| 释义 |
▪ I. day, n.|deɪ|
Forms: 1 dæȝ, 2 deȝ, deiȝ, daiȝ, 2–3 dæi, dei, daȝ, 3 (Orm.) daȝȝ, 3–5 dai, 3– day, (5–6 daie, daye, 6 Sc. da). pl. 3– days (3–5 dawes; dat. pl. 2–6 dawen, dawe; daw, dau; see below).
[A Com. Teut. n.: OE. dæᵹ (dæᵹes, pl. daᵹas, -a, -um) = OFris. dei, dey, di, OS. dag (MDu. dach (gh), Du. dag, MLG., LG. dag), OHG., MHG. tac(g), G. tag, ON. dag-r (Sw., Da. dag), Goth. dag-s:—OTeut. *dago-z. In no way related to L. dies; usually referred to an Aryan vb. dhagh-, in Skr. dah to burn: cf. Lith. dagas hot season, OPruss. dagis summer. From the WGer. dag, OE. had regularly in the sing. dæᵹ, dæᵹes, dæᵹe; in the plural daᵹas, daᵹa (later -ena), daᵹum. This phonetic exchange æ:a survived in early ME., so that while in the sing. the final ȝ was regularly palatal (see forms above; gen. dæiȝes, dæies, deies, daies, dayes, dat. dæiȝe, daie, etc.), the pl. was (from daᵹas), daȝes, dahes, daȝhes, dawes, genit. (:—daᵹa, -ena) daᵹa, dawene, dahene, daȝen, dat. (:—daᵹum) daȝon, -en, daghen, dawen, dawe, daw, dau. The last survived longest in the phrase of dawe ‘from (life) days’ (see 17 and adawe), and in in his dawe, etc. (see 13 a β). But soon after 1200 plurals phonetically assimilated to the sing. (dæȝes, daiȝes, daies) occur, and at length superseded the earlier forms.]
A. Illustration of early forms. (α) pl., nom. and acc.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxviii. 20 Ic beo mid eow ealle daᵹas. c1160Hatton G. ibid., Ich beo mid eow ealle daȝes. c1200Ormin 4356 Seffne daȝhess. c1205Lay. 8796 Fif dæiȝes [c 1275 dawes]. a1225Leg. Kath. 1844 Al þe tweolf dahes. a1225Ancr. R. 70 Þreo dawes. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 383 Þre dawes & nan mo. 1399Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 377 As it is said by elderne dawis. c1430Lydg. Bochas vi. i. (1554) 144 a, In thy last dawes.
(β) pl. gen.
c1000Ags. Ps. ci. 21 On midle minre daᵹena. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. iv. 2 He fæste feowurtiᵹ daᵹa [Lindisf. feuortiᵹ daᵹa, Hatton G. feortiȝ dæȝes]. c1175Lamb Hom. 87 Fram þam ester tid fifti daȝa. c1205Lay. 3615 Þe forð wuren agan feuwerti daȝene [c 1275 daiȝes]. Ibid. 4605 Vnder fif dawene [c 1275 daiȝene] ȝeong heo comen to þisse londe. a1225Leg. Kath. 2502 Twenti dahene ȝong.
(γ) pl. dat.: see also 13 a β.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 61 æfter þrym daᵹum [xxvii. 63 daᵹon]. c1160Hatton G. ibid., æfter þrem daȝen. c1175Lamb. Hom. 89 On moyses daȝen. c1205Lay. 5961 Bi heore ældre dæwen [c 1275 dawes]. c1300K. Alis. 5631 In twenty dawen. c1300St. Margarete 3 Bi olde dawe Patriarch he was wel heȝ. c1320Sir Tristr. 2480 Etenes bi old dayn Had wrouȝt it. c1430Freemasonry 394 After the lawe That was y-fownded by olde dawe.
(δ) In some places daȝen, dawen, may be nom. or acc. plural.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 119 Ic seolf beo mid eow alle daȝen [OE. ealle daᵹas].
(ε) The genitive sing. OE. dæᵹes, early ME. daies, etc., was formerly used adverbially, by day, on the day (Ger. des Tags): see 1 b; it survived in ME. bi daies, a daies, a-days, mod. now-a-days.
B. Signification.
I. The time of sunlight.
1. a. ‘The time between the rising and setting of the sun’ (J.); the interval of light between successive periods of darkness or night; in ordinary usage including the lighter part of morning and evening twilight, but, when strictly used, limited to the time when the sun is above the horizon, as in ‘at the equinox day and night are equal’. break of day: dawn: see break, daybreak.
This is the artificial day of astronomers: see artificial. It is sometimes called the natural day (Ger. natürlicher tag), which however usually means sense 6.
c1000ælfric Gen. i. 5 God..het þæt leoht dæᵹ & þa þeostra niht. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 258 Þu ȝifst þe sunne to þe daiȝ, þe mone to þe nichte. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 97/173 In þat prison þat Maide lai twelf dawes and twelf niȝt. c1340Cursor M. 390 (Trin.) To parte þe day fro þe nyȝt. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 41 Ofte tymes in þe dai & in þe nyȝt. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxxviii. 155 It was then nyne of the day. 1580Baret Alv. B 1200 The Breake of the daie. 1592Davies Immort. Soul vi. (1742) 15 O Light, which mak'st the Light which makes the Day. 1635N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. v. 106 The longest day is equall to the longest night. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 15 How often have I bless'd the coming day. 1807Robinson Archæol. Græca iii. xxv. 331 The more ancient Greeks distinguished the natural day—that is, the time from the rising to the setting of the sun—into three parts. 1840Penny Cycl. XVI. 326/1 At North Cape..the longest day lasts from the 15th of May to the 29th of July, which is two months and a fortnight.
b. Const. The notion of time how long is expressed by the uninflected word (repr. an original accus. or dative), as in day and night, all (the) day, this day, and the like; the notion of time when (without respect to duration) was expressed in OE. by on dæᵹ, early ME. on, uppon dai, o day, a-day; also by the genitive dæᵹes, esp. in the collocation dæᵹes and nihtes, and in far days, far forth days, = ‘far on in the day’, still used in 17th c. (see far adv. 3 c); about 1200 we find bi daȝes, and soon after bi daie by day. See by prep. 19 b.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Mark v. 5 Symle dæᵹes & nihtes he wæes on byrᵹenum. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 87 Swiche hertes fondeð þe fule gost deies and nihtes. c1200Ormin 11332 Heold Crist hiss fasste..Bi daȝhess & bi nahhtess. a1250Owl & Night. 241 Bi daie þu art stare-blind. c1250Hymn to Virgin 257 Min hope is in þe daȝ & nicht. a1300Cursor M. 15159 (Cott.) Ilk night of oliuete To þe mont he yode..And euer on dai þe folk he gaf O godds word þe fode. 1386Rolls of Parlt. III. 225/1 [He] made dyverse enarmynges bi day and eke bi nyght. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 34, I heeld þe wounde open aldai. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 45 She happed to abide so longe on a sonday that it was fer dayes. 1513More in Grafton Chron. II. 778 The pageauntes were a making day and night at Westminster. a1563Bale Sel. Wks. (Parker Soc.) 120 It is far days and ye have far to ride to night. 1600Holland Livy xlv. xxxvi. 1225 It was so far forth dayes as being the eighth houre therof. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 318 Untir'd at Night, and chearful all the Day. 1835Thirlwall Greece I. 219 He might prosecute his voyage as well as by day. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1880) I. iii. 184 The bags were carried..day and night at the rate of about five miles an hour.
2. In before day, at day = daybreak, dawn.
a1300Cursor M. 6106 (Gött.) Þat þai Sould vte of hous cum bi-for day. c1420Avow. Arth. ix, To ride this forest or daye. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 39 A little before day. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. ii. 48 They got up in the morning before day. 1793Nelson in Nicolas Disp. I. 309 This morning at day we fell in with a Spanish..Ship.
3. a. Daylight, the light of day.
c1340Cursor M. 8676 (Fairf.), I hit knew quen hit was day. 1382Wyclif Rom. xiii. 13 As in day wandre we honestly. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 223 Whan Reynawde sawe the day, he rose vp. 1580North Plutarch (1676) 355 Such as could see day at a little hole. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 276 In his Conversion of the darkest Night to bright Day. 1710Steele Tatler No. 142 ⁋1 She had now found out, that it was Day before Nine in the Morning. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. x. 218 It was broad day. 1883Stevenson Treasure Isl. iii. xiii. (1886) 107 It was as plain as day.
b. fig. A light like that of day; ‘daylight’ in a difficult question.
1667Marvell Corr. lxxx. Wks. 1872–5 II. 225, I can not yet see day in the businesse, betwixt the two Houses. 1702Rowe Tamerl. v. i. 2191 They cast a Day around 'em.
†4. One of the perpendicular divisions or ‘lights’ of a mullioned window. [F. jour, med.L. dies.]
