sundowner

From sundown +‎ -er.

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sundowner (plural sundowners)

1. (Australia, obsolete) An itinerant worker, such as a swagman, who arrives at a farm too late in the day to do any work, but readily accepts food and lodging.
   • 2008, Arthur Upfield, edited by Kees de Hoog, Wisp of Wool and Disk of Silver: Up and Down Australia, page 279:

     What he saw was not usual in this part of Australia - a sundowner, a bush waif who tramps from north to south or from east to west, never working, cadging rations from the far-flung homesteads and having the ability of the camel to do without water, or find it.

   • 2010, John Hirst, Looking for Australia: Historical Essays, page 60:

     Like the Australian sundowners, some of these trampers were suspected of never wanting to find a job.

2. (Australia, obsolete) An itinerant worker, a swagman.
3. (nautical) A sea captain who shows harsh discipline by requiring all hands to be on board by sundown.^[1]
   • 1985, Ronald H. Spector, Eagle Against the Sun:

     Arrogant, aloof, and suspicious, a “sundowner,” or strict disciplinarian, King inspired respect in many but affection in few.

4. (medicine, colloquial) A patient, usually demented, who tends to become agitated in the evening.
   • 1977, Jules Hymen Masserman, Current Psychiatric Therapies, page 179:

     These patients may improve by day only to relapse at night (nocturnal delirium or sundowner's syndrome).

   • 1989, William H. Reid, The Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: Revised for the DSM III R., page 71:

     They generally occur in the evening or at night in the form of "sundowner" syndrome, as a result of diminished sensory input and social isolation and/or exposure to an unfamiliar environment (e.g., the hospital).

   • 2007 February 7, Dennis Fiely, “Dark Ages: For the elderly fighting mental or physical problems, life takes a frightening turn when nighttime comes”, in The Columbus Dispatch:

     “Sundowner′s syndrome” refers to changes in mood and behavior that begin near dusk.

5. (originally colonial slang, especially southern Africa) A cocktail consumed at sunset, or to signify the end of the day.
   • 1918, Robert Valentine Dolbey, Sketches of the East Africa Campaign, page 117:

     The cocktail, the universal “sherry and bitters” and sundowner will have to be retained.

   • 1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 146:

     Mrs. Lowe-Island […] had imagined the Sports Club as a large shadowy veranda, with native servants standing like willing statues around the walls, plenty of sundowners, and that laughter which is the result of personal comment […].

   • 2005, Franz Wisner, Honeymoon With My Brother: A Memoir, page 243:

     Per custom, we capped our drives with a sundowner cocktail party at a scenic vantage point.

6. A cocktail party held in the early evening.
   • 2005, Edward M. Bruner, Culture on Tour: Ethnographies of Travel,, page 83:

     The Sundowner is basically a cocktail party with a buffet on a riverbank in the bush.

7. A physician employed by the government who practises for private fees after his official hours.
8. Any worker who practises for private fees after official hours.
   • 1956, Redbook: The Magazine for Young Adults, volume 108, page 64:

     These "sundowners" hold jobs in other — usually related — trades, and do their servicing nights and weekends.

   • 1961, Radio-electronics, volume 32, page 262:

     […] according to Home Furnishings Daily, “Public exposure of the sundowners provides strong support for our campaign for state licensing of TV technicians. […]

9. A northerly offshore wind which occurs in California along the southern Pacific slope of Santa Ynez Mountains when a region of high pressure is north of the area (the coast of which trends east to west), often preceding or following a Santa Ana and typically occurring at night and ceasing during the day (hence the name).

   Coordinate terms: Diablo wind, devil wind, Santa Ana wind

   • 1986, Meteorological Data Inventory Southern California Coastal Zone: Ragged Point (San Luis Obispo County) to Mexican Border : Coast of California Storm and Tidal Waves Study:

     […] Sundowners originate as a high pressure nudges onto the coast of San Luis […]

   • 1991, Johannes J. DeVries, Susan G. Conard, California Watersheds at the Urban Interface: Proceedings of the Third Biennial Watershed Conference (Ontario Hilton, Ontario, California, October 30-31, 1990):

     […] winds, and "sundowners" (a dry north wind descending into southern California coastal valleys west of Los Angeles at sunset, displacing moist sea breezes). Extensive burning also occurs during heat waves caused by seaward retreat […]

   • 1995, Michael Collins, The Cadillac Cowboy: A Novel, Dutton, →ISBN:

     […] sundowner wind blew in gusts from the mountains.

   • 2018 June 8, Jan W. van Wagtendonk, Fire in California's Ecosystems, Univ of California Press, →ISBN, page 35:

     […] winds called “sundowners” that descend the Santa Ynez Mountains in the evening. Sundowners take place under strong north-to-south pressure gradients between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The term refers to the onset of these winds with […]

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