丑うし三みつ時どき

noun

dead of night; middle of the night

Refers to the deep, quiet hours of the night, often with a spooky or eerie connotation. In modern usage, it is a literary or traditional expression rather than a precise time.

• 丑うし三みつ時どきになると、古ふるい屋や敷しきから不ふ思し議ぎな音おとが聞きこえるという。

  They say that at the dead of night, strange sounds can be heard from the old mansion.

• 丑うし三みつ時どきの静しずけさが怖こわかった。

  The silence of the middle of the night was frightening.

noun

third quarter of the hour of the ox (approx. 2:00–2:30 AM)

Historical timekeeping term. In the traditional Japanese temporal system, the hour of the ox (丑の刻) was divided into four quarters; the third quarter was considered especially inauspicious and associated with supernatural events.

See also: 丑の刻

• 丑うし三みつ時どきは、丑うしの刻こくの第だい三さん刻こくにあたる。

  Ushimitsudoki corresponds to the third quarter of the hour of the ox.

• 昔むかし話ばなしでは、丑うし三みつ時どきに妖よう怪かいが現あらわれるとされる。

  In old tales, monsters are said to appear at the third quarter of the hour of the ox.