| 释义 |
▪ I. week, n.|wiːk|
Forms: α. 1 wice (rare), wicu (inflected wican, wiecan), 3–5 wike, 3–6 wyke, 5 wyeke, 6 wieke; 4 wycke, 6–7, 9 dial. wick; β. 3–6 weke, 6 weeke, weicke, weake, 6– week; γ. 1 wucu, 2–3 wuke, 3–5 wouke, 4–5 woke, 4–6 wok, 5 wooke, wouyk, wowke (wokk), 5–6 wolk(e; δ. Sc. 4–8 ouk, owk(e, 5–8 oulk, owlk, ulk, olk, 6 wke, 9 ook.
[Com. Teut.: OE. wice wk. fem. corresponds to OFris. wike (WFris. wike, NFris. week, wik), OS. -wika in crûcewika Passion Week (MLG., LG. weke), MDu. weke (Du. week), OHG. wehha, wohha (MHG., mod.G. woche), ON. vika (Norw. vika, Sw. vecka, Da. uge), ? Goth. wikō (once only, rendering τάξις ‘order’ in Luke i. 8):—OTeut. *wikōn-.
As there is no reason to suppose that the Germanic peoples used a reckoning by weeks before they came in contact with the Romans, it is probable that the OTeut. *wikōn- had originally some meaning wider than that of ‘period of seven days’, which the word has in WGer. and Scandinavian; perh. it meant ‘succession, series,’ and this may have been the sense of Goth. wikō in the only recorded example. The root *wī̆k- is found in ON. víkja to turn, move, OHG. wehsal (mod.G. wechsel) change.
The remarkable diversity of forms in the Eng. word is due to the different effect, in different dialects, of the initial (w) on the following vowel. The original form with wi- appears rarely in OE. literature (exc. in combinations, where it was general); the β type represented by the standard English form descends from this. The form wucu (inflected wucan) is the ancestor of the γ type (ME. woke, wouke, etc.), whence the δ type was developed in the North by the loss of the initial (w) before the labial vowel. (The written l in many of the Sc. forms, wolk, oulk, etc., was never pronounced.)]
1. a. The cycle of seven days, recognized in the calendar of the Jews and thence adopted in the calendars of Christian, Muslim, and various other peoples; a single period of this cycle, i.e. a space of seven successive days beginning with the day traditionally fixed as the first day of the week.
The Jewish week began with the day after the Sabbath, and this beginning was adopted by the Christian church. The days of the Jewish week, except the seventh (the Sabbath) were not named, but distinguished only by number; in early Christian use the name Sabbath was retained for the seventh day, and the first was called the Lord's day (ἡ κυριακὴ ἡµέρα, dies dominicus), the other days being numbered only. The English names, Sunday, Monday, etc., belong to an astrological week which, quite independently of the Jewish–Christian week, arose from the practice of assigning the successive hours to the seven planets in the order of their distance, and then naming each whole day (of 24 hours) from the planet supposed to rule its first hour. The planetary names, Dies Solis, Dies Lunæ, Dies Martis, etc., came into common use in the Roman empire, and were adopted in translated form by the English (before they came to Britain) and other Teut. peoples; the names Mars, Mercurius, etc., being apprehended as names of Roman gods, were rendered by the names of the Teutonic deities supposed to correspond to these: for details see the articles Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.
