a1400 Med. Recipes (Royal) in F. Heinrich Mittelengl. Medizinbuch (1896) 114 (MED) Myd afternoon [a1450 BL Add. 33996 Let him be fastynge til myd ouernoone].
1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 391 A gentle rain storm in August, when..mid-afternoon had all the serenity of evening.
1896 W. D. Howells Impressions & Experiences 222 The wind rises, and by mid-afternoon, blows half a gale.
1952 Good Housek. (U.S. ed.) Dec. 15/2 Choose your shopping time wisely. In any day, midmorning and midafternoon are the letup hours.
1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xiii. 153 Ellis made arrangements for the whiskey-soaked clothes to be picked up by the cleaners and returned by mid afternoon.
1991 J. Diski Happily ever After x. 118 By mid-afternoon there was an empty bottle of whisky that had rolled under his bed.
B. adv.
In the middle of the afternoon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > afternoon > [adverb]
afternoon1548
mid-afternoon1847
1847 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. May 438/2 Battling, so high and near, the sun did seem To set 'mid afternoon.
1849 Southern Literary Messenger 15 608/2 You are early home—mid-afternoon.
1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxiv. 304 ‘This will bring them here—when?’ ‘Mid-afternoon, or later, the third day.’
1989 J. Trollope Village Affair iii. 34 The guests, unnaturally jolly after champagne drunk unsuitably mid-afternoon, stood on the gravel.
1998 Zest Oct. 150/3 Fatigue or lethargy can also make you feel like eating and very often occur mid-afternoon.
C. adj.
Occurring, performed, or taken in the middle of the afternoon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > afternoon > [adjective]
afternoon1528
pomeridian1575
postmeridian1592
postmeridional1767
anteprandial1802
mid-afternoon1855
1855 Ladies' Repository Nov. 679/1 His red breast glows in the light of a forenoon or mid-afternoon sun.
1885 R. F. Burton tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainments I. xxiii. 240 It was near the time of mid-afternoon prayer.
1951 I. Shaw Troubled Air xv. 248 The mid-afternoon coffee was put up in containers.
1956 N. Algren Walk on Wild Side i. 29 The stilly mid-afternoon hush that comes to all old chili parlors.
1998 Imprimis Dec. 5/2 There is the intensity of a mid-afternoon spelling bee in Mrs. Sommerville's classroom.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adv.adj.a1400