[1409Will of Ware (Somerset Ho.), Lego vna fenestra trium dierum.] 1447Will Hen. VI (Hare's MSS. Caius Coll.), In the east ende of the sd Quier shalbe sat a great gable window of vij daies. 1484Will of Chocke (Somerset Ho.), A wyndow..of iij dayes. a1490Botoner Itin. (Nasmith 1778) 296 Et quælibet fenestra..continet tres dayes vitreatas. 1838J. Britton Dict. Archit. 40 A part of a window between the mullions is often called a bay, or day. 1859Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict., Day, the mediæval term for each perpendicular division or light (Fr. jour) of a mullioned window.
5. Mining. The surface of the ground over a mine. Hence day-coal, day-drift, day-hole (see also 24).
1665Phil. Trans. I. 80 By letting down Shafts from the day (as Miners speak). 1676Hodgson ibid. XI. 762 According as the Day-coal heightens or deepens. 1708J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 32 Draw your Coals to Bank (or Day) out of the Pit. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. N iij b, The Ore that is found on the Tops of Veins, especially near to the Day. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Day, the surface of the ground over a mine.
II. As a period, natural division, or unit of time.
6. a. The time occupied by the earth in one revolution on its axis, in which the same terrestrial meridian returns to the sun; the space of twenty-four hours, reckoned from a definite or given point. Const. during, in, formerly on, o, a, retained in twice a day, etc.: see a prep.1 8, 8 b.
The solar day (and, formerly, the astronomical day) is reckoned from noon to noon; and, as the length of this time varies (within narrow limits) according to the time of the year, its mean or average length is the mean solar day. (The astronomical day is now reckoned from midnight to midnight.) The civil day in civilized countries generally is the period from midnight to midnight, similarly adjusted to its mean length. Ancient nations variously reckoned their day to begin at sunrise, at noon, or at sunset. The sidereal day is the time between the successive meridional transits of a star, or specifically of the first point of Aries, and is about four minutes shorter than the solar day. (The term natural day is sometimes used in this sense, sometimes in sense 1.)
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xv. 32 Ðrio dogor ᵹee ðerhuunas mec mið. c1000ælfric Gen. i. 5 Þa wæs ᵹeworþen æfen and morᵹen an dæᵹ. Ibid. ii. 3 God ᵹebletsode þone seofeðan dæᵹ and hine ᵹehalᵹade. c1175Lamb. Hom. 87 Fram þan halie hester dei boð italde fifti daȝa to þisse deie. c1205Lay. 19216 Þreo dæies [c 1275 daȝes] wes þe king wuniende þere. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 144 Aftur fyftene dawes..To London he wende. 1382Wyclif Acts ix. 9 He was thre daies not seynge. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. 1. 10 b, Symonides..desired to haue a daies respite graunted him to study vpon it. a1631Donne Poems (1650) 6 Hours, daies, months, which are the rags of time. 1822Byron Werner i. i. 377 Twenty years Of age, if 't is a day. 1831Brewster Newton (1855) I. xiii. 365 We may regard the length of the day as one of the most unchangeable elements in the system of the world.
c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 108 In the space of o day natureel, (This is to seyn, in foure and twenty houres). 1398Trevisa Barth. de P.R. ix, xxi. (1495) 358 Some daye is artyfycyall and some naturell..a naturell daye conteynyth xxiiij houres. 1551Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 244 The Naturall daye..is commonly accompted from Sonne risinge one daye, to Sonne rising the nexte daye. 1764Maskelyne in Phil. Trans. LIV. 344 The interval between the transit of the first of Aries across the meridian one day, and its return to it the next day, is called a sidereal day..The interval between the transit of the sun across the meridian one day, and his transit the next day, is called an apparent solar day. 1812Woodhouse Astron. xxii. 222 The interval between two successive noons is a natural day. 1834Nat. Philos., Astron. i. 13/2 (Useful Knowl. Soc.) Although..the solar day is of variable length, we can..ascertain its mean or average length; and this quantity is called a mean solar day. Ibid. 14/2 The length of the sidereal day is found to be uniformly 23 hours, 56 minutes, or more accurately 23h 56m 4s ·092.
†b. all days: always, for ever. Obs.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxviii. 20 Ic beo mid eow ealle daᵹas [Lindisf. allum daᵹum]. c1160Hatton G. ibid., Ich beo mid eow ealle daȝes. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. cii, For that time forth losten Britons the royame for al dayes.
†c. A day's travel; a day's journey. Obs.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 1 Sire Dowel dwelleþ..not a day hennes. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia 1. 4 A Towne called Pomeiock, and six dayes higher, their City Skicoak.
d. of a day: lit. lasting only a day, ephemeral; transitory, fleeting, fugitive.
1640B. Jonson Under-Woods 234 A Lillie of a Day, Is fairer farre, in May, Although it fall, and die that night. 1746Wesley Serm. (1769) I. Pref. p. vi, I am a Creature of a Day, passing thro' Life, as an Arrow thro' the Air. 1818Keats Let. 3 May (1931) I. 153 My song should die away... Rich in the simple worship of a day. 1834Rival Sisters 14 Man—the insect of a day. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. 1st Ser. Pref., Apparations of a day.
e. A day noteworthy for its eventfulness, exertion, etc. colloq.
1926Hemingway Fiesta (1927) vii. 65, I say. We have had a day... I must have been blind [sc. drunk]. 1963‘W. Haggard’ High Wire xii. 127, I expect you've had a day—I know I have. But there's one small thing still.
7. a. The same space of time, esp. the civil day, treated (without reference to its length) as a point or unit of time, on which anything happens, or which fixes a date. Const. on, upon (ME. o, a-: cf. a prep.1 8, a adj.2 4).
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 19 And þam þryddan dæᵹe he arist. 1154O.E. Chron. (Laud. MS.) an. 1135 Ð[at] oþer dei þa he lai an slep in scip. a1400Cursor M. 5108 (Cott.) For-giue it vs, lauerd, fra þis dau. Ibid. 19045 (Cott.) Petre and iohn a dai at none Went to þe kirc. Ibid. 19810 (Edin.) Apon a dai at tide of none. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 343 Sumtyme men..weren hool in þe same dai. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxl. 167 Some day y⊇ one part lost, and some day the other. 1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 21 §25 Before the saide .xii. daie of Marche. 1600–12Rowlands Four Knaves (Percy Soc.) 75 They say, The better the day the better the deede. 1704Nelson Fest. & Fasts i. (1739) 16 The first Day of the Week called the Lord's Day. 1726tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 262 You need only to know what Day of each Month the Sun enters a Sign of the Ecliptic, and compute one Degree for every Day from thence. 1799F. Leighton Let. to J. Boucher 21 Sept. (MS.), Pray treat me with a letter on an early day as parliament folks say. 1865Trollope Belton Est. x. 109 She would return home on the day but one after the funeral.
b. Phrases. one day: on a certain or particular day in the past; on some day in the future. So of future time, some day; and of the present or proximate future, one or some of these days. one of those days: a day of misfortune.
1535Coverdale 1 Sam. xxvii. 1 One of these dayes shal I fall into the handes of Saul. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 66 His meaning is one of these daies to entreate your paines hitherwards. 1594Spenser Amoretti lxxv, One day I wrote her name upon the strand. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. ii. 22 The King will know him one day. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 53 Had it not been, to revenge himself one day, upon the Spaniards. 1838Dickens O. Twist xxxvi, You will tell me a different tale one of these days. 1855Smedley H. Coverdale xxxv, Some of these days I shall be obliged to give him a lesson. 1936P. Fleming News from Tartary i. ix. 55 As we arrived at the inn, the building next to it..collapsed... It was one of those days. 1967‘S. Woods’ Case is Altered xiv. 166 Old Mr. Mallory was waiting to pounce on him, and it soon became obvious that it was going to be one of those days.
c. Used without a preposition or article. U.S.
1886S. W. Mitchell R. Blake 292, I saw a man at the Cape wharf day before yesterday, inquirin' about Mrs. Wynne. 1905N.Y. Even. Post 20 May 4 Day before yesterday the President was again in a state of terrific determination. Ibid. 26 Sept. 6 Day after election people will want to know [etc.].
III. A specified or appointed day.
8. a. A specific period of twenty-four hours, the whole or part of which is assigned to some particular purpose, observance, or action, or which is the date or anniversary of some event, indicated by an attributive addition or by the context; e.g. saints' days, holy days, New Year's day, Lady-day, Christmas-day, St. Swithin's-day, pay-day, rent-day, settling-day, birth-day, wedding-day, coronation-day, etc. (See the various defining words.)
c1175Lamb. Hom. 11 Nu beoð icumen..þa halie daȝes uppen us. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 368 A Seyn Nycolas day he com. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7007 Ilk ȝere..In þe day of bedis deying. 1577Holinshed Chron. IV. 504 To put us in mind how we violate the Sabboth daie. 1595Shakes. John v. i. 25 Is this Ascension day? 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa A ij, At London this three and fortieth most joifull Coronation-day of her sacred Majestie. 1600. 1615J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. (ed. 2) 222 Like a bookesellers shoppe on Bartholomew day. 1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 100 In each term there is one day whereon the courts do not transact business..These are termed Grand days in the inns of court; and Gaudy days at the two Universities. 1884Christian World 9 Oct. 764/1 Lord Bramwell..had spoken of Saturday as ‘pay-day, drink-day, and crime-day’.
b. Last day (OE. ytemesta dæᵹ), Day of Judgement or Day of Doom, Doomsday, Judgement day, Day of the Lord, Day of Accounts, Retribution, Wrath, Great Day, etc.: the day on which the dead shall be raised to be ‘judged of the deeds done in the body’. See also the various qualifying words.
