monthn.1
/mʌnθ/, U.S. /mənθ/ A measure of time corresponding to the period of the moon's revolution.† 6. Usually in plural. The menstrual discharge; a menstrual period. Cf. menses n. Obsolete.
1.
a. Each of the equal portions into which a year is conventionally divided, approximating in length to the period during which the moon completes a cycle of its phases; esp. each of the twelve named divisions (January, February, etc.) in the modern calendar, deriving from those of the reformed Roman calendar (see note below). Also called calendar month.The primitive calendar month of many early civilizations began on the day of the new moon, or the day after, and thus coincided (except for fractions of a day) with the synodic month (see sense 2). However, from a very early period it was found desirable that the calendar year should contain an integral number of the smaller periods used in ordinary reckoning. Thus the original ‘months’ reckoned by the moon were superseded by a series of (usually) twelve periods each having a fixed number of days (generally 29, 30, or 31, on average one-twelfth of the number in the year); this artificial period retained the name of ‘month’. The systems according to which reckoning by months was brought into relation with reckoning by years were very diverse. The Roman republican calendar had years of 355, 377, 355, and 378 days in its four-year cycle, with 28 days in February and 29 or 31 days in the other months, and an extra (shorter) month every other year; this gave an average year length of 366.25 days. This was varied in the Julian calendar to give a year of 365 days (366 in a leap year) and a more even distribution of days, with 30- and 31-day months alternating, apart from February. Further reforms, usually attributed to Augustus in 8 b.c., were made by the taking of a day from February, September, and November and the addition of one to August, October, and December, producing the system now in use in the West.Other cultures and religions have had different systems of months. Twelve months of 30 and 29 days alternately make up the year (shorter than the solar year) in the various Muslim calendars, which have taken different forms only to the extent that they use different rules for intercalating days to preserve a realistic representation of the observed moon. The same alternation of 30 and 29 days has also been adopted in the Jewish calendar, which is, however, lunisolar, and in its present form it is kept in step with the solar year by applying a certain rule for the intercalation of an extra month seven times every 19 years.civil, political, usual month, etc.: see the first element.
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the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun]
montheOE
moonshine1608
menology1807
calendar month1827
mo1836
thirty days1928
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) v. 12 Þonne ðære sunnan scima on Agustes monðe hatost scinð ðonne dysegað se ðe þonne wile hwelc sæd oðfæstan þæm drygum furum.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) vii. 11 On ðam oðrum monðe, on ðone seofonteoðan dæg ðæs monðes.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1110 On þære fiftan nihte on Maies monðe, ætywde se mona on æfen beorhte scinende.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 7220 Þane kalender þe dihteð þane moneð & þe ȝer.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 1369 (MED) He an monþe in þe ȝere clupie after is name Iulius.
c1387–95 G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. 92 He was as fresshe as is the monthe of May.
1477 Earl Rivers tr. Dictes or Sayengis Philosophhres (Caxton) (1877) lf. 1 In the moneth of Iuyll the said yere.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Exod. xiii. 4 This daye are ye gone out, euen in ye moneth of Abib.
1611 Bible (King James) 1 Esdras v. 6 Who spake wise sentences before Darius the king of Persia, in the second yeere of his reigne, in the moneth Nisan, which is the first moneth. View more context for this quotation
1615 W. Bedwell Arabian Trudgman in tr. Mohammedis Imposturæ sig. L4 at Alkoran This moneth they call Ramadhan, which also is their Lent.
1678 G. Mackenzie Laws & Customes Scotl. ii. 369 Registrat in the Books of Secret Council, the 15. day of that Moneth.
1738 A. Cruden Compl. Concordance Holy Script. II. at Month The names and order of the months in the [Hebrew] Civil year, are the same as in the preceding table, only beginning the year with Tisri or September.
1775 S. J. Pratt Liberal Opinions (1783) II. lxiv. 236 The arid month of July.
1807 J. Robinson Archæol. Græca iii. xxv. 332 The Roman January, which was their first month, was in the depth of winter. The Macedonians reckoned Dius their first month from the autumnal equinox.
1838 E. H. Lindo Jewish Cal. 5 The perfect [year] has 355 days, and is when the months of Hesvan and Kislev have each 30 days.
1875 T. Frost Circus Life xvii. 292 During the summer months they ‘tented’, and in the winter erected temporary wooden buildings in populous towns.
