midnight chow

noun

A meal served in the mess hall around midnight or later.

Meanings

nounmidnight chow (uncountable)
  1. USinformaluncountablegovernmentA meal served in the mess hall around midnight or later.

    1917, in United States Marine Corps, The Marines Magazine, C. A. Ketcham (1917), page 27, After the ball was over and the taxi-cab was underway some one suggested midnight chow, permitted by the censor.

    2 more examples

    1957, Walter Sullivan, Quest for a Continent, McGraw-Hill, page 217, Chief Petty Officer Paul Saylor, an electronics technician, and one of his men set out from the Operations Hut for their midnight chow. It was broad daylight, even at that hour, but visibility was literally zero.

    2007, Michael C. Hodges, A Doctor Looks at War: My Year in Iraq, Tate Publishing, →ISBN, page 188, After quick greetings to those who were still awake, some of our group went to eat at the midnight chow, some went to use the phones, some went to shower, and others, like me, just went to sleep.

Cite this entry
APA

midnight chow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midnight%20chow

MLA

“midnight chow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midnight%20chow. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “midnight chow,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midnight%20chow.

Source: midnight chow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.