971Blickl. Hom. 57 Seo saul..onfehþ hire lichoman on þæm ytmestan dæᵹe. a1300Cursor M. 27362 (Cott.) Þe dai of wreth. 1382Wyclif 2 Pet. iii. 10 Forsothe the day of the Lord shal come as a theef. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋305 He schal ȝelde of hem account at þe day of doome. a1400Prymer (1891) 82 Haue mercy of me whan þow comest in þe laste day. a1533Ld. Berners Huon clviii. 606 Vnto the day of Iugemente. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 86 The generall resurrection at the last day. Ibid. ii. 96 At y⊇ gret day of the Lord. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxvii. (1695) 187 In the great Day, wherein the Secrets of all Hearts shall be laid open. 1746–7Hervey Medit. (1818) 75 The severer doom, and more public infamy, of the great day. 1860Pusey Min. Proph. 109 The Day of Judgment or vengeance.
†c. Hence in early versions of N.T. = Judgement: a literal rendering of Gr. ἡµέρα in reference to the Judgement Day. Obs.
1382Wyclif 1 Cor. iv. 3 To me it is for the leeste thing that I be demyd of ȝou, or of mannis day [Tindale, Rhem. daye, Cranmer, Geneva, 1611, 1881 judgement]. a1628Preston New Covt. 19 He would not regard to be judged by mans day, as long as he was not judged by the Lord.
d. That period of the day allotted by usage or law for work; as, an eight-hour day. (See eight hours, working-day.)
1813,1853[see working-day]. 1850Working Man's Friend & Fam. Instr. 14 Dec. 300/1 Being at the rate of 4s. 2d. per day of ten hours. 1870Chambers's Jrnl. 10 Sept. 586/2 In government workshops,..by special act of Congress, eight hours has been constituted a legal day's work. 1880C. Marvin Our Public Offices (ed. 2) 121 [They] worked hard the whole of the seven hours of their official day. 1884J. E. T. Rogers Six Cent. Work & Wages xii. 327 It is plain that the day was one of eight hours. 1889R. Tangye One & All vii. 116 In 1871 a great agitation sprung [sic] up amongst the operative engineers at Newcastle-on-Tyne in favour of a nine hours' day. 1891, etc. [see eight hours].
9. a. A day appointed, a fixed date, esp. for payment.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 35 Ne beo he nefre swa riche forð he scal þenne is dei cumeð. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 250/334. 1387 Trevisa Higden III. 189 (Mätz.) Þe dettoures myȝte nouȝte pay here money al here day. c1400Gamelyn 792 He wold..Come afore þe Iustice to kepen his day. c1500Merch. & Son in Halliwell Nugæ Poet. 21 In cas he faylyd hys day. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 556 The king of Scottis..come thair to keip his da. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 165 If he should breake his daie, what should I gaine By the exaction of the forfeiture? 16..Dryden (J.), Or if my debtors do not keep their day. a1883in J. G. Butler Bible Work II. 343 Christ, in the interval between the resurrection and ascension, keeps day with his disciples.
b. A day in each week (or other period) fixed for receptions, etc.; a day on which a hostess is ‘at home’.
1694Congreve Double Dealer iii. ix, You have been at my lady Whifler's upon her day, madam? 1801J. G. Lemaistre Rough Sk. Mod. Paris iv. 59 Each of the ministers has a day, to which all foreigners may be taken by their respective ministers. 1888Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere (1890) 307 We found she was in town, and went on her ‘day’.
c. The Day [tr. G. Der Tag]: a day on which an important event is expected to occur; esp. a day of military conflict or victory.
1914O. Seaman in Punch 9 Dec. 470/1 [German Crown Prince loq.] Thank Father's God that I can say My constant aim was Peace; I simply lived to see the Day (Den Tag) when wars would cease. 1914G. B. Shaw What I really Wrote (1930) ii. 30 When the German fire-eaters drank to The Day (of Armageddon) they were drinking to the day of which our Navy League fire-eaters had first said ‘It's bound to come’. 1919Ibid. xii. 321 Just as the lieutenants of the German and British navies..looked forward to ‘der Tag’ when the preparations would be brought to the test of warfare, the lieutenants of the United States navy are already looking forward..to ‘The Day’ when the British and American fleets shall fight for that power to blockade [etc.]. 1936J. Buchan Island of Sheep xiii. 256 The reconnaissance is complete, gentlemen. Tomorrow is The Day. 1959J. Braine Vodi iv. 68 My Dad..says we'll all have to fight for our country when Der Tag comes. That's German for the Day.
10. = day of battle or contest; day's work on the field of battle: esp. in phrases to carry, get, win, lose the day. Cf. field, and carry 15 c, etc.
1557Tusser 100 Points Husb. xci, The battell is fought, thou hast gotten the daye. 1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 23 Without his aide the day would be perillous. 1642Rogers Naaman 492 Shew us how we may get the day of our adversary. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 196 The Imperialists, thinking the Day was theirs. 1721R. Bradley Wks. Nature 139 The Silk Worm at present carries the Day before all others of the Papilionaceous Tribe. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 168 The bloody day of Seneff.
IV. A space of time, a period.
†11. A space (of time). Its extent is usually defined by the accompanying words. Now Obs. or Sc.
1451Paston Lett. No. 171 I. 227 They have be fals both to the Clyffordys and to me thys vij yeere day. c1470Harding Chron. Proem xxii, Who laye afore Paris a moneth daye. 1550Crowley Epigr. 1462 You shall..lende but for a monethes day. 1552T. Gresham in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. App. C. 148 No man convey out any parcel of lead five years day. 1568E. Tilney Disc. Mariage C j, I could recite many examples..if the time woulde suffer mee. You have yet day ynough, quoth the Lady Julia. a1670Hobbes Dial. Com. Laws 145 Which Statute alloweth to these Provisors Six weeks Day to appear. 1825–79Jamieson, A month's day, the space of a month; A year's day, the space of a year.
†12. Time allowed wherein to be ready, esp. for payment; delay, respite; credit. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 847 And him bysecheth..To graunte him dayes of the remenaunt. 1428E.E. Wills (1882) 82 To have ther-of resonable daies of paiement. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxiii. 263 The truce..is nat expired, but hath day to endure vnto the first day of Maye next. c1530― Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 477, I giue her daye for a moneth, & truse in the meane season. 1576Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 80 When drapers draw no gaines by giuing day. 1614Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 616 Ye Merchants..make them pay deare for daies. 1644Quarles Barnabas & B. 18 I'll give no day..I must have present money. 1659Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 640 That he might have day until the 25 of October, to consider of the return.
13. The time during which anything exists or takes place; period, time, era.
a. expressed more literally by the pl.: e.g. in the days of King Arthur, days of old, in those days, in days to come, men of other days, etc. better days: times when one was better off: so evil days. See also see v. 10 a.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 3 Oðre men þe waren bi þo daȝes. a1300Cursor M. 17546 (Cott.) In ald dais. Ibid. 21712 (Cott.) Nu in vr daies. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 96 Dauid, in his dayes he Dubbede knihtes. 1470–85Malory Arthur x. lxxxvi, Yet had I neuer reward..of her the dayes of my lyf. 1513Douglas æneis xiii. ix. 69 Twichyng the stait, quhilum be days gone, Of Latium. 1548Hall Chron. 239 b, Of no small authoritie in those dayes. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. A ij, I know not where we shall finde one in these our dayes. 1614Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 953 What sonne of Israel can hope for good daies, when hee heares his Fathers were so evill? 1652Culpepper Eng. Physic. 183 An Herb of as great Use with us in these dayes. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. vi. §26 The Jewish state in the days of Josephus. 1806Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 102 The whole town bears evident marks of having seen better days. 1848Lytton Harold i. i, In the good old days before the Monk-king reigned. 1880T. Fowler Locke i. 7 During his undergraduate and bachelor days.