1912 S. Bonsal Amer. Mediterranean vii. 137 Every month 100,000 dollars gold goes to New York and a handsome sum is paid into the Dominican treasury.
1965 B. Sweet-Escott Baker St. Irregular iii. 90 It turned out to be..the ritual passion play on the 10th of the month of Muharram which commemorates the death of Hassan.
1988 A. N. Wilson Tolstoy vii. 154 For most of the month of July and for the whole of August he devoted himself to inspecting German schools.
2001 Daily Tel. 12 Jan. i. 10/1 He supported the action next month over plans to partly privatise London Underground.
b. Chiefly poetic. A personification or emblematic representation of a month of the year.
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a1599 E. Spenser Canto Mutabilitie vii. xxxii, in Faerie Queene (1609) sig. Ii2 After them, the Monthes all riding came; First, sturdy March.
1648 J. Raymond Itinerary Voy. Italy 106 Nichi, wherein stood the statues of the Moneths.
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 228 The Temple of Janus quadrifrontis, having 4..arches importing the 4 Seasons, and at each side six niches for the annual monethes.
1712 E. Budgell in Spectator No. 425. ¶4 Then came up the three Months which belong to this season.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Autumn in Posth. Poems (1824) 166 Come, Months, come away, From November to May, In your saddest array; Follow the bier Of the dead cold Year.
1868 H. Alford Poet. Wks. 359 Rich store and plenty 'tis Autumn brings still. And then her months crowned her with a wreath of poppies and corn.
a1967 V. Watkins Coll. Poems (1986) 466 Months, hireling seasons come Dissembling their voices.
2. Astronomy.† b. A twelfth of a solar year; the time taken for the sun to pass through one of the signs of the zodiac. Obsolete.† c. month of apparition n. the part of the lunar month during which the moon is actually visible; also called illuminative month. Obsolete.The length of this period was variously stated: see quots.
a. The period in which the moon makes a complete revolution relative to some point (fixed or movable). Cf. lunar month n. at lunar adj. and n. Compounds 1.There are several kinds of lunar month, as the period of revolution is different according to the point about which it is reckoned. Usually the term denotes the synodic month, i.e. the period from one new moon to the next, the length of which is currently 29.530588 days (29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 2.8 seconds). Other kinds of lunar month (the lengths of which are all between 27 and 28 days) are the anomalistic month (the time the moon takes to move from perigee to perigee); the nodical month (the time for it to move from one lunar node on the ecliptic back to the same point); the sidereal month (the time for it to make a complete circuit of the fixed stars); and the tropical month (the time for it to move from one equinoctial point on the ecliptic back to the same point): these are all treated under the respective adjectives.
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the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > lunar month
monthOE
lunation1398
moon1487
month of consecution in Astr1561
lunar month1594
lunary month1602
periodical month1603
month of progression1615
synodic month1669
OE Ælfric De Temporibus Anni (Cambr. Gg.3.28) iv. §30. 34 On ðam monðe sind getealde nigon & twentig daga, & twelf tida, þis is se monlica monað.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 11069 Ȝe nemmnenn ȝure ȝer. Twellf moneþþ.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 145 Ðe mones ligt is moneð met.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 124 Þe moneþ [L. mensis lunaris] of þe mone..is þat space in þe whiche þe mone passiþ from þe one poynt in þe firmament and comeþ aȝen to þe same and conteynyþ xxviiti dayes and eiȝte houres.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 83v A Munethe, jnterlunium, mensis.
1556 R. Record Castle of Knowl. 14 A Moneth is the iuste time of the propre course of the Moone, from chaunge to chaunge.
a1681 G. Wharton Fasts & Festivals in Wks. (1683) 2 The Neomeniæ, or Feasts of New-Moons, Celebrated the First day of every Month, initiating with the New-Moons.
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. I. ii. §11. 241 Tho' a Month be properly that space of time wherein the Moon goes thro' the Zodiac; yet since there are about twelve Months that pass while the Sun runs once thro' the Ecliptic, that space of time also wherein the Sun runs thro' one sign of the Zodiac, is call'd a Solar Month; which is about 30½ Days.
1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 800/1 We have as many different species of months as there are different motions with which that of the moon can be compared.
