benight

== English == === Alternative forms === benighten === Etymology === From Middle English benyghten, binighten, bynyȝten, equivalent to be- +‎ night. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bɪˈnaɪt/ (General American) IPA(key): /bɪˈnaɪt/, /bə-/ Homophone: beknight Hyphenation: be‧night Rhymes: -aɪt === Verb === benight (third-person singular simple present benights, present participle benighting, simple past and past participle benighted) (archaic, transitive) (chiefly passive voice) To overtake (a traveller etc) with the darkness of night, especially before shelter is reached. To darken; to shroud or obscure. To plunge or be overwhelmed in moral or intellectual darkness. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “benight”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.