nocturn.

A division of the traditional night office, particularly matins, containing psalms and readings.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a nocturn at matins
• the first nocturn

On the page

The first nocturn ended before the visitor reached the chapel.

The manuscript assigned different readings to each nocturn.

Usage notes

Primary category: gothic. Forms: Singular nocturn; plural nocturns. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.