Definition of high noon

The term "high noon" commonly refers to the exact moment when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, typically around 12:00 pm. Its origins can be traced back to the Old English word hæglond, which meant "hay-gathering time." This was due to the fact that medieval farmers would traditionally work in the fields until late morning and then take a break for lunch during the hottest part of the day, around high noon. As English evolved, the term "midday" came into use to describe this time, but it also represented the midpoint between sunrise and sunset. This led to some confusion, as the timing of midday could vary greatly seasonally and in different time zones. In order to avoid this confusion, Western movies and literature in the early 20th century began to use the phrase "high noon" to explicitly refer to 12:00 pm, giving the term a new meaning that specifically pertained to a fixed time of day rather than an abstract midpoint. Today, the phrase "high noon" is still commonly used in popular culture and everyday conversation to refer to this particular moment in the day.