1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 463/2 Events at a given hypocenter occur with great regularity near a fixed point in the tidal cycle of 27.5 days (an anomalistic month, the time from apogee to apogee).
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the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > space of a month
monthOE
the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > solar month
monthOE
solar month1594
OE Ælfric De Temporibus Anni (Cambr. Gg.3.28) iv. §1. 28 Þære sunnan gear is þæt heo beyrne þone micelan circul Zodiacum... Ælce monað heo yrnð under an ðæra tacna.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 124 Þe moneþ of þe sonne..dureþ also longe as þe sonne abidiþ in one signe in his cours.
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the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > lunar month > periods within or phases of the moon
full moonOE
new moonOE
waningc1000
new of the moona1398
quarter?a1425
plenilune?a1475
neomeniaa1535
lunationc1549
interlune1561
wane1563
neomeny1569
dark of the moon1591
month of apparition1594
dark moon1615
plenilunium1615
moon1709
interlunation1813
quartering1880
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises iii. i. xlvi. f. 171v The moneth of Apparition consisteth of 28. dayes.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words (at cited word) A moneth of Apparition, i. the space of 26 dayes and 12 hours, wherein the Moon appears, the other three days being deducted wherein it is obscured by the Sun.
3. A period of time either extending between the same dates in successive months (also called calendar month: see calendar n. Compounds 2), or lasting four weeks or 28 days (often called lunar month: see lunar adj. and n. Compounds 1). Later also in weakened use: a period of about four weeks.With distinguishing word: any of several periods of time formerly used in particular disciplines, as decretorial, medical, philosophical month: see the first element.
a. In singular and with plural in -s.
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the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > as twenty-eight days
month?a1425
lunar month1766
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Oxf.) v. xvii. 454 He þa fela monþa þær gesæligum gelesum geornlice abysegad wæs.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xxix. 14 Þa an monoþ agan wæs.
?a1200 (?OE) Peri Didaxeon (1896) 3 Feower wætun syndon on þan manniscen lichama..And hyra anȝehylce rixaþ ðra monþas.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 7771 Þreottene monðes wunede Julius in Oðeres.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 5074 (MED) Þe fest of þat mariage a moneþ fulle lasted.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. iii. 140 Heo may as muche do In a Mooneþ ones, As [ȝoure] secre seal In Seuen score dayes.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 31 At the ende of .iij. wokes or of a moneth þei comen aȝen.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) cxxi. 183 The siege had thenne endured nygh ix. monethes.
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 8 A quicke vnderstanding, is able to atteine to more in a moment.., then a dull and blockish heade in a month.
1599 Acts Privy Council XXIX. 591 Allowance..at x.li. the monneth, accompting xxviij daies to the monethe, is yearlie cxxx.li.
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. f. 135 v A month mensis is regularly accounted in Law 28. dayes, and not according to the Solar moneth, nor according to the Kalender, vnlesse it bee for the account of the laps in a quare impedit.
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 134 Which comes to pass in six, eight or twelve Moneths, more or less.
1747 Fool (1748) II. 248 The hurricane Months begin about the Twelfth of July, and continue to the Nineteenth of October.
1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. ix. 141 A month in law is a lunar month, or twenty-eight days, unless otherwise expressed.
1856 J. Aiton Clerical Econ. (ed. 2) v. 303 In Scotland, we are said to enjoy nine months of winter and three months of very bad weather.
1886 H. W. Lucy Diary Two Parl.: Gladstone 372 That plank bed, every square inch of which is as well known in the House of Commons as if members had passed upon it a month of all-night sittings.
1932 G. Greene Stamboul Train i. i. 5 Remember me... I'll see you again in a month or two.
1990 Here's Health Dec. 37/1 The Swedish electronics industry must stop using CFCs as degreasers in just one month's time.
b. With unchanged plural.
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eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) vi. xxvi. 145 Feng Aurelius to Romana onwalde & hiene hæfde v ger & vi monað.
OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) iii. 81 Elias hine gebæd þæt hit ne rinde ofer eorðan, & he mid his gebedum þone heofon beleac þreo gear & syx monoð.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 3 (MED) Þe mon þe leie xii moneð in ane prisune.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 112 Svm weneð þet ha schule stronglukest beon ifon ðet iþe forme tweofmoneð þet ha bigon ancre lif.
a1350 (a1250) Harrowing of Hell (Harl.) (1907) 209 Tuelf moneþ is agon, þat y þolede martirdom.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 11125 (MED) Mare þan thre monet duelld he In his aghen kindli contre.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iii. l. 334 Till x moneth war gayn.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 8373 Sex moneth & no more.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) v. 28 Quhar ane man lyuis ane hundretht ȝeir..ane hundretht lyuis nocht ane hundretht monetht.