αa900O.E. Chron. an. 878 (Parker MS.) On þære seofoðan wiecan ofer Eastron. c900Bæda's Hist. v. ii. (Miller) 388 Mid ðy hit ða án wiice ðæs fæstnes ᵹefylled wæs. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xviii. 12 Ic fæsto tuiᵹo in wico [c 975 Rushworth wica]. c1175Lamb. Hom. 139 Alle oðer daᵹes of þe wike beoð to þreldome to þis dei [sunnen dei]. c1205Lay. 13927 Þene feorðe dæi i þere wike heo ȝifuen him [Woden] to wurðscipe. a1225Ancr. R. 70 Euerich urideie of ðe yer holdeð silence, bute ᵹif hit beo duble feste; & teonne holdeð hit sum oðer dai iðe wike. c1290S. Eng. Leg. 312/438 Þe seoue Dawes in þe wyke. c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 430, I shal nomore com here þis wyke. c1394P. Pl. Crede 13 Þe Lengþe of a Lenten, flech moot y leue..And Wedenes-day iche wyke wiþouten flech-mete. c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 3058 Ilkone of us, withouten lesyng, Might win ilk wike fourty shilling. a1450Mirk's Festial 172 [A Saracen said to a Christian] Þis is þe wyke þat ȝoure gret profete deyt in. 1450–1530Myrr. Our Ladye i. i. 4 The seconde parte ys of youre seuen storyes, accordynge to the seuen dayes of the wyeke. 1456Paston Lett. Suppl. (1901) 57 My lord of Norwich shal the next wyke visite the hous of Hykelyng. 1590in P. H. Hore Hist. Wexford (1900) I. 271 James..went to St. James' faire to Bristowe the last wick.
βc1275[see 2. c 1205]. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 1 Þe Wednesdai in þe firste weke of Advent. 1390Gower Conf. III. 116 He..Of sevene daies made a weke. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 61 On þe Seterday it rynnes fast, and all þe weke elles it standes still. 1529More Let. to Wife 3 Sept., Wks. 1419/2, I shal (I think)..get leaue this next weke to come home and se you. 1556–7Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 458 The said [Recorder] shall thre daies every weicke gyve attendaunce. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 231 That thre daies in the weke they tame theyr body with fastynge. a1633G. Herbert Outlandish Prov. (1640) 587 [Proverb] Thursday come, and the week's gone. 1740C'tess Pomfret in C'tess Hartford's Corr. (1805) I. 208 As this is a week of great devotion and retirement with all good catholics, so it is a week of great idleness and equal retirement with us protestants. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. viii. 222 At Cheripe,..there is a constant store of provisions prepared for the vessels who go thither every week from Panama. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) I. 111 We may probably consider the Week, with Laplace as ‘the most ancient monument of astronomical knowledge’. 1837Dickens Pickw. xliv, You couldn't make it convenient to lend me half a crown till the latter end of next week, could you? 1849C. Brontë Shirley i, The present week is yet but at Thursday, and on Monday [etc.]. 1867E. A. Freeman in Stephens Life (1895) I. 391 Last week I have been working at the early life of Lanfranc.
γc1000Rule St. Benet (1888) 51 Þæt beon an ælcere wucan saltere..ᵹesungenne. a1122O.E. Chron. an. 1118, On þison ᵹeare on þære wucon Theophanie wæs anes æfenes swyðe mycel lihtinge. c1200Ormin 4173 Itt iss aȝȝ heh messedaȝȝ Att here wukess ende. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 3 And hit [sc. Advent] lasteð þre wuke fulle and sum del more. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2431 Vr eldore him [sc. Woden] bitoc of þe wouke þen verþe day. a1325MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 32 Ant te baillifs..eche woke oþer eche forteniȝt ate leste sullen maken enquestes of men herburgers. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 454 Þus þe persoun þat al þe wouke disposiþ hym to preche to his sheep or [etc.]. c1400Rule St. Benet xli. 29 Al þe wukis in þe summir, sal ye faste ilke wuke tua dais. c1400Mandeville (1839) xxv. 261 For thei schryven hem and howsele hem evermore ones or twyes in the Woke. 1425–6in Acta Dom. Conc. ii. Introd. 13 The secunde terme begynande the Monunday of the first hail wolke of lenteryn with lik continuacion of termes. c1440Promp. Parv. 532/1 Woke (v.rr. wok, wooke), ebdomada, septimana. c1450Godstow Reg. 231 To gefe to þ⊇ power nedy parysshens of bloxham euery woke & euery ȝere halfe a quarter of corne menglyd. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 303 The peple desyris..the mare to se him na he rade every day, or every wolk or moneth. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 51 Als well on the Satterday as ony other day of the wouke.
