benight

Definition

To overtake (a traveller etc) with the darkness of night, especially before shelter is reached.

Etymology

From Middle English benyghten, binighten, bynyȝten, equivalent to be- + night.

Example Sentences

• "How far might I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread thoſe ſteps thrice over, which I needed not to have trod but once: Yea now alſo I am like to be benighted, for the day is almost ſpent."
• "[H]e struck off the common road, to take the benefit of a nearer cut; and finding himself benighted near a village, took up his lodging at the first inn to which his horse directed him."
• "The public road, however, was tolerably well-made and safe, so that the prospect of being benighted brought with it no real danger."