Steen O’clock, That Inderminate Late (Or Early) Hour

A Nebraska listener came across his great-grandfather’s account of going out carousing and then returning home at steen o’clock. The context suggested that he meant he returned home extremely late. Although never that common, the expression steen o’clock or ’steen o’clock was used as early as the 1880s to suggest an indeterminate hour during the night, probably very late or very early. As such, steen o’clock is part of a class of expressions known as hyperbolic numerals, or terms suggesting non-specific numbers, such as gazillion and umpteen. The steen part may be a clipping of sixteen, which on a 24-hour clock, suggests the number 4, and thus the idea of returning shortly before dawn. This is part of a complete episode.