δc1470Gol. & Gaw. 1343 With reualing and reuay all the oulk hale. 1526Cartul. S. Nicholai Aberd. (New Spald. Club) I. 154 With ane trentell of messis in ye ouik [? read oulk] yat ye said obit sall happin in. 1565Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 332 That na sellaris be oppynnit bot thryis in the oulk for selling of thair geir. 1566in Hay Fleming Mary Q. of Scots (1897) 495 Nocht onlie the twa Sondayis bot also the hole rest of the olk. 1584J. Melvill Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 181 Ther shalbe four Sermones in the ouk; twa on the Sunday, and twa on the ouk-dayes. 1608Rec. Innerwick in A. I. Ritchie Ch. St. Baldred (1880) 114 The examination to begin ye nixt olk..for that purpose. 1728Ramsay Robt., Richy, & Sandy 31 Last ouk I dream'd my tup..brak his leg. 1807Tannahill Soldier's Return ii. iii, Wife—fetch my bonnet that I caft last owk. 1868G. Macdonald R. Falconer I. xi. 137, I'll think aboot it whan ance I'm throu wi' this job. That'll be neist ook or thereabouts, or aiblins two days efter.
b. With prefixed word, denoting some particular week of the year. Also, a week during which some event takes place, either annually or on one occasion only; a week during which attention is focused on a particular topic for promotional, charitable, etc., purposes.
The weeks of the ecclesiastical calendar commonly thus referred to are Easter week, the ember weeks (ember2), passion-week, Holy week (also called great week), rogation week (also called Gang-week, grass-week, procession-week), whit-week (also called whitsun-week, † Whitsun day-week, † Pentecost-week).
a950Guthlac (Prose) xx. 161 On þære eastorwucan. c1450Brut ii. 437 In Cristemesse wike. 1450–1530Myrr. Our Ladye ii. 278 In Penthecoste weke... In trynyte wyke. 1482Cely Papers (Camden) 94, I perposed to a byn with yow in the esterne weke. c1500Cartul. S. Nicholai Aberd. (New Spald. Club) I. 259 One Wedinsday in ye penthicost owk nixt eftir ye synod. 1622Laud Diary 23 Apr., Wks. 1853 III. 138 Being the Tuesday in Easter week. 1692Pepys Let. to Evelyn Easter Monday, The last being Confession, this in all good conscience should be Restitution Week. 1761G. Colman Jealous Wife ii. 21 How unlucky it is, that this damn'd Accident shou'd happen in the Newmarket Week! c1810W. Hickey Mem. (1960) xx. 326 We had previously enjoyed private lodgings at Epsom..for the race week. 1890W. Booth In Darkest Eng. ii. vi. 231 Self-denial..[which] the Soldiers of the Salvation Army practice every year in Self Denial Week. 1917Wells Fargo Messenger V. 133/2 (caption) Native sons of the Golden West begin ‘Prune Week’ ceremonies. 1965‘E. McBain’ He who Hesitates iii. 34 ‘How come everybody's so eager to join me this morning?’ Roger asked. ‘Who knows?... Maybe it's national brotherhood week.’ 1977Lancashire Life Mar. 99/1 He won a prize for the best money-raising poster during Warships Week.
¶c. Sometimes applied transf. to other artificial cycles of a few days that have been employed by various peoples, e.g. the eight days' ‘week’ of the Romans (see nundine), the five days' ‘week’ believed to have been used by the ancient Germans, etc.
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. ii. 435 They accompted their weekes by thirteene dayes, marking the dayes with a Zero or cipher.
2. a. A space of seven days, irrespective of the time from which it is reckoned. † all a week: for a whole week.
† forty weeks: often used for the length of the period of gestation.
