eve

/iv/

/iv/

Other forms: eves

An eve is the day — or night — just before some event. You might call the day before your birthday your "birthday eve."

Some holidays are well-known for having the proceeding days distinguished as eves: many of us celebrate New Year's Eve, others gather for meals on Christmas Eve or Passover Eve, and the word "Halloween" comes from "All Hallow's Eve." The word eve is sometimes also a shortened form of evening, the last part of the day: "It stays light so late on a summer's eve."

Definitions of eve

1. noun

   the day before
   “he always arrives on the eve of her departure”

   type of:

   24-hour interval, day, mean solar day, solar day, twenty-four hour period, twenty-four hours

   time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
2. noun

   the period immediately before something
   “on the eve of the French Revolution”

   type of:

   period, period of time, time period

   an amount of time
3. noun

   the latter part of the day (the period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall)
   synonyms: even, evening, eventide

   types:

   guest night

   an evening when members of a club or college can bring their friends as guests

   type of:

   day, daylight, daytime

   the time after sunrise and before sunset while it is light outside