oh dark thirty

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oh dark thirty

Where it comes from

From U.S. military terminology, in which hours before 10:00 am are prefixed with a zero, read as "oh", as in 0530, oh five-thirty, for 5:30 am.

noun 0-dark-thirty · oh-dark-thirty · zero dark thirty · dark thirty

idiomatic Some unspecified hour in the early morning (implying an unpleasant time to be awake). I had to get up at oh dark thirty to catch a plane.
Similar: crack of dawn, dark o’clock, stupid o'clock, wee small hours

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MLA

"oh dark thirty." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/oh%20dark%20thirty. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

oh dark thirty. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/oh%20dark%20thirty

Chicago

"oh dark thirty." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/oh%20dark%20thirty.

BibTeX

@misc{oh_dark_thirty_2026,
  title = {oh dark thirty},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/oh%20dark%20thirty},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}