c1055Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 288 On þam beoð twa & fifti wucena. c1205Lay. 22931 To feouwer wikene [c 1275 wekene] uirste Þat wrec [read werc] wes iuorðed. c1250Gen. & Ex. 2473 So woren forð .x. wukes gon, get adde Iacob birigeles non. c1290S. Eng. Leg. 66 And two ȝer and al-mest þreo wyke. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7942 Þis ost..bisegede þen castel, six wuke wel vaste. a1300Cursor M. 18587 He..Was tua and thritti winturs ald, And monet sex and wyckes tua. c1315Shoreham v. 110 In þyssere ioye we scholde by-louken Al hyre ioyen of uourti woken Þe wylest he ȝede wyþ chylde. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 9353 Al a wyke þe kyng þer lay, He spilte his tyme. 1375Barbour Bruce ix. 359 He gert his menȝe busk ilkane, Quhen sex owkis of the sege ves gane. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 100 And in þe wombe of þat wenche was he fourty wokes. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. ix. (1495) 354 A monthe conteynyth foure wekes and a weke seuen naturall dayes. c1400Beryn 1047 For foure wookis full, or he did hir entere, She lay in lede within his house. c1420Wyntoun Cron. iv. xxv. 2375 Þat about þe hundrethe day, Wouyk, monethe or moment [etc.]. c1420Chron. Vilod. 1662 He regnede not foure ȝere here, By sixe wykeus as yche vnderstonde, Þat he was martrid. 1466Paston Lett. Suppl. 108, I thynke of every day a wyke tyl ye be content. c1470Henry Wallace ii. 273 Hyr dochtir had of xij wokkis ald a knayff. a1520Skelton Magnyf. 1003, I haue not kept her yet thre wokys. 1534Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 214 Whiche catall hath ben..Impoundyd by the tyme and space of ten wykes at the leste. 1553Edin. Burgh Rec. (1871) II. 278 The expensis of the ulk precedand the xxvj day of Marche. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. v. 36 So many Dayes, my Ewes haue bene with yong: So many weekes, ere the poore Fooles will Eane. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 248 Efter mony oulkes quhen mekle tha had wrocht and mekle had swat, tha [etc.]. 1615R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 9 He hath byn in this place a wick, and never came into the English howse till now. 1734Pope Hor. Sat. ii. ii. 93 A Buck was then a week's repast, And 'twas their point, I ween, to make it last. 1736Butler Anal. i. i. Wks. 1874 I. 24 A man determines..that he will walk to such a place with a staff a week hence. 1744M. Bishop Life 114 Thinking every Day a Week, and Week a Month. 1751F. Coventry Pompey the Little ii. xii. 236 As he had expected a Parcel from London by the Coach for a Week before, he naturally concluded this to be the same. 1787Hoy Let. 31 Oct. in Burns' Wks. (1809) II. 110, I should give him nought but Stra'bogie castocks to chew for sax ouks, or ay until he [etc.]. 1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. ix, She was within six weeks of seventeen, and surely she need not be sent down again to the schoolroom. 1865Mrs. Whitney Gayworthys xlii, Then there came a week of rain.
b. Seven days as a term for periodical payments (of wages, rent, or the like), or as a unit of reckoning for time of work or service.
1426–7Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 66 Also payd to Thomas Seviere and his felawe to set vndir þe clerkis chamber dore þe o mason a hole woke iiij s. iij d. 1492Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 205 And for alimos, gevin woulkly, of xxiiij wokkis, xlviij li. 1527St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 473 After the rate of 18d by the wooke. 1552–3Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) II. 342 Item to Andro Mansioun for half ane ulk's wage. 1557–8Rec. St. Mary at Hill 409 Payde to wyllyam Elssame for j quarter and vj wyekes the soms of xix s. vj d. 1580Fermor Acc. in Archæol. Jrnl. (1851) VIII. 181 Pd for xii weickes bord for Mr. Richard Farmor and his man, at viis the weicke iiijli iiijs. 1784Morn. Chron. 26 May 4/1 Advt., The above premises may be taken by the week, and entered upon immediately. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes iii. (end), The house is full of boarders,..many of whom..contract by the week for their board and lodging. 1882Besant All Sorts xxi, Eighteen shillings a week would buy him outright until his engagements begin again. Ibid. xxii, And in two days more the week's rent would be due. 1886C. E. Pascoe Lond. To-day ii. (ed. 3) 39 A week's notice is the general rule before vacating rooms. 1914‘Ian Hay’ Knt. on Wheels xviii, I have two thousand a year... I don't know how much that is a week, but I'll work it out some day in shillings and see.
