NIGHTCAP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nightcap mean? 

• NIGHTCAP (noun)
  The noun NIGHTCAP has 3 senses:

1. an alcoholic drink taken at bedtime; often alcoholic

2. a cloth cap worn in bed

3. the final game of a double header

  Familiarity information: NIGHTCAP used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NIGHTCAP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An alcoholic drink taken at bedtime; often alcoholic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("nightcap" is a kind of...):

drink (a single serving of a beverage)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A cloth cap worn in bed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("nightcap" is a kind of...):

cap (a tight-fitting headdress)

Holonyms ("nightcap" is a part of...):

gown; night-robe; nightdress; nightgown; nightie (lingerie consisting of a loose dress designed to be worn in bed by women)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The final game of a double header

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("nightcap" is a kind of...):

game (a single play of a sport or other contest)

Holonyms ("nightcap" is a part of...):

double feature; doubleheader; twin bill (two games instead of one (especially in baseball when the same two teams play two games on the same day))

 Context examples 

It was as true, said Mr. Barkis, nodding his nightcap, which was his only means of emphasis, as taxes is.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Breakfast at that early hour seemed odd, and even Hannah's familiar face looked unnatural as she flew about her kitchen with her nightcap on.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Another day I will do the same; I will sit in my library, in my nightcap and powdering gown, and give as much trouble as I can; or, perhaps, I may defer it till Kitty runs away.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting: as interesting as the tales Bessie sometimes narrated on winter evenings, when she chanced to be in good humour; and when, having brought her ironing-table to the nursery hearth, she allowed us to sit about it, and while she got up Mrs. Reed's lace frills, and crimped her nightcap borders, fed our eager attention with passages of love and adventure taken from old fairy tales and other ballads; or (as at a later period I discovered) from the pages of Pamela, and Henry, Earl of Moreland.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

So I thanked her ardently for this mark of her affection, and for all her other kindnesses towards me; and after a tender good night, she took her nightcap into my bedroom.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My aunt was walking up and down the room when I returned, crimping the borders of her nightcap with her fingers.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He was too rheumatic to be shaken hands with, but he begged me to shake the tassel on the top of his nightcap, which I did most cordially.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When it was ready for her, she was ready for it, with her nightcap on, and the skirt of her gown turned back on her knees.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Her only association with the word was a yellow face and a nightcap, or a pair of crutches, or a wooden leg, or a dog with a decanter-stand in his mouth, or something of that kind; and she stared at me with the most delightful wonder.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The man who had been playing the harp all night, was trying in vain to cover it with an ordinary-sized nightcap, when I awoke; or I should rather say, when I left off trying to go to sleep, and saw the sun shining in through the window at last.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)