1640 R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1841) I. 257 Two moneth.
a1729 E. Taylor Metrical Hist. Christianity (1962) 148 The Church a headless stump five month abides.
a1796 R. Burns Reliques (1808) 390 It's now twa month that I'm your debtor.
1840 Southern Literary Messenger 6 771/1 Mrs Briggs..would say ‘she is jist seventeen year, three month an' four days old’.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake II. i. 15 I shall know better things, my boy, before six month are out.
1903 J. Lumsden Toorle 101 Her death fair daver'd him, an' before twa month had slippit bye, he had left Scotland for guid.
1993 L. Pemberton Platinum Coast (BNC) 197 He got de temp'ry permit which clears him to work for up to six month.
4. † b. The month after childbirth, during which time a woman was formerly expected to be confined; in early use esp. the period before ‘churching’. See also from the month at Phrases 1e. Obsolete.
a. Any one of the nine months (sense 3a) normally reckoned to make up the term of a woman's pregnancy.Usually preceded by an ordinal or cardinal number specifying the duration of the pregnancy. seven months' child: see seven-months adj. at seven adj. and n. Compounds 4.
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OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke i. 36 Hic mensis est sextus illi quae uocatur sterilis : ðis moneð [OE Rushw. monoð] is ðe seista ðær ðiu geceiged is unbere[n]d.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1810 Þe laffdiȝ..ȝede þær wiþþ hire child All allse fele moneþ. Alls iff itt wære an oþerr child Þatt wære onn hire streonedd.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 11220 (MED) Moght he not þan, þat al puruaid, Be born vte of a maiden eth, At þe time o nine moneth?
a1560 Remembrance Passion in J. A. W. Bennett Devotional Pieces (1955) 217 To wesy..hir ante Elizabeth ȝat wes sex monethes gane with barne.
1630 M. Drayton Noahs Floud in Muses Elizium 90 The full-womb'd Women, very hardly went Out their nine months.
1748 T. Smollett Roderick Random II. xlvi. 107 I am now four months gone with child by him.
1834 J. Forbes et al. Cycl. Pract. Med. III. 471/2 Both mother and daughter..were in the habit of menstruating up to the seventh month.
1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man I. i. 25 The..so-called lanugo, with which the human foetus during the sixth month is thickly covered.
1922 C. A. Hoff Ethical Sex Relations i. 149 The first unequivocal sign observed by the mother is that known as the quickening, which occurs usually about the fourth month.
1989 J. A. B. Collier & J. M. Longmore Oxf. Handbk. Clin. Specialties (ed. 2) i. 66 Nausea and breakthrough bleeding are only common in the first months.
1997 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 20 Feb. 36/2 At the fifth month pregnant women are..prohibited from plowing or lifting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > confinement > [noun] > childbirth or delivery > time after
limita1616
gander-montha1632
month1631
steg-month1828
puerperium1845
gander-moon1886
1631 B. Jonson New Inne Argt. Her not being blest with a sonne, tooke a resolution with her selfe, after her months time, and thanksgiuing ritely in the Church, to quit her home.
1640 H. Mill Nights Search xxii. 89 Having past The danger of her month, she's churched at last.
1716 D. Ryder Diary 25 May (1939) (modernized text) 242 Our landlady who had been lying in and her month not yet up invited us to drink tea with her.
1751 E. Haywood Hist. Betsy Thoughtless II. xii. 136 They..gave handsomely..for the support of the lying-in woman and her infant; the former, however,..died before the expiration of her month.
1794 A. Opie Let. in C. L. Brightwell Memorials Life A. Opie (1854) iii. 42 I found Mrs. Siddons engaged in nursing her little baby... She played last Wednesday before her month was up, and is now confined to her room with the cold she caught.
5. A period of leave, duty, etc., lasting a month. Also: wages corresponding to a month's service, esp. given in lieu of notice; a month's notice. Now rare.