†c. Followed by day used pleonastically. (See day n. 11.)
c1440Partonope 6634 This lyfe they ladde vj. wekes day. c1670[see day n. 11].
d. Used vaguely for an indefinite time, as in a week or two, implying a moderate space of time; weeks, referring to a duration which is felt as long.
c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 567 But thurgh his magik for a wyke or tweye It semed that alle the Rokkes were aweye. c1422Hoccleve Min. Poems 174 My freend, aftir, I trowe, a wike or two That this tale endid was, hoom to me cam, And seide [etc.]. 15..Lyndesay Play 1048 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 505 Than scho deit to, within ane olk or two. 1550Crowley Way to Wealth 195 How often hast thou gone whole dayes togither, whole weakes, yea whole yeres, and neuer thought once to loue hym aryght? 1597in J. Melvill's Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 424 Alas! the mounths, alas! the wkes and dayes, That I consum'd in foolishe sports and plays. 1797Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xxix, He did feel the same, Elinor—for weeks and weeks he felt it. I know he did. 1891‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley vi, ‘Oh, Vere is not going for weeks—weeks,’ declared Mrs. Jock with great decision. 1918Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Apr. 183/2 The unbounded hospitality of a time when a few letters of introduction gave weeks of princely entertainment.
e. feast of weeks Hebrew Antiq. [tr. Heb. ḥag s̆ābūﻋōth] = Pentecost 1.
1382Wyclif Exod. xxxiv. 22 The solempnyte of weekis. 1535Coverdale ibid., The feast of wekes. [So the later versions.]
3. The six working days, as opposed to the Sunday; the period from Monday to Saturday inclusive. Cf. weekday. Now also meaning five working days, from Monday to Friday inclusive, as opposed to the weekend; three-day week: see three III. 2.
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 244 Ᵹif se terminus ᵹescyt on sumon dæᵹe þære wucan þonne byð se sunnan dæᵹ þær æfter easter dæᵹ. 1340Ayenb. 212 Þeruore me let of bodiliche workes of þe woke uor betere to onderstonde to bidde god. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 243 For summe of my seruauns beoþ seke oþer-while, Of alle þe wike [v.rr. wyke, weke, wowke] heo worcheþ not so heor wombe akeþ. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. i. 76 Why such impresse of Ship-wrights, whose sore Taske Do 's not diuide the Sunday from the weeke. 1882Besant All Sorts xxix, On this Sunday morning, when the old man looked as if the cares of the week were off his mind.
4. a. week of years: used in Lev. xxv. 8 by Wyclif, Tindale, and in the Douay Bible (after the Vulgate) for ‘a period of seven years’ (Coverdale has ‘yeare sabbathes’, and the other versions ‘sabbaths of years’, following the Heb.). Also used by commentators in explanation of the ‘weeks’ mentioned in Dan. ix. 24–27, where periods of seven years are meant.
1382Wyclif Levit. xxv. 8 And thow shalt noumbre to thee seuen wekes [1388 woukis] of ȝeerys. a1591H. Smith God's Arrow ii. (1593) D 1 b, This worde Hebdomada ..is sometimes taken for a weeke of daies, that is, seauen daies... But at other times it signifieth the space of seauen yeares, and then is it called Hebdomada Annorum, A weeke of yeares. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 147 Doe wee not obserue how in three weeks of yeares three are dead? 1650Sclater Expos. Rom. iv. Ep. Ded. A 2, Having now, (by the space of full three weeks of years, and more)..had a strong dispute with my thoughts, whether [etc.]. c1680R. Fleming Fulfilling Script. ii. iii. (1726) 278 They know Daniel's seventy weeks..clearly takes in his [the Messiah's] coming, and though it were taken either for weeks of days, or of years, it must long since be expired, but if they should mean weeks of ages, then for many thousand years his coming could not be yet expected.
b. week of days: used by Bible commentators (following a mistranslation of Dan. x. 2) to denote a literal week as opposed to the ‘week of years’: see quots. in 4 a.
It is not clear whether Scott's use for ‘a whole week’ is an echo of this, or whether it was a current phrase.
1560Bible (Geneva) Dan. x. 2 At the same time, I Daniel was in heauines for thre weekes of daies. Ibid. 3 Til thre weekes of daies were fulfilled. 1611Ibid., Three full weekes [margin, Heb. weeks of dayes]. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. x, They dared not keep me a week of days in durance.
