the.com/nightcap
The last drink, sworn to be one, secretly the beginning of a saga.
means A drink, usually alcoholic, taken at the end of the evening just before bed — or, originally, the soft cap worn to keep one's head warm in sleep.
from A plain compound of "night" and "cap," from the Old English roots niht and cæppe (the latter borrowed from the Latin cappa, a hood or cape). The literal sense came first: a cloth cap people pulled on against cold bedrooms in the days before central heating. The boozy sense arrived later by warm analogy — a bedtime drink that, like the cap, takes the chill off before sleep.
- original meaning
- A literal cloth cap worn in cold bedrooms
- sports usage
- The second game of a baseball doubleheader
- sleep science
- Alcohol wrecks deep sleep despite feeling drowsy
- word age
- The drink sense dates to the 1800s
sazerac — new orleans cocktail with rye whiskey, absinthe, and peychaud's bitters, established 1850s at the sazerac coffee house
irish coffee — hot drink with irish whiskey, coffee, sugar, and cream, created 1943 at foynes flying boat terminal in ireland
hot toddy — warming whiskey drink with hot water, honey, and lemon, popular bedtime remedy across scotland and northern uk