day

noun, verb — 13 senses

day

noun

US, UK /ˈdeɪ̯/ · /ˈdeː/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English day, from Old English dæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dag, from Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“day”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). Cognates Cognate with Scots day, dei, dey, dy (“day”), Yola daie, dei, dey, die (“day”), North Frisian dai, doi, däi (“day”), Saterland Frisian Dai (“day”), West Frisian dei (“day”), Bavarian Dåg, Tåg (“day”), Central Franconian Daach (“day”), Cimbrian tag, tage (“day”), Dutch dag, dagge (“day”), German Tag (“day”), German Low German Dag, Dagg (“day”), Limburgish Daach, Daag (“day”), Luxembourgish Dag (“day”), Mòcheno ta (“day”), Vilamovian taog (“day”), West Flemish dag (“day”), Yiddish טאָג (tog, “day”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish dag (“day”), Faroese and Icelandic dagur (“day”), Norn dagh (“day”), Crimean Gothic tag (“day”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags, “day”), Vandalic *dag- (“day”); also Breton deviñ (“to burn”), Cornish dewi (“to kindle”), Irish daigh (“fire, flame”), dóigh (“to burn, singe; sear, scorch”), Manx daah (“to scorch, singe; to cauterize”), Scottish Gaelic dòth (“scorch, singe; burn”), Welsh deifio (“to scorch, singe”), Latin foveō (“to warm, keep warm”), Greek τέφρα (téfra, “ash, cinder”), Albanian dhez, ndez (“to kindle, light”), Old Prussian dagis (“summer”), Armenian հրդեհ (hrdeh, “fire”), Sanskrit दह् (dah, “to burn, consume by fire, scorch, roast”).

12 senses
  1. 1The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.
  2. 2A period of time equal or almost equal to a full…
  3. 3The time taken for the Sun to seem to be in the same…
  4. 4The time taken for the Earth to make a full rotation…
  5. 5A 24-hour period beginning at 6am or sunrise.
  6. 6A period of time between two set times which mark the…
  7. 7The rotational period of a planet.
  8. 8The part of a day period which one spends at one’s job…
  9. 9An observance lasting for a day, such as an annual holiday.
  10. 10A day set aside for a specified activity.
  11. 11A specified time or period; time, considered with…
  12. 12A period of contention of a day or less.
1

The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.

  • day and night;  I work at night and sleep during the day.
  • The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams,[…].1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
2

A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long.

  • Holonyms: week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond
  • Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond < minute < hectosecond < kilosecond < hour
1 more example
  • I've been here for two days and a bit.
3

The time taken for the Sun to seem to be in the same place in the sky twice; a solar day.

4

The time taken for the Earth to make a full rotation about its axis with respect to the fixed stars; a sidereal day or stellar day.

5

Climatology, Meteorology, Natural sciences Informal A 24-hour period beginning at 6am or sunrise.

  • Your 8am forecast: The high for the day will be 30 and the low, before dawn, will be 10.
6

A period of time between two set times which mark the beginning and the end of day in a calendar, such as from midnight to the following midnight or (Judaism) from nightfall to the following nightfall.

  • The day begins at midnight.
  • Monday is the first day of the week in many countries of the world.
7

Astronomy, Natural sciences The rotational period of a planet.

  • A day on Mars is slightly over 24 hours.
8

The part of a day period which one spends at one’s job, school, etc.

  • I worked two days last week.
  • “[…]if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery.[…]”1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
9

An observance lasting for a day, such as an annual holiday.

  • Christmas Day
  • Remembrance Day
10

A day set aside for a specified activity.

  • leg day, moving day, observation day
11

A specified time or period; time, considered with reference to the existence or prominence of a person or thing; age; time; era.

