nightcap

noun

1. A warm cloth cap worn while sleeping, often with pajamas, being common attire in northern Europe before effective home heating became widespread.

   “Winston wore a nightcap to stave off the cold.”

2. A beverage drunk before bed that is usually alcoholic.

   “I'll make myself a nightcap of whisky and lemon before heading to bed.”

   “You know the other night, when I had dinner with Afro-Dite? When Jo was in San Francisco? Well we dropped into the Sinners, right, just for a nightcap.”

   “This week I took up the relatively simple challenge of buying breakfast, lunch and dinner—and a nightcap—exclusively from konbini, as well as completing a couple of admin tasks.”

3. (broadly, figuratively)Something that a person reads or listens to before bed.

   “"[…] and as a nightcap I happened to pick the copy of Plato […]"”

4. (US)The final match of a sporting contest, especially the second game of a baseball doubleheader.
5. (historical)A cap drawn over the face of the condemned person before they are hanged.

verb

1. (intransitive)To drink an alcoholic beverage shortly before retiring to bed.

   “Even better than breakfast, though, is nightcapping at the Waffle House . Nightcapping happens after the bars close, but before the southern sunrise: the hours when their jukeboxes play “Freebird” on a continual loop, […]”

   “We nightcapped at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, on the most extravagant cocktails I'd ever purchased in life.”

name

1. A locality in the Byron council area and the Lismore council area, north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.