до первых петухов

• ДО (ПЕРВЫХ <ВТОРЫХ, ТРЕТЬИХ> ПЕТУХОВ coll

[PrepP; these forms only; adv]

=====

1. до первых петухов сидеть, говорить и т.п. Also: ДО ПОЗДНИХ ПЕТУХОВ obs (to stay up, keep talking etc) very late into the night or until the break of day:

- till (first <second, third>) cockcrow;

- till the cock crows;

- till coctts crow;

- till the small hours;

- till the wee hours (of the morning);

- till daybreak (dawn).

     ♦ "Мы у него проиграли в вист вместе с прокурором и председателем палаты до самых поздних петухов..." (Гоголь 3). "We played whist in his house together with the prosecutor and the president till cockcrow" (3d). "We played whist at his house with the public prosecutor and the president of the court till the small hours" (3a).

     ♦ Комиссия засиживалась до третьих петухов, но сколько-нибудь вразумительного объяснения [причины аварий] так и не находила (Максимов 3). Though the commission's meetings dragged on till dawn, they still couldn't find anything like a plausible explanation [for what caused the crashes](3a).

2. вставать, просыпаться до первых петухов (to rise, wake up) very early in the morning, while it is still dark:

- before cockcrow (the cocit's crow);

- before dawn (daybreak).

—————

← From the method of telling time based on the crowing of roosters. Traditionally first cockcrow, "первые петухи", is the earliest cockcrow after midnight; second cockcrow, "вторые петухи", is sometime after first cockcrow and before daybreak; and third cockcrow, "третьи петухи", is right at daybreak.