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > payment for labour or service > [noun] > extra payments > other types of extra payments
month1545
glove-money1729
1545 in A. I. Cameron Sc. Corr. Mary of Lorraine (1927) 134 [To] be anssuerit and payt off thair last monethis last bipast quhilk I have payt on my auin.
1787 C. Smith Romance Real Life I. 211 Here Beaulieu put the infant to nurse with Gabriella Niviniot, to whom he paid a month before-hand.
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §330 The present third man, who was at this time taking his month on shore.
1840 H. Cockton Valentine Vox 112 Mr Walter has settled with me and paid me my month, and I'm to leave this night, Sir!
1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xliv. 439 I've done my duty Miss... I couldn't stay my month or I could never leave you.
1933 G. B. Shaw Village Wooing (1934) 133 I'll go this very minute. You can keep my month.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > menses > [noun]
monthlyeOE
menstruuma1398
flowerc1400
menstrue?a1425
women's evilc1450
menstruosity1503
courses1563
monthly time1564
reds1568
month courses1574
purgation1577
women's courses1577
month1578
menses1597
menstruals1598
flourish1606
nature1607
fluors1621
mois1662
period1690
catamenia1764
turn1819
visitor1980
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii lxxi. 241 The wilde Basill..stoppeth..the inordinate course of the Moneths.
1664 S. Pepys Diary 27 Sept. (1971) V. 281 My wife having..her months upon her, is gone to bed.
1694 W. Westmacott Θεολοβοτονολογια 183 Saffron..expelleth the Months and Child.
1826 Lancet 3 June 292/1 May not a woman who has missed her month conceive at any interval before the next period?
7. Now usually in plural. An indeterminate period of time approximating to an unspecified number of months; (hyperbolically) a long while.
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the world > time > duration > [noun] > long duration or lasting through time > a long time
seven daysOE
a while1297
dreichc1440
dreightc1450
yearsa1470
age1577
week1597
montha1616
patriarch's age1693
length1697
eternity1700
a month of Sundays1759
a week of Sundays1822
a week of Saturdays1831
dog's age1833
forever1833
while1836
aeon1880
donkey's years1916
light year1929
yonks1968
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. iii. 89 I haue to night dispatch'd sixteene businesses, a moneths length a peece. View more context for this quotation
1690 T. Shadwell Amorous Bigotte Epilogue You shall for Months your amourous glances cast, And bring it but to Scandal at the last.
1713 E. Ward Hist. Grand Rebellion II. 409 Exeter City, which for Months had been Besieg'd, and now was much distress'd within.
1770 T. Gray Let. 25 Nov. in Corr. (1971) III. 1151 If a mortification does not come to release her, [she] may lie in this agony for months.
1819 P. B. Shelley Cenci iii. i. 48 What you in one night squander were enough For months!
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 455 Beriberi often originates in ships miles and months away from the land.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 17 Feb. 11/1 Certain prophets were busy over ‘Mummies’ months ago.
1993 Esquire Oct. 143/1 Pulling off a sweet hustle that took months to rig up could be worse than blowing it.
Phrases
P1. † d. month about: for or during alternate months. Obsolete.† e. from the month: from the time when a woman confined after childbirth is no longer attended by a monthly nurse (see monthly nurse n. at monthly adj. and n. Compounds). Cf. sense 4b. Obsolete.
a. from month to (also †into) month: continuously or without interruption, from one month to the next; (also) every month, monthly.
ΚΠ
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 94 Emoroidez..come..circuitely fro moneþ into moneþ.
1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued viii. sig. Hii Thy money eke from month to month.
1688 M. Waite Epist. Women's Yearly Meeting 9 Let the record be kept from month to month, and from year to year, of the Lord's dealing with us.
1791 H. Downman Poems to Thespia 38 They are not doom'd to pour the fruitless tear..And pine from month to month.
1821–2 W. Wordsworth Eccl. Sonnets iii. xxxvii. 8 Had we, like them, endured Sore stress of apprehension,..From month to month trembling and unassured.
1996 Which? Guide to starting your own Business (new ed.) ii. 33 Bill knows that his overheads will vary from month to month;..so it is legitimate to average them over 12 months.
b. month after month: every month in an indefinite sequence; for a number of consecutive months; (hyperbolically) continuously, without respite.
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the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [adverb]
monthly1463
month after montha1591
per mensem1600
month by month1611
a1591 H. Smith Serm. (1866) I. 169 Month after month he is all one.
