Day Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘night’ and now look at ‘day’.

Day-to-day, meaning ‘daily’, has been known since early Saxon times, although today we would use day-by-day and we have since the late 14th century.

All day meaning ‘all the time’ dates from the 14th century.

Nobody described a day from work as ‘a day off’ until 1883.

The Beatles may have released Day Tripper in 1966, but the term had been used since 1897.

Nowadays may be perceived as a fairly modern term, and yet it has been recorded for at least eight centuries.

All in a day’s work dates from around 1820.

While it may seem to be as much a list of song titles, these are idioms, and next is Those Were the Days, first seen in 1907 and a Paul McCartney song recorded by Mary Hopkin in 1969.

Buddy Holly recorded That’ll be the Day as Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956, and as Buddy Holly and the Crickets the following year. This is not long after the first record of the phrase, in 1941.

Nobody called it a day until 1919, although earlier we had been calling it a half day since 1838.

One of These Days, a 1971 track from Pink Floyd, dates from the late 15th century.

Nobody had one of those days for the first time in 1936. And in 2002 Whitney Houston recorded One of Those Days

Daydreams have been recorded since the 1680s.

Daymares, ie nightmares while awake, have been written about since 1737.

May Day has been celebrated throughout Europe to mark the opening of the season of flowers and fruit. May Day is marked on the First of May, another song, this released in 1969 by the Bee Gees.

No child was put in daycare until 1943.

Boxing Day is the first weekday after Christmas (you can’t have Boxing Day on a Sunday) is first spoken of in 1809, although the custom giving its name is certainly much older.

Quarter Days – Lady Day on March 25th; Midsummer Day on June 24th, Michaelmas Day on September 29th, and Christmas Day on December 25th – mark the four dates when contracts and leases begin or expire in England. Scotland marks the same days as the pre-Christian calendar of Candlemas, Whitsunday, Lammas, and Martinmas.

The present day has been spoken of since 18970.

Play days, now associated with children, has been said to be a day exempt from work since around 1600.

Latterday is a term dating from 1842, this taken directly from the Jesus Christ Church of Latterday Saints in 1830.