† (β) In this sense, esp., ME. used dawen, dawe, from the OE. dat. pl. on þæm daᵹum. When dawe (daw) began to be viewed as sing., dawes was often used in the pl.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. iii. 1 On þam daᵹum com Iohannes. c1160Hatton G. ibid., On þam daȝen. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 47 Swich þeu wes bi þan daȝen. c1275Lay. 397 After þan heþene lawe þat stot [= stood] in þan ilke dawe. a1300Cursor M. 4082 (Cott.) Als it bitidd mikel in þaa dauus [v.r. be alde dawes]. c1314Guy Warw. (A.) 3852 Non better nar bi þo dawe. c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 452 Felawes, The which he had y-knowen in olde dawes. c1430Lydg. Bochas iii. xiii. 86 b, Neuer..in their dawes. c1430Freemasonry 509 (Mätz.) Suche mawmetys he hade yn hys dawe. 1501Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. xliv, Tullus Seruillius douchtie in his daw.
b. expressed more fig. by the sing. Now esp. in phrases at or to this or that day, at the present day, in our own day, at some future day, etc.; (in) this day and age, (at) the present time; (at) the moment of speaking or writing.
1382Wyclif John xiv. 20 In that day ȝe schulen knowe, for I am in my fadir, and ȝee in me. 1578Timme Calvin on Gen. 242 Which Men at this day call Cairum. 1611Bible Ezek. xxx. 9 In that day shall messengers goe foorth from me in shippes. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. vi. §1 To this day..the Coptites and antient Egyptians call the end of the year νεισι. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. I. 23 Apr., The inconveniences which I overlooked in the high day of health. 1805Scott Last Minstr. Introd. 4 His wither'd cheek and tresses grey Seem'd to have known a better day. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 403 To this day Palamon and Arcite..are the delight both of critics and of schoolboys. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 48 They were..more just than the men of our day. [1917A. Woollcott Let. 4 Dec. (1944) 41 You will receive a modest Christmas gift..of no conceivable use in this day and generation.] 1933Week-end Rev. 7 Oct. 348/1 (title of film) This day and age. 1941Time 13 Jan. 44/1 She knew that in this day and age a nun could be a scientist, if she were smart as well as conscientious. 1944H. Croome You've gone Astray xxi. 209 Do you mean to say that in this day and age..you're going to come the conventional? 1958Spectator 18 July 116/2 The needs of this day and age. 1970New Yorker 17 Oct. 39/2 What a comfort it was in this day and age to meet someone obliging.
(b) the day: the time under consideration, time (now or then) present; (cf. the hour, the moment). order of the day: see order. the day: Sc. for to-day, q.v.
1814Scott Wav. xlii, ‘But we maun a' live the day, and have our dinner. 1839Sir C. Napier in W. N. Bruce Life iv. (1885) 127 Funk is the order of the day. 1893W. P. Courtney in Academy 13 May 413/1 The gardens were planned by the best landscape gardeners of the day. a1895Mod. Men and women of the day. The book of the day.
14. With personal pronoun: Period of a person's rule, activity, career, or life; lifetime.
a. in sing.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 376 Heye men ne dorste by hys day wylde best nyme noȝt. a1300Cursor M. 8315 (Cott.) Salamon..sal be king efter þi dai. c1300Beket 649 Heo that was so freo and heȝ bi myn ancestres daye. c1400Gamelyn 65 Thus dalte the knight his lond by his day. a1500Childe of Bristowe 360 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 124 Yet dwel y stille in peyn..tyl y haue fulfilled my day. 1795Southey Joan of Arc iii. 293 Holy abbots honour'd in their day. 1850L. Hunt Autobiog. (1860) 1, I have had vanities enough in my day.
b. in pl. Time of one's life, span of existence. to end one's days: to die.
1466Paston Lett. No. 552 II. 282 Like as the said John Paston deceased had in any time of his daies. 1484Caxton Curiall 1 That thou myghtest vse thy dayes in takyng companye wyth me. 1513More in Grafton Chron. II. 756 In his later dayes..somewhat corpulent. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 289 b, They had neuer feled suche before, in all theyr dayes. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lxv. 222 There myserably he shall ende his dayes. c1600Shakes. Sonn. xcv, That tongue that tells the story of thy days. 1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 304 The griefe he conceived..hastened his daies. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 815, I at Naples pass my peaceful Days. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 753 The kingdom of Burgundy was now in its last days.
15. Time of action, period of power or influence. Proverb. a (every) dog has his (a) day.
1550Queen Elizabeth in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. xxviii. 234 Notwithstanding, as a dog hath a day, so may I perchance have time to declare it in deeds. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 30 But as euery man saith, a dog hath a daie. 1602Shakes. Ham. v. i. 315 The Cat will Mew, and Dogge will haue his day. 1633B. Jonson Tale Tub ii. i, A man has his hour, and a dog his day. 1703Rowe Ulyss. i. i. 71 Suffer the Fools to laugh..This is their Day. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. i. 2 Each dog has but his day. 1841Miall Nonconf. I. i Diplomacy has had its day, and failed. 1850Tennyson In Mem. Prol. v, Our little systems have their day, They have their day and cease to be.
V. Phrases.
16. a-day, a-days, q.v. (see also 1 b); by day, bi-day (see 1 and by prep. 19, 20); by the day (by prep. 24 c); to-day.
†17. of daw(e (OE. type *of daᵹum, ME. of daȝen, of daȝe, of dawe, of dawes, of daw (day), a daw; corruptly on, to daw(e): in to bring, do of or out of dawe, life's dawe, to deprive of life, to kill; to be of dawe, to be dead. Obs. See also adawe adv.
a1225Juliana 31 He walde don hire..ut of dahene. a1300Cursor M. 4168 (Gött.) Þan wil na man of vs mak saue, Þat we him [Joseph] suld haue done of daue [v.rr. on dau, of daghe]. Ibid. 7808 (Fairf.) He me be-soȝt..I sulde him bringe on liues dawe [v.rr. o dau, o daw, of dawe]. c1300Seyn Julian 193 Þat heo of dawe be. c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 282, I trawed my perle don out of dawez. a1400Morte Arth. 2056 That oure soveraygne sulde be distroyede, And alle done of dawez. c1420Chron. Vilod. 107 Mony a mon was þt day y do to dawe. c1425Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxxi. 119 Ðe erle þus wes dwne of day. 1513Douglas æneis ii. iii. 58 He was slane, allace, and brocht of daw.
18. this or that day week (in Sc. eight days), twelve months, etc.: used of measurement of time forward or backward: the same day a week or a year after or before.
1526Tindale Acts x. 30 This daye nowe .iiij. dayes I fasted. 1651Cromwell Lett. 3 Sept. (Carlyle), The third of September, (remarkable for a mercy vouchsafed to your forces on this day twelvemonth in Scotland). 1801E. Helme St. Margaret's Cave III. 244 On the day month that he had made the dreadful avowal. 1815Byron Let. to Moore 10 Jan., I was married this day week. 1865Kingsley Herew. xv. (1877) 189 Let Harold see how many..he holds by this day twelve months. Mod. He is expected this day week (or, in Sc., this day eight days).
19. day about, on alternate days in rotation, each on or for a day in his turn: cf. about, A. 5 b.; day by day, on each successive day, daily, every day in its turn (without any notion of cessation); also attrib.; day after day, each day as a sequel to the preceding, on every day as it comes (but without intending future continuance); day in (and) day out, every day for an indefinite number of successive days, continuously; day off, a day away from work, school, etc.; day out, a day away from home or one's lodgings; spec. a servant's free day; also fig.; (from) day to day, continuously or without interruption from one day to another (said of a continuation of state or conditions); also attrib.; hence day-to-dayness.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 505 Fram daye to daye hii dude the mansinge. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 177 What þou dudest day bi day. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 175 In whiche me thoughte I myghte, day by day, Dwellen alwey. c1440Promp. Parv. 112 Day be day, or ouery day, quotidie. 1483Cath. Angl. 88 From Day to day, die in diem, in dies, dietim. 15..Moffat Wyf of Auchtirmuchty (Bannatyne MS.), Content am I To tak the pluche my day about. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer 2 b, Te Deum, Day by day we magnifie thee. 1556Aurelio & Isab. (1608) I iij, From daye to daye you have beane worse. 1605Shakes. Macb. v. v. 20 To morrow, and to morrow, and to morrow, Creepes in this petty pace from day to day. 1712Addison Spect. No. 445 ⁋3 Whether I should still persist in laying my Speculations, from Day to Day, before the Publick. 1771E. Griffith tr. Viaud's Shipwreck 178, I cannot give you, day by day, an account of this..journey. 1828W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) I. 102 ‘Day in and day out’, all the day long. 1830Tennyson Poems 33 A world of peace And confidence, day after day. 1836Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 38, I am sickened by its day-by-day occurrence. 1848Punch 4 Nov. 182/2 The Servant-Girl's Idea of Life:—one long day out with ‘the journeyman’. 1865Kingsley Herew. xv. (1877) 195 Passing each other day by day. 1869Punch 20 Mar. 111/2 Having made this a holiday with a view to having a ‘day out’, my landlady had not had notice to call me at any particular hour. 1883Manch. Exam. 8 Dec. 4/1 For day-to-day loans the general charge was 2 to 21/4 per cent. 1883B. Harte Carquinez Woods ii. 51 It has been already intimated that it was his ‘day off’. 1887M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance (1890) 127 Sewing as she did, day in, day out. 1890Peel City Guardian 4 Jan. 5/5 It was Fayle's day out, and he made the most of the chances offered. 1892Mrs. A. Ireland Lett. G. E. Jewsbury p. xiii, Their fulfilment is wholly incompatible with a migraine or a ‘day off’. 1893Eng. Illustr. Mag. 488/2 The bus-driver spends his ‘day off’ in driving on a pal's bus, on the box-seat by his pal's side. 1898A. E. T. Watson Turf i. 17 It may not have been the animal's ‘day out’, it may do better later on. 1904Kipling in Windsor Mag. Dec. 10/1 Whatever 'e's done, let us remember that 'e's given us a day off. 1927Public Opinion Jan. 56/3 The British Broadcasting Company will have to offer, day in and day out, a service. Ibid. Feb. 109/2 Work—day in day out—and not much money. 1933S. Jameson (title) A day off. 1933Granta 26 Apr. 370/1 Those interested only in the day to day politics of the fall of the dollar and the Russian embargo. 1942W. S. Churchill End of Beginning (1943) 33 Even in the..United States the Executive does not stand in the same direct, immediate, day-to-day relation to the Legislative body as we do. 1948F. R. Leavis Great Tradition iv. i. 200 That kind of self-sufficient day-to-dayness of living Conrad can convey. 1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day vi. 116 One boy..was kicked around, jeered at or ostracised, day in day out for several years. 1963Higher Educ. (Cmnd. 2154) xv. 220 The day-to-day conduct of policy must rest with the heads of institutions. 1966G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising xv. 138 Lifebuoy Toilet Soap With Puralin gives day in–day out protection against B.O. 1971Daily Tel. 1 July 1 (heading) Teachers' strike gives 400,000 pupils day off.
