The generally unpleasant consequences of a previous action or activity. The term originated in the late nineteenth century and at first referred exclusively to the aftereffects of a drinking bout; it often was put as the morning after the night before. By the mid-twentieth century it had been extended to include the consequences of any prior action, although it retained the negative implications of a hangover. It is also used in the colloquial name for an oral contraceptive taken after intercourse has occurred, the morning-after pill.