Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. anyone who is habitually out and about at nighttime.

1842		Flash (NY) 4 Sept. n.p.: Beware, monster, of Mons Mazuime, the night owl.
1847		W.T. Porter Quarter Race in Kentucky 163: Do I know it, you no-souled, shad-bellied, squash-headed, old night-owl you!
1885		Yorks. Gaz. 24 Dec. 10/6: ‘You old night-owl. Touch my friend!’ and he grabbed the policeman.
1896		Salt Lake Herald (UT) 10 May 12/3: Policemen off shift, night owls and reporters gathered at the station.
1903		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 8 Aug. 6/3: ‘I suppose you didn’t see the lovely sunrise this morning,’ said Mr Earlybird to Mr Nightowl. ‘Of course not,’ was the latter’s reply.
1906		A. Adams ‘At Commanche Ford’ Cattle Brands 🌐 He was a night owl. It was nothing for him to be seen at some ranch in the evening, and the next morning be met seventy-five or eighty miles distant.
1916		J. Lait ‘The Imp of the Night’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 132: He was an inquisitive night owl, this bird. He wrote stories for a newspaper.
1948		D. Dodge Bullets For The Bridegroom (1953) 27: One of them was run by a henna-haired female with a hard face who was getting a play from three or four night-owls when Whit arrived.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 149: Negro nite owls on the stroll.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 350: Mirabel’s friends were all night-owls - DJs, bartenders, and bouncers.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 73: Night owl Marilyn. Night owl Lowell. Night owl Pat tends to stay up late-late.

2. (US) a taxi that plys for trade at night.

1909

Sun (NY) 17 Apr. 3/5: He drove into Central Park a little past 5 o’clock [...] frightening the night-owl taxi-cab drivers by narrowly missing their wheel hubs.

3. late customers of cafés and restaurants.

1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Aug. 26/1: I take this opportunity of advising gay devils, night owls, toughs and naughty boys generally to be more Broosmithian in their treatment of waiters and barmen than they have found necessary in the past.
1916		J. Lait ‘Omaha Slim’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 104: Omaha Slim, having shilled a night owl for a dime, repaired him to the lodging-house of his choice.
1927		W. Winchell Your Broadway & Mine 24 Apr. [synd. col.] [Café owner] Whiteman [...] could murder night owls for disturbing his slumber.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 36: A couple of dozen phantom night owls, in the company of scantily clad party girls, occupied small round tables.

4. a night-soil worker.

1991

(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 197: I once knew a night owl, and I asked how he could stand the smell of the honey wagon.

5. one who stays up late (but does not necessarily go out).

1891		Dly Gaz. for Middlesborough 19 May 4/4: You’ll be up until then, Miss Ruth; you are such a night-owl.
1927		Derby Dly Teleg. 10 Jan. 2/6: The folks she disturbs when she wneds her way bed-0wards call her a night-owl [...] ‘one who burns the midnight oil’.
1937		Nottingham Eve. Post 7 May 12/4: For the night-owl, 31 metres [i.e. a radio frequency] never fails to provide an excellent choice of programmes all through the night.
1955		E. Hoagland Cat Man 118: With most of these night-owls the sting of whatever it was that had made them join [the circus] was way back in the past.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 104: Are you ready for the man, night owls?