"three-dog night" meaning in English

See three-dog night in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: three-dog nights [plural], three dog night [alternative]
Etymology: An Inuit saying, used to indicate a low temperature during the night, and during very frigid temperatures, one would require three sled dogs in the igloo to keep oneself warm. Head templates: {{en-noun}} three-dog night (plural three-dog nights)
  1. (dated, idiomatic) A very cold night. Tags: dated, idiomatic Related terms: rafter snapper
    Sense id: en-three-dog_night-en-noun-SCOPCEvz Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "An Inuit saying, used to indicate a low temperature during the night, and during very frigid temperatures, one would require three sled dogs in the igloo to keep oneself warm.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "three-dog nights",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "three dog night",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "three-dog night (plural three-dog nights)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A very cold night."
      ],
      "id": "en-three-dog_night-en-noun-SCOPCEvz",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, idiomatic) A very cold night."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "rafter snapper"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "three-dog night"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "An Inuit saying, used to indicate a low temperature during the night, and during very frigid temperatures, one would require three sled dogs in the igloo to keep oneself warm.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "three-dog nights",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "three dog night",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "three-dog night (plural three-dog nights)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "rafter snapper"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English dated terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A very cold night."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, idiomatic) A very cold night."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "three-dog night"
}

Download raw JSONL data for three-dog night meaning in English (0.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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