Kris·tall·nacht (kr?s?t?l-näkt?, -täl-näKHt?)n. The night of November 9, 1938, on which the Nazis coordinated an attack on Jewish people and their property in Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland.[German, night of (broken) glass : Kristall, crystal (from Middle High German, from Old High German cristalla, from Latin crystallus, crystallum; see crystal) + Nacht, night (from Middle High German naht, from Old High German; see nekw-t- in Indo-European roots).]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.