night-wanderingn.
/ˈnʌɪt ˌwɒnd(ə)rɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈnaɪtˌwɑnd(ə)rɪŋ/ The action of wandering at night; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > physical symptoms of fear > [noun] > act of wandering about at night
night-wanderinga1649
a1649 W. Drummond Hist. James V in Wks. (1711) 98 Till after much Misery and Night-wandring at Home, they were constrained..to fly into England.
a1807 W. Wordsworth Prelude (1959) i. 20 Sometimes it befel In these night-wanderings, that a strong desire O'erpower'd my better reason.
1835 T. S. Fay Norman Leslie I. vi. 40 In his solitary night-wanderings, these thoughts gathered and accumulated upon him, till Clairmont's agency in the late tremendous vicissitudes flashed upon him.
1887 W. F. Barry New Antigone III. iii. xxxiii. 202 The patient..talked incessantly of the dreadful sights he had looked upon during his night-wanderings in London.
1930 B. Bunting Compl. Poems (1996) 172 Silent be our leave-taking And mournful As your night-wanderings In unlit rooms.
1993 C. Orlock Inner Time xix. 167 For some Alzheimer's patients..exposure to bright light cuts down on night wandering and ‘sundowning’, a pattern of late afternoon and evening agitation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
night-wanderingadj.
/ˈnʌɪtˌwɒnd(ə)rɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈnaɪtˌwɑnd(ə)rɪŋ/ That wanders at night; (of an animal) active at night.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > night > [adjective] > nocturnal or active at night
night-wandering1560
night-walking1597
night ambling1600
night-faring1714
night-straying1857
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [adjective] > with no fixed aim or wandering > at night
night-wandering1560
noctivagant1614
noctivagous1709
1560 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Æneid (1584) x. sig. Piv The day departed was from heauen, and hie with wheeles Night wandring dame Diane did midskie beat with palfreis heeles.
a1593 C. Marlowe Hero & Leander (1598) sig. Bij Not that night-wandering, pale and watery star.
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. C4 Night-wandring weezels shreek to see him there. View more context for this quotation
1647 J. Cleveland Poems (new ed.) in Char. London-diurnall (Wing C4663) 8 When night-wandring Witches put on their pattins.
1685 W. Clark Grand Tryal iii. xix. 142 I now appear Like a distress'd night-wandering Traveller, Who sometimes falls on stones.
1720 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad V. xix. 404 So to Night-wand'ring Sailors, pale with Fears, Wide o'er the wat'ry Waste, a Light appears.
1798 S. T. Coleridge Nightingale in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 64 Nothing melancholy.—But some night-wandering Man, whose heart was pierc'd With the remembrance of a grievous wrong.
1835 T. S. Fay Norman Leslie I. xxvi. 234 Some remote resemblance between a night-wandering female on the Battery and the deceased, struck her eye, and is now remembered in this emergency.
1876 S. Smiles Life Sc. Naturalist vi. 97 Hosts of night-wandering insects,..slaters, centipedes and snails.
1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-mulgars 102 A night-wandering Bittock.
1951 H. Gregory Coll. Poems (1964) 122 Burning above the T-crossed earth where T is The night-wandering Tapir and Targets pierced with darts.
2001 Guardian (Nexis) 5 Sept. 14 Discovering her apprentice, Martin, and some of his night wandering chums in skirts, she realises [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1649
adj.1560