20. a. all day: the whole day; † every day: see 1 b, and alday. all days: always, for ever: see 6 b. better days: see 13 a. every-day, first day, q.v. good day: see good. late in the day: see late. now-a-days, † now bi-dawe: see now and a-days. one day, one of these days: see 7 b. the other day: two (or a few) days ago: see other. some day, some of these days: see 7 b. time of day: hour of the clock, period of the world's history, etc.: see time. the day after (or before) the fair: too late (or too early); see fair n.1 days in bank, days of grace, etc.: see bank2 2, grace, etc. Also All Fools' Day, Ascension, black-letter, lawful day, etc.: see these words.
b. In various colloq. phrases, as to make a day of it: to devote a day to some pursuit, usu. one of pleasure; to spend the day in enjoyment or revelling (see make v.1 18 c and cf. night n. 4 e); to make (one's) day: see make v.1; if it's (or he's, etc.) a day: of a period of time or a person's age, at least; any day (of the week): at all times; without exception or doubt; cf. every time (every a. 1 e and time n. 18 b); to call it (half) a day: to consider that one has done a day's work; fig. to rest content, to leave off; between two days U.S.: overnight; that'll (or that will) be the day (app. orig. N.Z.): (a) that will be a day worth waiting for, experiencing, etc.; (b) (ironically) that is most unlikely; that will never happen; those were the days: an expression (nostalgic or ironic) of regret for time past.
1660[see make v.1 18 c]. 1731–8Swift Polite Conv. (1963) 78 She's on the wrong Side of thirty, if she be a Day. 1763Boswell London Jrnl. 28 July (1950) 327 Come..let us make a day of it. Let us go down to Greenwich and dine. 1777[see if conj. 1 a]. 1828Lamb Let. Dec. (1935) III. 198 From this paradise, making a day of it, you go to see the ruins of an old convent at March Hall. 1829G. Griffin Collegians II. xxiii. 169 It's a long time since you an' I met... 'Tis six years if its a day. [1833J. Neal Down-Easters I. ix. 134 He'll do it any day o' the week..let alone Saturdays—of course the speaker was a Marylander of Irish parentage.] 1838J. C. Neal Charcoal Sk. 140, I've a great mind to knock off and call it half a day. 1839Thackeray Catherine i, in Fraser's Mag. May 609/2 She's seventeen if she's a day, though he is the very first sweetheart she has had. 1840Dickens Old. C. Shop xxxix, in Master Humphrey's Clock (1841) II. 11 Why you are a good deal better-looking than her, Barbara... You are, any day. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast (1854) xxviii. 177 Some rascally deed sent him off ‘between two days’. 1843Spirit of Times 4 Mar. 1/2 When a thing isn't ‘worth a fig’, one ‘might as well call it half a day and quit’. 1885[see night n. 4 e]. 1889‘Mark Twain’ Yankee 271 It would have been best for Merlin..to quit and call it half a day. 1902Conrad Youth 4 He was sixty if a day. 1903A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden in Maine ii. 12 Hadn't been't he left town 'tween two days he'd be good way on the road to the pen'tentiary now. 1906G. K. Chesterton Dickens viii. 188 Susan Nipper..is more of a heroine than Florence any day of the week. 1919Wodehouse Damsel in Distress ix. 116 Albert rose, not unwilling to call it a day. 1922S. Lewis Babbitt xv. 193 ‘Remember how..we pinched the pants-pressing sign and took and hung it on Prof. Morrison's door? Oh, gosh, those were the days!’ Those, McKelvey agreed, were the days. 1930W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale 268 I've had my time and I'm ready to call it a day. 1931A. L. Rowse Politics & Younger Gen. 155 They would prefer a despotism of the civil service to a despotism of the law any day. 1934J. T. Farrell Young Manhood xvi, in Studs Lonigan (1936) 347 Jesus, those were the days, weren't they, Studs? 1936J. B. Priestley They walk in City 240 He had to be there at nine..and then worked on until the Belvedere Trading Company..‘called it a day’. 1941Baker N.Z. Slang vi. 50 That'll be the day!..a cant phrase expressing mild doubt following some boast or claim by a person. 1943N. Marsh Colour Scheme vi. 101 He's a beaut. Wait till I get him. That'll be the day. 1951― Opening Night xi. 248 ‘If I've bungled,’ Alleyn muttered, ‘I've..bungled in a big way.’.. Bailey astonished everyone by saying..‘That'll be the day.’ ‘Don't talk Australian,’ Mr. Fox chided. 1957G. Bellairs Death in High Provence xiii. 149 Madeleine's sister is a great age, too. Eighty, if a day. 1957J. Braine Room at Top xiii. 129 We'll call it a day... Don't think badly of me. 1960H. Pinter Room in Birthday Party 107 ‘Maybe there are two landlords.’.. ‘That'll be the day.’ 1963V. Nabokov Gift iii. 185 A friend of his..complained that Carlsbad was no longer what it used to be. Those were the days! he said: ‘you stand with your mug of water and there next to you is King Edward.’ 1965L. Sands Something to Hide v. 83 ‘Got any free road-maps?’ ‘That'll be the day. Bob apiece.’
VI. Attributive uses and Combinations.
21. The common use of the possessive genitive day's (as in other nouns of time) somewhat restricts the simple attributive use of day. The genitive is used in, e.g., the day's duties, day's needs, day's sales, day's takings; a day's length, day's sunshine; a day's fighting, day's journey, day's march, day's rest; a day's allowance, day's fast, day's pay, day's provisions, day's victuals, day's wages, etc. So with the pl. two days' journey, three days' pay, etc. See also daysman, day's work.
a1250Owl & Night. 1588 That gode wif..Haveth daies kare and niȝtes wake. 1388Wyclif Luke ii. 44 Thei..camen a daies iourney [1382 the wey of a day]. 1422E.E. Wills (1882) 50 Myn eche daies gowne. 1548Hall Chron. 228 b, Ponderynge together yestardayes promise, and two-dayes doyng. 1784Cowper Task ii. 6 My ear is pained..with every day's report. 1859Tennyson Enid 476 In next day's tourney. Mod. ‘He has neither night's rest nor day's ease’, as the saying is. A distance of three days' journey.
22. Such combinations as eight days when used attrib. may become eight-day.
1803M. Wilmot Jrnl. 13 Apr. in Londonderry & Hyde Russ. Jrnls. (1934) I. 3 My precious Father..saw us safely into the two day Coach. 1836[see eight]. 1847Nat. Encycl. I. 413 Six-day licenses may be granted. Mod. An eight-day clock.
23. General combinations:
a. simple attrib. ‘of the day, esp. as opposed to the night, the day's’, as day-beam, day-blush, day-fall, day-glory, day-god, day-going, day-hospital, day-hours, day-season, day-spirit; ‘of a day, as a period of time, a day's’, as day-bill, day-journey, day-name, day-respite, day-sum, day-ticket, day-warning; day-old adj. (also n. = day-old chick, etc.).
