adverb
- for or during the night: to stay overnight.
- on or during the previous evening: Preparations were made overnight.
- very quickly; suddenly: New suburbs sprang up overnight.
adjective
- done, made, occurring, or continuing during the night: an overnight stop; an overnight decision.
- staying for one night: a group of overnight guests.
- designed to be used on a trip or for a journey lasting one night or only a few nights.
- intended for delivery on the next day: overnight letters; an overnight package.
- valid for one night: The corporal got an overnight pass.
- occurring suddenly or within a very short time: a comedian who became an overnight sensation.
noun
- Informal. an overnight stay or trip: Our daughter had an overnight at a friend’s house.
- Informal. a permit for overnight absence, as from a college dormitory: She had an overnight the night of the prom.
- the previous evening.
verb (used without object)
- to have an overnight stay or trip: We’ll overnight in Denver, then fly on to San Diego.
adverb (ˌəʊvəˈnaɪt)
- for the duration of the nightwe stopped overnight
- in or as if in the course of one night; suddenlythe situation changed overnight
adjective (ˈəʊvəˌnaɪt) (usually prenominal)
- done in, occurring in, or lasting the nightan overnight stop
- staying for one nightovernight guests
- lasting one nightan overnight trip; an overnight bank loan
- for use during a single nightovernight clothes
- occurring in or as if in the course of one night; suddenan overnight victory
verb (intr)
- to stay the night
adv.early 14c., from over- + night (n.). Originally “on the preceding evening;” sense of “during the night” is attested from 1530s. Meaning “in the course of a single night, hence seemingly instantaneously” is attested from 1939.