gloaming

plural gloamings

1. Twilight, as at early morning (dawn) or (especially) early evening; dusk.

   Where in purple hue, the hieland hills we view / And the moon coming out in the gloaming.

   c. 1841, anonymous author, “The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond”, in Vocal Melodies of Scotland, verse 2

   3 more examples

   You may imagine the young people brushed up after the labours of the day, and making this novelty, as they would make any novelty, the excuse for walking together and enjoying a trivial flirtation. You may figure to yourself the hum of voices along the road in the gloaming[…]

   1898, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 6, in The War of the Worlds, book 1

   I clung to her nipples as she soared and swooped through the gloaming, scooping up insects, and I remember the shapes of things that she flew between, above, beneath.

   2001, David Lodge, Thinks ...

   Your alarm bells, your alarm / They should be ringing, they should be ringing / This is the gloaming

   2003, “The Gloaming”, in Hail to the Thief, performed by Radiohead

   Synonyms: crepuscule, glooming, vespers, blue hour, crepuscule, crepusculum, dimmet, evenglome · Antonyms: daytime, daylight, nighttime, darkness

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of gloam