English Explanatory Dictionary

11 o'clock number

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A showstopping song that occurs late in the second act of a two-act musical, often signifying a moment of revelation or change of heart of a lead character.

Word forms

11 o'clock number 11 o'clock numbers

Etymology

So called because, in the days when musical performances began at 8:30 p.m., such a song would occur around 11 p.m.

Related words

11th hour
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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