day by dayadv.adj.
/ˈdeɪ bʌɪ ˈdeɪ/, U.S. /ˈdeɪ ˌbaɪ ˈdeɪ/ A. adv.
On each successive day; every day, daily. Also with reference to an account, itinerary, etc.: with details of each successive day. Cf. by prep. 25c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > a day or twenty-four hours > [adverb]
daiwhomlyOE
adaya1200
day for dayc1386
day by dayc1390
daily1416
quotidianlya1438
quotidiallyc1475
per diem1485
journally1554
diurnally1599
day after day1830
day-to-day1928
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. viii. l. 177 What þou dudest day bi day.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 112 Day be day, or ouery day, quotidie.
a1450 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Tanner) (1879) Prol. l. 175 In which me thought I myght day by day Dwellen alway.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Mattyns f. iiv Te Deum..Day by day we magnifie thee.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Cicero in Panoplie Epist. 126 As I grow in hope day by day, through sundrie reportes.
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets lxxv. sig. E4v Thus do I pine and surfet day by day, Or gluttoning on all, or all away. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 32 And on thir Orbs impose Such restless revolution day by day Repeated. View more context for this quotation
1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 178 I cannot give you, day by day, an account of this..journey.
1840 W. M. Thackeray Catherine xi Old Wood knew all her history... He had wormed it out of her, day by day.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. xv. 288 Passing each other day by day.
1916 Amer. Oxonian Oct. 163 The book is one of the classics of the war. It is the story day by day and month of the new recruit's experience.
1962 G. Brooks Boston & Return x. 162 Day by day we sped on through countries which previously had been for me but divisions of a map to be studied.
2001 M. Suri Death of Vishnu (2002) vi. 111 ‘The nerve of these hooligans,’ her sister responded. ‘They grow more audacious day by day.’
B. adj.
That occurs on each successive day; relating to, or giving details of, each successive day.
ΚΠ
1836 C. Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 38 I am sickened by its day-by-day occurrence.
1871 R. Browning Balaustion 103 Gladden thyself! Drink! Count the day-by-day Existence thine, and all the other—chance!
1936 N.Y. Woman 23 Sept. 42/1 Below we offer a calendar for New York, an hour-by-hour, day-by-day chart which will tell you at a glance where you may go for breakfast, luncheon tea, dinner or supper-dancing.
1954 Sunday Jrnl. & Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) 19 Dec. 6 d/5 His amours, reported in day-by-day accounts, do not bear out his Walter Mittyish belief that he was a cynical seducer of women.
1975 J. McCourt Mawrdew Czgowchwz i. 21 In the preserving of certains, day by day, meticulous, fanatic care was of the essence.
2005 J. M. Coetzee Slow Man iv. 22 She has already drafted a day-by-day schedule for the two of them.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.adj.c1390