wee hours

English

Noun

wee hours pl (normally plural, singular wee hour)

1. (colloquial) The very early morning; the early morning hours; the nighttime hours following midnight, when most people are asleep.
   • 2011 March 15, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

     When I was young, I was up every night until the wee hours. Now I'm up every hour at night to wee.

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): small hours, wee small hours; see also Thesaurus:early morning
• postmidnight

Translations

very early morning

Finnish: pikkutunnit French: petites heures (fr) f pl German: früger Morgen m Hebrew: הַשָּׁעוֹת הַקְּטַנּוֹת (he) f pl (hasha'ót haqtanót) Old English: hancrēd Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see do białego rana (pl) Portuguese: madrugada (pt) f Spanish: altas horas f pl, las tantas f or f pl, madrugada (es) f Swedish: småtimmarna (sv) Tagalog: des-oras Vietnamese: sáng sớm (vi), đêm (vi) Walloon: meyzeure (wa), meynute meyzeure (wa)