wee small hours

English

Etymology

From Scots wee sma' hours (first attested in 1819).

Noun

wee small hours pl (normally plural, singular wee small hours)

1. (informal) The very early morning, just after midnight, when most people are asleep.

   He worked into the wee small hours to get everything perfect for the opening day.

Usage notes

Within the context of a sentence, almost always used with the definite article "the", especially, or a demonstrative adjective.

Synonyms

• (very early morning): oh dark thirty, small hours, wee hours; see also Thesaurus:early morning

Translations

very early morning

• Dutch: de vroege uurtjes
• French: petites heures du matin f pl, petites heures de la matinée f pl, petit matin (fr) m, petites heures (fr) f pl
• Galician: pola mañanciña
• German: früher Morgen m, Morgengrauen (de) n
• Italian: ore piccole f pl, mattinata (it) f
• Polish: o pogańskiej godzinie
• Russian: предрассве́тные часы́ m pl (predrassvétnyje časý)
• Scots: wee sma' hours
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ситни сати

  Roman: sitni sati (sh)

• Spanish: madrugada (es) f, altas horas f pl
• Swedish: småtimmar (sv) pl