1811Shelley Let. 6 Jan. (1964) I. 38 The *day-beam returning. 1813Hogg Queen's Wake 265 The day-beam..O'er Queensberry began to peep. 1825D. L. Richardson Sonnets 60 The day-beams fade Along the crimson west. 1952C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid iv. 76 As Aurora was rising out of her ocean bed And the day-beam lofted.
1824Byron Juan xv. lxii, A single *day-bill Of modern dinners.
1813― Br. Abydos ii. xxviii, When the *day-blush bursts from high.
1889F. Thompson in Merry England XIII. 300 Who set upon her brow the *day-fall's carcanet? 1960T. Hughes Lupercal 55 Waking, dragged suddenly From a choir-shaken height By the world, Lord, and its dayfall.
1827Blackw. Mag. XXI. 81 Why, *Day-god, why so late?
1638Jackson Creed ix. xxiv. Wks. VIII. 353 Betwixt three of the clock and the *day-going.
1843Chambers's Jrnl. 30 Dec. 398/1 A kind of *day-hospital, to keep the children from wandering idly abroad. 1951Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Aug. 307 The Day Hospital does not belong to the era of Individual Psychiatry. 1958New Statesman 10 Jan. 34/1 It has long been recognised that given adequate out-patient facilities, day hospitals, occupation centres and hostels, many persons suffering from mental disorder need not enter a mental hospital. 1963Guardian 16 May 4/6 The Marlborough day hospital, in London..had had no beds and has been working as a ‘day’ hospital where patients after attendance return to their homes and families at night; and as a ‘night’ hospital where patients can go to work during the day, returning for help in the evenings.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. 77 The upper half of the circle..is the *Day-Hours, and the lower..is the Night-Hours.
1483Cath. Angl. 88 A *Day iornay, dieta.
1907Daily Chron. 8 July 4/4 Many poultry-keepers dispose of several thousand *day-old chicks every season. 1911R. Brooke Let. Feb. (1968) 280 Every night I sit in a café near here..and read the day-old Times. 1928Daily Tel. 11 May 19/4 Day-olds from reliable pedigree strains cost only 21s a dozen. 1930Masefield Wanderer of Liverpool 67 It was fine clear easterly weather with a day-old moon. 1959B.S.I. News Apr. 18/2 Priority is being given to arrangements for the carriage of day-old chicks. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 5 Jan. 109/3 Year after year crops of goslings are..in big demand as day-olds or ‘growers’.
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xix. 429 A *day respyte is worthe moche.
a1568Coverdale Bk. Death i. xxi, Neither need to fear any inconvenience by night, neither swift arrow in the *day-season.
1850Mrs. Browning Poems II. 274 Thy *day-sum of delight.
c1530Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 443 To be redy at a *day warning.
b. attrib. ‘Pertaining to or characteristic of the day, existing by day, diurnal’; as day-bell, day-bird, day-breeze, day-clothes, day-guest, day-haul, day-moth, day-shift, day-task, day-watch, day-watchman, day-wind.
15..Tale of Basyn 172 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 51 Thei daunsyd all the nyȝt, till the son con ryse; The clerke rang the *day-bell, as it was his gise.
1774White in Phil. Trans. LXV. 266 It does not withdraw to rest till a quarter before nine..being the latest of all *day-birds.
1808J. Barlow Columb. ii. 540 The *day-breeze fans the God.
1644A. Burgesse Magistrates Commission 15 It ought to be your *day-care and your night-care, and your morning-care.
1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Voy. to Eng. Wks. (Bohn) II. 12 The master never slept but in his *day-clothes whilst on board.
1654Whitlock Zootomia 33 If griefe lodges with us over night, Joy shall be our *Day Guest.
1888E. J. Mather Nor'ard of Dogger 103 The smacks had their gear down for a *day-haul.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. (1858) 73 Your very *Daymoth has capabilities in this kind.
1872Daily News 12 Oct., The people of the *day-shift trooping in to relieve the night-workers.
1630R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem., Our Ordinary Gentleman, whose *day-taske is this.
1837Wheelwright tr. Aristophanes I. 263 Eluding our *day-watch.
1722De Foe Plague (1840) 51 Till the morning-man, or *day-watchman, as they called him, came to relieve him.
1846Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 50 How soft the *day-wind sighed.
c. With agent-nouns and words expressing action, ‘(that acts or is done) by day, during the day, as distinguished from night’, as day-devourer, day-drudge, day-flier, day-lurker, day-nurse, day-seller, day-sleeper, day-trip, day-tripper; day-drowsiness, day-fishing, day-journeying, day-reflection, day-slumber, day-somnambulism, day-vision; also adjectives, as day-appearing, day-flying, day-shining, etc.
1821Shelley Fragments, Wandering i, Like a *day-appearing dream.
1725Pope Odyss. xix. 83 A *day-devourer, and an evening spy!
1852Meanderings of Mem. I. 149 *Day-drowsiness—and night's arousing power.
1837J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. XXVII. 22 He [sc. Carlyle] possesses in no less perfection..the quality of the historical *day-drudge. 1840Carlyle Heroes (1858) 237 Show him the way of doing that, the dullest daydrudge kindles into a hero.
1653Walton Angler 126 There is night as well as *day-fishing for a Trout.
1889A. R. Wallace Darwinism 248 *Day-flying moths.
1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. IV. lxiv. 274 In leisurely *day-journeying from Genoa to London.
1657Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 4 Jugglers, *Day-lurkers, and Deceivers.
1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxv. 309 The night-nurse..well beknown to Mrs. Prig the *day-nurse. 1855J. R. Beste Wabash I. ii. 48 Our little Isabel amused the youngest children, and constituted herself their day nurse.
1725Pope Odyss. iv. 1062 The *day-reflection, and the midnight-dream!
1889Tablet 3 Aug. 167 Two classes of flower-girl—the *day-sellers and the night-sellers.
1580Sidney Arcadia (1622) 2 The *day-shining starres.
1549Cheke Hurt Sedit. (1641) 41 *Day-sleepers, pursse-pickers.
1836–9Todd Cycl. Anat. II. 767/2 The bat..awoke from its deep *day-slumber.
1849H. Mayo Truths in Pop. Superst. vi. 86 Let me narrate some instances..one of *day-somnambulism.
1903A. Bennett Leonora viii. 215 He had gone to London by a *day-trip on the previous Thursday. 1967C. Drummond Death at Furlong Post viii. 107 A customer who had taken a day trip to Calais.
1897Daily News 27 Sept. 3/5 The ‘*day-tripper’ class of excursionists. Ibid., Day trippers by the Marguerite from the Thames. 1960E. W. Hildick Jim Starling & Colonel vii. 57 Day-trippers on their way to Blackpool.
1677Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 58 Their night-dreams and *day-visions, whereby they divined things.
d. objective or objective genitive, as day-dispensing, day-distracting, day-loving adjs.; day-hater, day-prolonger;
e. instrumental, as day-lit, day-wearied adjs.;
f. adverbial, as day-born, day-hired, day-lasting, day-lived adjs.;
g. similative and parasynthetic, as day-bright, day-clear, day-eyed adjs.
1849Thoreau A Week 59 The Society Islanders had their *day-born gods. 1903Westm. Gaz. 26 Nov. 2/3 The day-born, hopeless longing dies.
1590T. Watson Poems (Arb.) 159 Virgo make fountains of thy *daie-bright eine. a1592Greene & Lodge Looking Glasse (1861) 124 The day-bright eyes that made me see.
1785Burns 2nd Ep. to J. Lapraik xvii, Some *day-detesting owl.
1725Pope Odyss. xx. 102 The *day-distracting theme.
1796T. Townshend Poems 49 *Day-eyed Fancy.
1597Daniel Civ. Wars ii. c, The *day-hater, Minerva's bird.
1751Female Foundling II. 159 *Day-hired Servants.
a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Fam. Epist. Wks. (1711) 139 *Day-lasting ornaments. 1885R. L. Stevenson Dynamiter 136 The broad, *daylit unencumbered paths of universal scepticism.
1839Bailey Festus v. (1848) 48 Things born of vice or *day-lived fashion.
1824J. Bowring Batavian Anthol. 158 *Day-prolonger—summer's mate.
1595Shakes. John v. iv. 35 Feeble, and *day-wearied Sunne.
