Why do we wait until night to 'call it a day?'
Answers
CALL IT A DAY
(1) To retire — used in the transitive form to give the sense of to withdraw participation from something:—
After going through massive losses for three years running, the boss decided to call it a day and sold his company.
You spent all this time trying to get an editorial job and it’s been nothing so far. You should just call it a day and move into another job sector.
(2) To stop activity for the day with the expectation that there will be a return to the activity tomorrow or some later time :—
We have been doing this for hours and getting no progress. Let’s call it a day and come back tomorrow.
Call it a day, John! You’re too tired to study. Go home and get some rest.
CALL IT A NIGHT
This idiom is a descendant of the above. It chiefly means to go to bed (to sleep) in the sense of stopping the activity one has been doing for the night. Therefore the principal sense here is the second sense above.
We’ve been travelling all day on this stretch of the desert route. The sun has set a few hours ago and we’ve had dinner already, so let’s call it a night and restart first thing tomorrow morning.
Answer:
This idiom is a descendant of the above. It chiefly means to go to bed (to sleep) in the sense of stopping the activity one has been doing for the night. ... The sun has set a few hours ago and we've had dinner already, so let's call it a night and restart first thing tomorrow morning.