/ˈdɪm.weɪt/
noun · etym: anglo-noemic · dim + wait · cf. dial. dimsey
the moment after a light is switched off.
the lamp is off; the room is not yet dark. for a count of perhaps three the eye supplies its own afterglow, the walls retaining a residue of the lit version of themselves. one waits without knowing one is waiting. this small interval is the dimwait. compare the nullabye, which is its acoustic relative.
the dimwait is the threshold of silence's visual counterpart. some practitioners switch off the lamp before bed and stand in the dimwait deliberately, as a kind of ritual; others pass through it without notice. consult vespilux for the room's behaviour in the long before of evening; consult sleeptide for the longer after.
in a sentence: "i stood in the dimwait for a moment, listening to the house resettle."