24. Special combinations: day-and-night attrib., throughout the day and night; † day-and-night-shot, the name of some disease; day-before attrib., of the previous day; day-boarder, see boarder; † day-body, a person taken up with the things of the day; day-boy, a school-boy (at a boarding-school) who attends the classes but goes home for the evening, as distinguished from a boarder, q.v.; also transf. and attrib.; day-bug Schoolboy slang, = day-boy; day-car, -coach U.S., any railway passenger carriage other than a sleeper; also transf.; day care, the supervision and care of young children during the day, esp. while their mothers are at work; freq. attrib.; day centre, a non-residential centre which provides social, recreational, and other facilities, esp. for the elderly or handicapped; day-clock, a clock which requires to be wound up daily; day-coal (see 5); day continuation school, a school for educating young workers released temporarily by their employers; † day, day! a childish expression for ‘good day’, ‘goodbye’ (cf. ta-ta n.); day-degree (see quot.); day dress, = day-gown; day-drift, -hole (see quot. and 5); day editor, the editor in charge of a newspaper during the day; day-eye (Coal-mining), a working open to daylight; day-gang, † (a) a day's march or journey (obs.); (b) a gang of miners, etc., forming the day-shift; day-gown, a woman's gown worn by day; day-holding, the holding of an appointed day (for arbitration); day-hours (pl.), those offices for the Canonical Hours which are said in the day-time; day-house (Astrol.), a house in which a planet is said to be stronger by day than by night (Wilson Dict. Astrol.); day-length, the length of the day, esp. as it varies at different times of the year; also attrib., spec. designating clothes of a suitable length for wear during the day (see also quot. 1949); † day-liver, one who lives for a day, or for the day; dayman, one employed for the day, or for duty on a special day; day-nettle: see dead-nettle and dea-nettle; day nursery, (a) a nursery used by children during the day (as distinguished from night nursery); (b) a nursery where children are cared for while their mothers are at work; Day of Atonement [tr. Heb. Yōm Kippūr], a Jewish fast day, observed from the ninth to the tenth of Tishri; day-on Naut. slang, one who does duty as officer of the day; day release, a system whereby employers allow employees days off from work for education; also attrib.; day-room, a room occupied by day only; † day-set, sun-set; day-shine, day-light; † day-shutting, close of day, sunset; dayside, (a) U.S., the division of a newspaper's staff that works during the day; more generally (attrib.), of or pertaining to the day-shift; that works or is performed by day; cf. night-side (c) s.v. night n. 14; (b) the side of a planet that is facing the sun and is therefore in daylight, esp. in phr. on the dayside; cf. night-side (d) s.v. night n. 14; day-stone, a naturally detached block of stone found on the surface (see 5); day-streak, streak of dawn; day-student, a student who comes to a college, etc. during the day for lectures or study, but does not reside there; day-ticket, a railway or other ticket covering return on the same day; also, a ticket covering all journeys or entrances made by the purchaser on the day of issue; day-tide (poet.,) day-time; day-wages, wages paid by the day; so day-wage attrib.; † day-wait, a watcher or watchman by day; day-ˈward n., ward kept by day; ˈdayward a. and adv., towards the day; day-water, surface water (see 5).
1899Westm. Gaz. 16 Mar. 10/2 The work will be carried out by *day and night relays of men. 1964S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xxvii. 436 Unless day-and-night nursing is available it is a wise precaution with many patients to tie their hands loosely to the bed at night.
1527Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters K ij b, The same water is good agaynste a sore named the *daye and nyght shotte.
1828Cobbett Serm., Drunkenness 45 Nobody is so dull as the *daybefore drunkard.
1853E. Sewell Exper. Life iii. 26 A very tolerable school..where they were allowed..to attend as *day boarders.
1567–8Abp. Parker Corr. 310, I trust, not so great a *day-body..but can consider both reason and godliness.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair II. xxi, Georgy was, like some dozen other pupils, only a *day-boy. 1888Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. iii. 302 The attempt was made to send [him]..as a day-boy, to Rugby school. 1914Spectator 17 Oct. 516/2 We would train a portion of the men in what we may describe as ‘day-boy’ battalions... Up till the time of the Boer War..there were two battalions of London Militia who were always trained on the ‘day-boy’ system. The men lived in their own homes, and came to the depot each day for their recruit training.
1909Ware Passing Eng. 105/1 Don't row with that fellow, he's only a *day-bug. 1913C. Mackenzie Sinister Street I. i. vii. 103 When an older boarder called him a ‘day-bug’ Michael was discreetly silent.
1870W. F. Rae Westward by Rail (1871) 50 This company build and run their own elegant sleeping coaches and palace *day cars. 1904Westm. Gaz. 26 Sept. 6/3 [Accident in Tennessee] Day-car and day-car were telescoped, buckled, and thrown over. 1964Economist 4 Jan. 24/2 Adequately staffed day-care centres for children.
1961Lancet 16 Sept. 6481 A local authority can provide *day-centres or social clubs for them if it wishes to do so. 1976Bridgwater Mercury 21 Dec. 1/3 Grant aid to elderly persons' clubs, luncheon clubs and day centres will be continued. 1984Listener 26 July 21/1 The health team beavers unobtrusively, arranging a home help here, a weekly visit to a day centre there.
1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede 38 No sound..but the loud ticking of the old *day-clock.
1873Winfield (Kansas) Courier 11 Jan. 2/7 Elegant *Day Coaches, [etc.]..are some of the modern improvements used on this Line. 1887C. B. George 40 Yrs. on Rail xi. 226 A passenger on his way to the dining-car came out of the day coach into the ladies' end of my car. 1947Shell Aviation News CXII. 4/1 Atlantic has applied to the Civil Aeronautics Board for permission to operate day coach services in the triangular area, New York, Washington and Pittsburg.
1919Times Educ. Suppl. 25 Sept. 487/1 The *day continuation school must sit between eight in the morning and seven in the evening. 1943Ann. Reg. 1942 68 The Council..advocated..day continuation schools for young persons up to the age of 18. 1952Oxf. Jun. Encycl. X. 142/2 A system of Day Continuation Schools was also included in the 1918 Fisher Act. All young people between the ages of 14 and 18 who had ended full-time schooling were to continue their education at such schools for a period of 320 hours each year.
1712Arbuthnot John Bull iv. vii, Bye! bye, Nic!.. Won't you like to shake your *day-day, Nic? 1784P. Oliver in T. Hutchinson's Diary II. 213 Day, day! Yrs, P. Oliver.
1886Daily News 17 May 3/4 The result is expressed in *day-degrees, a day-degree signifying one degree of excess or deficit of temperature above or below 42 deg. continued for 24 hours, or any other number of degrees for an inversely proportional number of hours.
1922Liberty Dresses Spring 10 *Day Dress, in crèpe-de-chine... Price 12½ guineas.
1891Labour Commission Gloss., *Day drifts or day holes, galleries or inclined planes driven from the surface so that men can walk underground to and from their work without descending and ascending a shaft.
1873W. Mathews Getting on in World xiv. 218 Mr. Brooks..acting as leading editor [of the New York Express], reporter, *day editor, night editor, and even typesetter. 1877Harper's Mag. Dec. 53/2 The day editor in charge.
1890H. T. Crofton in Trans. Lanc. & Cheshire Antiq. Soc. VII. 27 Coal would probably be obtained first by ‘drifts’, ‘*day-eyes’, or ‘breast-highs.’
a1300Cursor M. 5842 Vte of his land *dai-ganges thre. 1840T. A. Trollope Summ. Britt. II. 163 When the day-gangs come up, and those for the night go down.
1875L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) x. 116 My old peacock cashmere evening, transformed into a *day gown with long sleeves. 1889Pall Mall G. 14 Nov. 1/3 Another day gown for a well-known society woman.
1565in Child Marriages (E.E.T.S.) 44 Ther was diuerse *daie-holdinges to get them to abide together; which they neuer cold bringe to passe.
1892Pall Mall. G. 11 Feb. 5/1 The coal is won by means of a *day hole.
1855P. Freeman Princ. Div. Service I. 220 There is, however, attached to each of these ‘*day-hours’ a ‘mid-hour’ Office.
1920Garner & Allard in Jrnl. Agric. Res. XVIII. 582 The Stewart Cuban Mammoth tobacco which requires a *day length of 12 hours or less to attain the blossoming stage has been grown commercially to some extent under an artificial shade. 1944A. G. Hatcher in Mod. Lang. Notes Dec. 515 Among the many relationships expressed by noun combinations..the three-member compound is peculiarly modern..day-length dresses..bronze-finish lamp. 1949New Biol. VII. 52 Day length neutral plants..flowered whatever the length of day. 1965Harper's Bazaar Jan. 54/1 He will charge you about 20 or 25 gns. for a day-length dress.
1630Drummond of Hawthornden Hymn to Fairest Fair, *Day-livers, we rememberance do lose Of ages worn.
1880Times 8 Oct. 8/5 The Liberal secretaries..mentioned the names of the chairmen, treasurers, executive ‘*daymen’, and captains of the respective wards. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 98 Marines, Idlers or Daymen.
1844Mrs. Parkes in Webster & Parkes Encycl. Domestic Econ. xxvi. i. 1187 *Day nurseries should be prepared for the children by having the windows open early in the morning. 1850Househ. Words II. 110/1 These institutions were to be Day-Nurseries for the children of the poor. 1884Harper's Mag. Apr. 782/2 A ‘Day Nursery and Temporary Home for Children’, charging two cents a day to busy mothers. 1896H. Friederichs In the Evening of his Days 70 (caption) The Day Nursery at Hawarden Castle. 1908H. de V. Stacpoole Patsy ii, They were in the day nursery, which was also the schoolroom. 1955Times 15 July 5/7 Under the scheme the boroughs would become responsible for maternity and child welfare, day nurseries, [etc.].
