Sadie Hawkinsn.
/ˌseɪdɪ ˈhɔːkɪnz/, U.S. /ˌseɪdi ˈhɔkɪnz/, /ˌseɪdi ˈhɑkɪnz/ U.S.
Used attributively to designate a day when, in a reversal of traditional gender roles, women propose marriage to men, ask them out on dates, etc. More generally: designating any period or event, esp. a dance, in which women take the initiative in this way.The day, usually occurring in November, first gained popularity among university students and was inspired by a Li'l Abner comic strip in which a race is held to enable women, including the spinster Sadie Hawkins, to catch a husband. The Sadie Hawkins Day Race became a yearly feature of the cartoon.
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the world > time > particular time > an anniversary > [noun] > anniversary of specific things
Gunpowder day1613
regnal day1877
Columbus Day1892
diamond jubilee1897
Victoria Day1901
Gallipoli Day1915
Sadie Hawkins1938
1937 ‘Al Capp’ in Boston Globe 13 Nov. 18/6 But—(Gulp!) Ah Jes' Rec'lected!—Nex' Week is Sadie Hawkin's Day!—Ah G-Gotta Go Back!..A Strange Mountain Custom—‘Sadie Hawkin's Day’.]
1938 Amarillo (Texas) Globe 7 Nov. 7/2 There'll be a ‘Sadie Hawkins Day’ dance at the Nat on November 16th.
1938 Amarillo (Texas) Globe 16 Nov. 5/2 The Sadie Hawkins dance..tonight at the Nat is not a costume affair. Just a regular ‘backward’ dance.
1939 Abilene (Texas) Reporter News 25 Jan. 5 During Sadie Hawkins week, girls of the college will date the boys. They will ask for the dates, furnish the transportation and call for the boyfriends, and moreover bear the expense.
1941 Sun (Baltimore) 3 Nov. 15/2 Rulman also promised a free marriage to women who catch a man in the Sadie Hawkins footrace.
1952 Sun (Baltimore) 28 Feb. 32/2 The dean..was the only man to get away in the Sadie Hawkins Day race this afternoon.
1970 Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Courier 10 Apr. 10/2 I don't like the idea of girls paying unless..it's a Sadie Hawkins dance.
1999 R. Cecil In Search of Great Dead iii. 53 She asked me to do the cha cha at our eighth grade Sadie Hawkins dance.
2001 E. Chin Purchasing Power iv. 109 In the mall they chase boys as if every day were Sadie Hawkins Day.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1938