5. In various idioms.
a. a week [see A adj. 2, 4, prep.1], every week, weekly, per week. (See also 2 b.)
a1225Ancr. R. 344 Of alle swuche þinges schriue hire enes a wike ette leste. 1387Trevisa Higden V. 415 He usede twyes a wooke to sitte al day to fore þe chirche dore. a1450Knt. de la Tour 12 A good woman..that fasted .iij. tymes a woke. 1861Brougham Brit. Const. ix. 118 It is repeated seven times a-week.
b. In expressions serving to fix a date. this day, tomorrow, Monday, etc. week: seven days before or after the day specified. Similarly this day, etc. (so many) weeks. yesterday, Monday, etc. was a week (dial.), seven days before the day mentioned. † Formerly also four (etc.) weeks day, exactly four weeks (cf. 2 c).
1398Munim. de Melros (Bannatyne Club) 490 [Gif] defaut be of þir paymentis..ovre runnene ande ganeby sex wowkis daye eftir þe lymite terme. 1454Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 281 That al maner of men of Iryshe blode..avoyde [i.e. quit Dublin] by this day iiii. wekys. And gyff eny of this Iryssh blode..may be founde within the said cite or frauncheis after the said iiii. wekys day, they shall..be put in prisone. 1531Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 187 The same Court so adiorned to be kepte ther that day thre wekes next ensuyng. 1582Sir J. Popham in H. Hall Soc. Eliz. Age (1886) 262, I mene if God please to be at Salisburie the wekes-daie at night before Easterdaie. 1700in Jrnl. Friends' Hist. Soc. (1914) Oct. 181 Wee heard..of her being ther last 4th day was a weeke. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 160 The whole of the money must be made good that night week. 1815Scott Guy M. v, Allow me to recommend some of the kipper—it was John Hay that catcht it, Saturday was three weeks. 1831Lincoln Herald 23 Sept. 4/4 Early on Monday morning week, an attempt was made [etc.]. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xliv, Send Charley to me this night week—‘for the letter’. 1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. vi, The crisis came on Saturday, the day week that Thompson had died. 1863M. E. Braddon Aurora Floyd xx, Last Saturday was a week I touched at Liverpool with a cargo of furs [etc.]. Ibid., When I came back last Saturday week. 1883D. C. Murray Hearts xiii, Can you make it convenient to be there this day week? 1889‘J. S. Winter’ Mrs. Bob i, Let us say Thursday week, dear—This is Saturday, so it is quite enough notice to give.
c. week and week about: in alternate weeks.
1891Kipling Light that Failed vi. 94 The girls were supposed to market week and week about.
d. week in, week out: see in adv. 2.
e. week-to-week (attrib. phr.), continuing or recurring in successive weeks; continual. Cf. to prep. 6 c.
1959New Statesman 24 Jan. 92/2 The lightning flashed above Sinai, and in its glare, the starry-eyed observer, remote from the week-to-week grind of party work, saw a great machine, whirring smoothly to life. 1981J. Sutherland Bestsellers i. 15 The bestseller lists... Their week-to-week attention singles out sensational books of the moment.
6. Proverbial phrases.
†a. to be in by the week: to be ensnared, caught; fig. to be deeply in love. to go to it by the week: to commit oneself thoroughly.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 69 This prouerbe shewth the in by the weeke. a1553Udall Royster D. i. ii. 4 He is in by the weke, we shall haue sport anon. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretorie ii. (1595) 47 Yet now we be in, let vs go to it by the week. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 61 O that I knew he were but in by th' weeke. 1598R. Bernard Terence, Andria i. i. (1607) 12 He is in the snare; he is in for a bird, hee is in by the weeke. 1612Webster White Devil E 1, Enter Flamineo and Marcello guarded, and a Lawyer. Law. What are you in by the weeke.
b. too late a week: a jocular understatement for ‘far too late’. Now only as echo of Shakes.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iii. 74 At seauenteene yeeres, many their fortunes seeke But at fourescore, it is too late a weeke. 1826Scott Jrnl. (1890) I. 105 If she had her youthful activity, and could manage things, it..would amuse her. But I fear it is too late a week. 1829Ibid. II. 220.
c. † the week of the four Fridays: an imaginary date that will never arrive (obs.). a week of Sundays: seven Sundays or weeks as representing a long time. † a week of Saturdays, an indefinite period, a long period. Cf. month of Sundays s.v. month1 3 f.
