> as lemmas

1594 J. Lyly Mother Bombie i. iii. sig. B2 As proud as the day is long, she wil none of him.

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. i. 44 There liue we as mery as the day is long . View more context for this quotation

1703 Divine Soul xvii. 149 Whom can I blame but my self, since were it not for my own default, I might have been as happy as the Day was long?

1716 T. Purney Pastorals after Theocritus ii. 48 O! did I Soflin hate, and Soflin Me, One had been happy as the Day!

1721 P. Doddridge Diary & Corr. (1829) I. 78 If we had any ladies here, I should be just as idle as the day is long.

1818 ‘W. H. Scott’ Brit. Field Sports 127 The Setter is as stout as the day is long—active, hardy, spirited, and fearing no ground wet or dry.

1845 Knickerbocker Sept. 222 Elkanor knew his customer, an old acquaintance, ‘miserly as the day is long when days are the longest’.

1864 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 23 Nov. (1956) IV. 168 He is as happy as the day is long—and very good—one of those creatures to whom goodness comes naturally.

1886 Army & Navy Mag. Sept. 490 True as steel, and honest as the day.

1925 R. Hall Saturday Life xi. 122 Eight weeks ago she had seemed as happy as the day.

1989 T. Kidder Among Schoolchildren vi. iii. 221 They're still going to be as obnoxious as the day is long.

2010 Viz May 20/1 Oh he's as honest as the day on Galifrey is long.