1662 Duchess of Newcastle Matrimonial Trouble ii. i. viii, in Playes Written 463 My greater wonder is, that when you do fast, eating now and then a bit, week after week, nay moneth after moneth, yet you are not so lean.
1776 W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad 425 O'er India's seas the young Almeyda pours..Month after month before his prows are driven.
1818 P. B. Shelley Marenghi xiii. 3 He hid himself, and hunger, toil, and cold, Month after month endured.
1908 J. Gunn We of Never-never xii. 146 He travels day after day and month after month, practically alone.
1998 Independent 1 Apr. (City Plus section) 4/3 If there's something about your neighbour that is irritating you have no choice but to put up with them day after day, month after month.
c. month by month: in each successive month; monthly without ceasing. Also: one month at a time.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [adverb]
monthly1463
month after montha1591
per mensem1600
month by month1611
1611 Bible (King James) 1 Chron. xxvii. 1 Nowe the children of Israel..which came in, and went out moneth by moneth, throughout all the moneths of the yeare. View more context for this quotation
1656 H. Phillippes Purchasers Pattern (ed. 3) i. 89 Moneth by moneth, nay, day by day.
1714 A. Pope Chaucer's Wife of Bath in Wks. (1736) III. 177 Thus Day by Day, and Month by Month we past; It pleas'd the Lord to take my Spouse at last.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 76 So month by month the noise about their doors..made The nightly wirer of their innocent hare Falter before he took it.
1894 J. A. Owen & G. S. Boulger (title) The country month by month.
1985 Fiscal Stud. Aug. 7 Employers calculate benefit week by week or month by month as is the case with PAYE income tax.
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the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [adverb] > during or occurring every specific number of months
month about1749
bi-monthly1846
biannually1882
semestrially1891
1749 Hist. Pelham, Mass. (1898) 224 Said Scole is to be Keept, Month about at each Plase.
1771 O. Goldsmith Hist. Eng. II. 74 Entrusted with the charge of guarding him month about.
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1808 Times 26 Feb. 4/4 A Widow..[wants] to take the Care of a Child from the month.
f. month in (and) month out: every month for a number of successive months; continuously.
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1835 New-Eng. Mag. June 445 With his topsail-yard ‘sharp up,’ and his helm ‘hard down,’ he [sc. a whaler] rides out the storm, month in and month out.
1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 125 Men who live month in month out in a narrow territory, bounded on the east by the forward firing line.
1941 B. Miller Farewell Leicester Square viii. 159 He began to appear month in, month out, in the same suit, glossy of cuff, degenerate of pocket.
2002 Kew Winter 50 (advt.) Now you can continue your language study month in and month out with..internationally acclaimed audiomagazines.
P2. this day month (†day): (on) the corresponding day of the following calendar month; a month from today. Cf. month day n. at Compounds 1b. Now rare.
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a1500 Lancelot of Laik (1870) 570 His purpos is, or this day moneth day..to assay Your lond.
1526 Selkirk Burgh Court f. 120 To produce thair evidens this day monetht in plane court.
1668 S. Pepys Diary 11 Mar. (1976) IX. 112 About 4 a-clock the House rises and hath..put off the debate to this day month.
1875 R. Browning Inn Album i. 190 Ask me, this day month, how I feel my luck!
1900 Overland Monthly Apr. 310 /2 If you can get that lumber..into Carson City by this day month,..I'll give you a hundred dollars.
P3. a month of Sundays: see Sunday n. and adv. Phrases 2.
Compounds
C1.
a.
month-end n. and adj.
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1389 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 38 (MED) Þese ferthinges shal be gaderid at eueri moneth ende.
1929 Times 30 Oct. 14/2 The corporations would..withdraw funds from the call money market to meet their month-end requirements.
2000 A. McKenzie in J. Adams et al. Girls' Night In 288 And like a poor worker looking forward to her pay-cheque, she waited for his visits, living from month-end to month-end.
month-old adj.
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1845 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Mar. 284/2 [Santa Ana] unhoused the month-old Cabinet at Harrisburg, and burned the place.
