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Witching hour

Noun

Definition: Usually the midnight, with reference to the belief that witches are active and magic takes place at that time. More generally: the time, especially the dead of night, when bad or sinister things are believed to be most likely to happen.

(2) Originally and chiefly US. The last hour of trading each month when exchange-traded stock options expire, causing increased trading activity and volatility in the market.

Examples: “Tis the baleful witching hour,.. now doth murders dagger gleam,..Yawning graves give up their dead. (E. C. Keene Misc. Poems 15)

“While about the witching hour they were crowning a solemn bumper to his health, a figure burst into the room. (Scott in Edinb. Ann. Reg. 1811 4 ii. p. lvi/2)

“The great Big Ben...has just sounded forth this ‘witching hour,’ when ghosts and spirits make midnight lamps burn blue. (‘Freethinker & Republican’ My Path into Freethought viii. 83)

“The witching hour... was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep, deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world to themselves. (R. Dahl, BFG, 10)

Origin: Mid 18th century. From witching + hour.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 26th, 2016