[1611Bible Lev. xxiii. 27 On the tenth day of this seuenth moneth there shalbe a day of atonement.] 1819L. Alexander Hebrew Ritual 82 The Conclusion Prayer..concludes the service of the *Day of Atonement. 1893Zangwill Ghetto Tragedies 47 The great White Fast, the Day of Atonement. 1932L. Golding Magnolia Street i. ii. 33 When she absented herself on the Feast of the New Year and the Day of Atonement, the understanding was she had a cold.
1914‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions (1918) iv. 27 The *Day-on flopped exhaustedly on to a Wardroom settee.
1945Youth's Opportunity (Min. Educ. Pamphlet iii) 12 Part-time *day release by industry for the purpose of technical commercial and art courses. 1955Times 23 May 6/2 In part-time day-release courses an effective proportion..of the students' time should be devoted to non-vocational work. 1965J. Melville There lies your Love i. 24 She was what was called a day-release student: a student who also had a job but was continuing her education.
1823Nicholson Pract. Builder 577 A Small County Prison..A spacious *day room on the ground floor.
c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 718 At *day set he on his way is goon.
c1822Beddoes Pygmalion Poems 154 By moon, or lamp, or sunless *day shine white. 1872Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 1065 Naked in open dayshine.
1673in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 316 That every publick house hang out lanthornes..till 8 a clock at night, from *day shutting.
1927, etc. *Day side [see night side s.v. night n. 14]. 1963Daily Tel. 20 May 26/4 He could see the larger stars on the ‘dayside’ of the Earth if he kept both sunshine and earthshine out of his capsule window. 1979Washington Post 8 Jan. d11/1 Postal clerks who sort mail for Zone 11 on the midnight shift..missed the big dayside collection. 1980Washington Post Mag. 20 Jan. 8/3 At 11:30 he dropped it into the city desk basket and went home, thinking that the dayside would get a kick out of it. 1982Nature 4 Feb. 365/2 When the solar wind magnetic field points south,..magnetic ‘reconnection’ can occur across the dayside boundary.
1877A. H. Green Phys. Geol. x. §3. 441 *Day-stones.
1850Clough Dipsychus 83 The chilly *day-streak signal.
1883Durham Univ. Jrnl. 17 Dec. 141 Sorry indeed to see the *day-student system becoming the rule.
1846Railway Reg. III. 248 *Day tickets—The charge is a fare and a half.
1818Keats Endym. iii. 365 At brim of *day-tide.
a1592Greene Orpharion Wks. (Grosart) XII. 86 A labourer for *day wages. 1625tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. (1688) 49 Souldiers, Servants, and all that took Day-Wages for their Labour. 1963Times 10 May 6/5 The recent provisional agreement on pay increases for day-wage men and craftsmen had been endorsed.
1496Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) v. xi. 210, I haue made the a *dayewayte to the people of Israell.
1597–1602W. Riding Sessions Rolls 49 (Yorks. Archæol. Assoc.), Vigilias suas in diebus anglice their *daywarde.
1876Lanier Poems, Psalm of West 367 Whilst ever *dayward thou art steadfast drawn.
1698Cay in Phil. Trans. XX. 369 A meer *Day-Water..immediately from the Clouds. 1808Curwen Econ. Feeding Stock 198 A poor clay..extremely retentive of day-water.
Add:[VI.] [24.] day letter U.S. (now Hist.), a cheap-rate, low-priority telegram delivered on the day it is sent; cf. night letter n. a.
1910H. L. Sellers in Hearing Bill 19402 (U.S. Congress. Senate Comm. on District of Columbia) 15 We naturally are very eager..to complete the line..so that the..capital may have..a real night letter that will mean something to them. It will be a *day letter as well as a night letter. 1960Nanassy & Selden Business Dict. 57 The day letter is not handled so speedily as the full-rate message.
▸ day trader n. Stock Market (orig. U.S.) a person who buys and sells shares over the period of one day's trading, with the intention of profiting from short-term price fluctuations; (now) esp. one who trades in such a manner from home via the Internet.
[1900N.Y. Times 29 Apr. 26/4 Day-by-day traders, speculators who gamble, may be careless of the characters of men managing corporations.] [1936Times 6 Nov. 23/6 Some day-to-day traders, however, thought that the advance was too fast and were disposed to take profits.] 1953H. Working in Amer. Econ. Rev. 43 329 Perhaps the largest class of professional traders is that of ‘*day traders’—those who operate primarily on intraday price fluctuations. 1999N.Y. Times 13 Aug. 6/5 Wall Street analysts and day-trading officials say many former professional traders, brokers and financial services professionals are quitting their jobs to work full time as day traders or money managers from home offices.
▸ day trading n. Stock Market (orig. U.S.) the practice of buying and selling shares over the period of one day's trading, with the intention of profiting from short-term price fluctuations; (now esp.) such trading undertaken from home via the Internet.
1954H. Working in Proc. Chicago Board of Trade Ann. Symp. Sept. 114 (title) Price effects of scalping and *day trading. 1999Daily Tel. 30 July 1/1 He was..a chemist who had been involved in day-trading, a form of share dealing in which self-taught investors buy and sell stocks and shares on the Internet.
▸ day wear n. wear (wear n. 1a) during the daytime; (hence, usually as one word) articles of clothing, etc., suitable for wearing during the day, freq. as opposed to the more formal styles of evening wear (cf. evening wear n. at evening n.1 Additions).
1872N.Y. Times 12 Dec. 5/4 Dress sleeves for *day wear are coat-shaped or quite tight-fitting, with the cuff worn outside. 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 54 Gloves, with simple self-colour embroidery round the cuffs on the backs for day wear. 1980N.Y. Times (Nexis) 27 Aug. d2/5 Mr. Kraft..added..that his efforts ‘primarily would be to expand our franchises in the foundations, sleepwear and daywear areas’. 1998BBC Vegetarian Good Food May 64 Bobbi Brown's subtle formulations are perfect for daywear and particularly good for more mature complexions.
▪ II. † day, v.1 Obs.
In 3 dæȝen, daiȝen.
[A form of daw v., assimilated to day n.]
To dawn.
c1205Lay. 21726 Lihten hit gon dæȝen [c 1275 daȝeie]. Ibid. 21854 Faire hit gon daȝiȝen. Ibid. 26940 Hit agon daiȝen [c 1275 daȝeȝe]. c1275Ibid. 1694 A morwe þo hit daȝede [c 1205 dawede]. c1440Promp. Parv. 112 Dayyn, or wexyn day..diesco. Ibid. 114 Dawyn idem est, quod dayyn [Pynson dayen], auroro. c1460Towneley Myst., Jacob 108 Farewell now, the day dayes. 1483Cath. Angl. 88 To Day, diere, diescere.
Hence ˈdaying vbl. n. = dawing, dawning.
c1420Anturs of Arth. xxxvii, In þe daying of þe day. c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 927 At the dayeng, a l'ajourner.
▪ III. † day, v.2 Obs.
[f. day n.; in several disconnected senses.]
1. trans. To appoint a day to any one; to cite or summon for an appointed day. [transl. Flem. daghen.]
1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 19 That he shold be sente fore and dayed ernestly agayn, for t[o] abyde such Iugement.
2. To submit (a matter) to, or decide by, arbitration. Cf. dayment.
1484[see daying vbl. n.]. 1580Lupton Sivqila 117 They haue bin enforced when all their money was..spent, to haue their matter dayed, and ended by arbitrement.
3. To give (a person) time for payment; absol. to postpone payment. (Cf. day n. 12.)
1566Wager Cruell Debter, The most part of my debtters have honestly payed, And they that were not redy I have gently dayed. 1573Tusser Husb. lxii. (1878) 139 Ill husbandrie daieth, or letteth it lie: Good husbandrie paieth, the cheaper to bie.
4. To appoint or fix as a date.
1594Carew Tasso (1881) 114 So when the terme was present come, that dayd The Captaine had.
5. To measure by the day; to furnish with days.
1600Abp. Abbot Exp. Jonah 545 Is it nothing that their life is dayed and houred, and inched out by a fearful God and terrible? 1616Budden tr. Aerodius' Parent's Hon. 168 Naturall duty, can neither be dayde nor yeard, nor determined by age, or eldership. 1839Bailey Festus xiii. (1848) 122 When earth was dayed—was morrowed.
6. to year and day: to subject to the statutory period of a year and a day.
1523Fitzherb. Surv. 28 b, And put them in sauegarde to the lordes vse till they be yered and deyd. a1626W. Sclater Serm. Exper. (1638) 186 Whiles favours are new, we can..say, God be thanked; but, once year'd and day'd, they scarce ever come more into our thought.
▪ IV. day
var. of dey, dairywoman. |