1999 Folkestone Herald 7 Jan. 25/2 They can surely bore the month-old pants off even their most die-hard fans.
b. † month-book n. Obsolete an account book intended to contain the accounts for one month.† month courses n. Obsolete [perhaps simply a misprint for ‘monthly’] monthly menstrual discharge.† month day n. Obsolete (a) a stipulated or allowed period of a month's duration; esp. in within a month day (cf. day n. 18); (b) the corresponding day of the following calendar month.† month-man n. Obsolete English regional = month's man n. at Compounds 2.† month-nurse n. Obsolete = monthly nurse n. at monthly adj. and n. Compounds.
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1678 J. Vernon Compl. Compting-house 37 A Bill-Book, to see what Bills you have to pay, and what to receive; this is called a Month-Book.
?1768–9 Encycl. Brit. (1771) I. 619/2 The design of this Bill-book, or Month-book, is to furnish a merchant with a ready way of knowing the time when bills or other debts become payable to or by him.
month-brother n. rare either of the early, tempestuous months of spring (March, April), personified as ‘brothers’ of the milder ‘sister’ month of May (only in Gerard Manley Hopkins).
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a1889 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 37 A sister, born for each strong month-brother.
month clock n. a clock which needs winding once a month.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > other types of clock
watch-clock1592
German clock1598
quarter clocka1631
wheel-clock1671
table clocka1684
month clock1712
astronomical clock1719
musical clock1721
repeater1725
Tompion1727
pulling clock1733
regulator1735
eight-day clock1741
regulator clock1750
French clock1757
repetition clock1765
day clock1766
striker1778
chiming clock1789
cuckoo-clock1789
night clock1823
telltale1827
carriage clock1828
fly-clock1830
steeple clock1830
telltale clock1832
skeleton clock1842
telegraph clock1842
star clock1850
weight-clock1850
prison clock1853
crystal clock1854
pillar scroll top clock1860
sheep's-head clock1872
presentation clock1875
pillar clock1880
stop-clock1881
Waterbury1882
calendar-clock1884
ting-tang clock1884
birdcage clock1886
sheep's head1887
perpetual calendar1892
bracket clock1894
Act of Parliament clock1899
cartel clock1899
banjo-clock1903
master clock1904
lantern clock1913
time clock1919
evolutionary clock1922
lancet clock1922
atomic clock1927
quartz clock1934
clock radio1946
real-time clock1953
organ clock1956
molecular clock1974
travelling clock2014
1712 Boston News-let. 3 Nov. 2/2 (advt.) Mr. Joseph Essex..performs all sorts of New Clocks and Watch works, viz. 30 hour Clocks, Week Clocks, Month Clocks, [etc.].
1962 E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches Pl. 7 (caption) French month clock with skeleton frame.
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the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > menses > [noun]
monthlyeOE
menstruuma1398
flowerc1400
menstrue?a1425
women's evilc1450
menstruosity1503
courses1563
monthly time1564
reds1568
month courses1574
purgation1577
women's courses1577
month1578
menses1597
menstruals1598
flourish1606
nature1607
fluors1621
mois1662
period1690
catamenia1764
turn1819
visitor1980
1574 T. Hill Profitable Arte of Gardening (rev. ed.) ii. xxxv. 83 The water drunke, doth stay the excesse of the moneth [1568 monethly] courses.
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the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > period of one months duration
month daya1393
month's day1449
the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > specific day of a month
nonesOE
firstc1400
month's day1449
last1528
penultimate1529
third1530
penult1537
penultim1538
month day1546
tenth1580
ninth1589
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. 776 He his trowthe leith to borwe To come, if that he live may, Ayein withinne a Monthe day.
a1500 (a1450) Generides (Trin. Cambr.) 1890 To muster withynne a moneth day.
1546 T. Langley tr. P. Vergil Abridgem. Notable Worke v. iv. f. 103v Thei vse commonly not to be purified afore the moneth day.
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > [noun] > harvest-folk > harvest worker
cocker1392
month's man1742
month-man1794
1794 Ann. Agric. 22 212 Harvest-men, (month-men) 4l. per month.
month name n. the name of any one of the calendar months.
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1892 Harper's Mag. Dec. 12/1 The 12 ‘stems’ or month names multiplied by the 10 branches or numerals make 120 years.