1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. Ded. p. x, At the period that the hogs shall..feed along with the herrings;..or on the week of the four Fridays, so long looked for by astrologians. 1831Constellation 8 Jan. 57/3 No, you couldn't gess a week of Saturdays and so I'll tell you—cause it is unginteel. 1898‘C. Hare’ Broken Arcs i. ii. 13 Tes wark..never done, an' nar' a bit o' play for I,..no, not in a week o' Sundays. 1901D. Sladen My Son Richard iv, He..got to know her more intimately in that five minutes than he might otherwise have done in a week of Sundays.
d. to knock (a person) into the middle of next week: to give (him) a decisive blow, to punish severely; to astound, flabbergast. slang (orig. Pugilistic).
1821Moncrieff Tom & Jerry ii. iv, They knock'd me into the middle of next week—besides tipping me this here black eye—only see how red it is! 1833[S. Smith] Lett. J. Downing xv. (1835) 95 The first clip I made was at Amos,—but he dodged it, and I hit one of the Editors of the Globe, and knocked him about into the middle of next week. 1846W. T. Porter Quarter Race Kentucky 105 The next moment he was knocked into the middle of the next three weeks! 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede xvi, I believe you would knock me into next week if I were to have a battle with you. 1883Harper's Mag. Oct. 720/2 It would not be comfortable to be knocked by his heels into the middle of next week.
7. Combinations: † week-boy, a boy hired by the week, as distinguished from an apprentice; week-long, continuing for a week; week-night, a night in the week other than Sunday night; also attrib.; week-old a., that has lived or lasted a week; † week-silver, some kind of feudal dues (prob. in commutation of week-work).
1662Act 14 Chas. II c. 5 §17 No Master Weaver..shall..sett on worke above two Apprentices or any *weeke-Boy to weave in a Lombe in the said Trade in worsted weaving. 1683[see devil n. 5 a].
1898Daily News 15 Sept. 6/4 The ladies, true to their *week-long enthusiasm,..made the University College Theatre look very bright. 1847Ld. Lindsay Chr. Art I. p. clxviii, I lay at the feet of Jesus,..yoking down my struggling flesh with week-long fastings.
1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xl, Both he and Ellen thought it strange that their mother should insist on that book on a *week⁓night; they never usually read it [the bible], save on Sunday evenings. 1877Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 120 Week-night services.
1892Lichfield Mercury 25 Mar. 8/5 If we obstinately shut our eyes and keep company with the hapless *week-old kittens. 1903Kipling Five Nations 115 Out of the darkness we reach For a handful of week-old papers And a mouthful of human speech.
1430in N. & Q. 13th Ser. I. 449/1 Exceptis redditibus, seruiciis,..et xvij. s. annuis vocatis *Weikseluer.
Hence † wukemalum adv. [-meal], by weeks.
c1200Ormin 536 Drihhtin Godd To þewwtenn wukemalumm. Ibid. 554.
Add:7. weeknightly a. U.S., that occurs every weeknight.
1976Time 20 Dec. 47/1 A half-hour each night confined to exploring one timely topic..is the special achievement of public television's *weeknightly MacNeil–Lehrer Report.
▪ II. week, int.|wiːk|
Also 8 weeck, 9 weke.
[Cf. wheak v. and n., whick v., wee int.]
Imitation of the squeak of a pig or mouse.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 146 Weeke, weeke, so cries a Pigge prepared to th' spit. a1719D'Urfey Pills II. 87 Weeck, Weeck, Weeck, squeak'd the Pig. 1855Browning Fra Lippo 11 Harry out..Whatever rat, there, haps on his wrong hole, And nip each softling of a wee white mouse, Weke, weke, that's crept to keep him company!
▪ III. week(e
obs. forms of weak, wick. |