1998 D. E. Duncan Calendar vi. 111 Month names included the third month, Solmonath, the month of offering cakes.
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the world > health and disease > healing > healer > nurse > [noun] > post-natal nurse
monthly nurse1798
month-nurse1810
1810 Countess Granville Lett. (1894) I. 18 My month nurse, a treasure, and the most respectable of dames.
1849 Littell's Living Age 31 Mar. 600/1 What month-nurses term ‘terribly troubled with wind’.
C2. Compounds with month's.† month's day n. Obsolete (a) = month's mind n. 1a; (b) = month day n. (a) at Compounds 1b.† month's end n. Obsolete English regional a religious celebration to commemorate a deceased person, held one month from the date of the funeral (cf. month's mind n.).† month's man n. Obsolete an agricultural labourer employed at higher than usual wages for one month during harvest.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > specific day of a month
nonesOE
firstc1400
month's day1449
last1528
penultimate1529
third1530
penult1537
penultim1538
month day1546
tenth1580
ninth1589
the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > period of one months duration
month daya1393
month's day1449
the world > life > death > obsequies > commemorative ceremonies > [noun] > religious or mass > one month after death
month's day1449
month mind1450
month's mind1466
thirty-day1479
monthly mind1649
trental1659
1449 in W. H. Godfrey Sussex Wills (1938) III. 207 Every day from my passyng owte of this world unto my monethes day.
c1526 in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 226 As I understand, ye are contented to bide the order of me & others,..so that an end wear maid before months day next.
1542 in Sussex Archaeol. Coll. (1869) 21 201 Will of T. Delve: At his burial x masses... At his month's day a cast of bread, two pounds of beef, and a penny.
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1863 Monthly Packet Dec. 683 In many a parish, the only occasions on which the church is well filled is when one of these ‘Month's Ends’ (as they are called, whatever time may have elapsed since the funeral) gathers together a train of mourners.
1898 Longman's Mag. Apr. 546 To the little whitewashed church..village mourners still go dutifully a month after a funeral to keep..‘the month's end’.
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > [noun] > harvest-folk > harvest worker
cocker1392
month's man1742
month-man1794
1742 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Aug. ii. 8 He commonly employed six Months-Men every Harvest.
1804 C. Smith Conversat. I. 191 But what is a monthsman?.. One who is hired by the farmer, to work for him for a month, during harvest.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† monthn.2
Scottish. Obsolete.
1. A high hill, a mountain; an area of high or hilly ground.
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the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > hill or mountain > [noun]
mounteOE
hillc1000
fella1400
month1477
range1601
morro1826
jebel1844
1477 in C. P. Stewart Hist. Mem. Stewarts of Fothergill (1870) 74 Fourtj merkis worth of landis..liand on the south half of the monthis.
1520 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) I. 201 All kynd of monthis..hes mercheis thre, Heidrowm, watter, and monthis bord.
1543 ( Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 236 Betwixt the mounthes and the water of Tay, Which some do call mountaignes in our language.
1686 in J. R. N. Macphail Papers Sir William Fraser (1924) 159 That place of the month or hill.
1849 H. Melville Mardi I. lxxvii. 272 From high over the month of this grotto, sloped a long arbor, supported by great blocks of stone.
2. = month grass n. at Compounds.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > cotton-grass plant or flower
moss-crop?c1475
fen-down1495
cotton-grass1597
silk grass1727
moor-palm1788
bog-down1794
moss1798
cotton-rush1826
lucky minnie's oo1866
cotton-sedge1872
moor-silk1879
month1881
month grass1881
1881 Trans. Highland & Agric. Soc. Scotl. 13 163 The greater portion [of the tops] being covered with heather, mixed here and there with month or mosses.
1887 Trans. Highland & Agric. Soc. Scotl. 19 160 These grasses—known in some parts of the north of Scotland as ‘month’ or draw moss—constitute the principal food of hill stocks.
Compounds
month grass n. cotton grass, Eriophorum vaginatum.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > cotton-grass plant or flower
moss-crop?c1475
fen-down1495
cotton-grass1597
silk grass1727
moor-palm1788
bog-down1794
moss1798
cotton-rush1826
lucky minnie's oo1866
cotton-sedge1872
moor-silk1879
month1881
month grass1881
1881 Trans. Highland & Agric. Soc. Scotl. 13 162 Almost to the tops the heather is mixed with ‘month’ or ‘moss’ grasses.
1888 Scots Mag. Jan. 108 The viviparous fescue-grass and the ‘month-grass’ supply the scanty herbage which covers their elevations.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1eOE
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