  • every dog has its day; in that day; back in the day; in those days
  • This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.[…]Indeed, all his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had come from a day when skin garments made the proper garb of men.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
2 more examples
  • If they had no more food than they had had in Jones's day, at least they did not have less.1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
  • In his senior year, he had run across an old '66 Chevy Super Sport headed for the junkyard, bought it for a song, and overhauled it with his dad's help, turning it into the big red muscle car it was back in its day.2011, Kat Martin, A Song for My Mother^([200]), Vanguard Press, →ISBN:
12

A period of contention of a day or less.

  • The day belonged to the Allies.
Synonyms
day, yearday
Derived terms
639 terms0-day, 10-day measles, 24-hour day, 3-day measles, 400-day clock, 7-day fever, 7-day measles, 90-day wonder, a broken clock is right twice a day, access day, account day, ace in a day, a cold day in hell, a cold day in July, a day after the fair, a day late and a dollar short, ahemeral day, Alaska Day, Alien Day, all-day, all day, all-day breakfast, all-day sucker, all in a day's work, all one's born days, an apple a day, an apple a day keeps the doctor at bay, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, angel day, another day, another dollar, another day in paradise, any day, any day now, any day of the week, any day of the week and twice on Sunday, any day of the week and twice on Sundays, as the day is long, a stopped clock is right twice a day, at the end of the day, away day, away-day, away-day girl, a year and a day, back in day, back in the day, bad old days, Baker day, banyan day, basket days, Bataan Day, b-day, beach day, beginning of day, be on days, big day, bin day, birth-day, black day, black-letter day, black letter day, Bloomsday, Bonifacio Day, borrowed days, borrowing days, boxing day, Break O'Day, break of day, bridge day, bridging day, business day, button day, by day, by the day, cake day, call it a day, call it half a day, can do this all day, canicular days, career day, carry the day, catch of the day, centiday, chair days, cheat day, Chewidden Day, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, clear as day, cold day in Hell, contango day, continuation day, cooling-off day, could go all day, count one's days, dage, daily, dan day, darty, dawn of a new day, day after, day after day, day-after recall test, day after tomorrow, day-age, day-age creationism, day-age creationist, day-ager, day and age, day-and-date, day and night, day at the beach, day beacon, daybeam, daybed, day bed, day before yesterday, day-biter, day-blind, day blind, day blindness, day-blindness, day boarder, dayboat, day book, daybook, dayboy, day boy, daybreak, day-break, day by day, day cab, day care, day care center, daycarer, daycase, day case, daycation, day center, daycentre, day centre, day-clean, daycoach, day coal, daycore, day count convention, day cream, day-dawn, day dot, daydream, day drink, day-drink, day-drinking, day-ee, dayer, day fine, day-fine, dayflower, dayfly, dayflying, day for night, dayful, day gecko, dayger, daygirl, Day-Glo, dayglow, day gone by, dayhike, day hospital, day in court, day in, day out, day in the sun, dayjamas, day job, day labor, day laborer, day labour, day labourer, day lark, daylength, dayless, day letter, day level, daylife, daylight, daylike, daylily, day lily, daylong, day-man, day man, daymare, daymark, daymeal, day-moth, day name, day-net, day-neutral, day-nighter, day nursery, day of days, day of doom, day off, day of judgement, day of judgment, day of the rope, Day of Valor, day-old, day one, day order, day or night, day out, day-over-day, day pack, daypack, daypart, day patient, day-peep, day pupil, day release, day residue, day return, dayrise, day room, dayroom, days, daysack, days ago, daysail, daysailer, daysailing, daysailor, day-scholar, day school, day shape, dayshield, day shift, dayside, day-sight, daysight, day sign, daysleeper, dayslong, daysman, days of wine and roses, days of yore, dayspring, days sales outstanding, daystar, daysworth, day the music died, daytime, day time, day-time, day-to-day, day to day, day-to-night, day trade, daytrade, day-trade, day-trader, day trader, daytrader, day trading, daytrip, day-trip, day trip, day tripper, day-tripper, daywalk, daywalker, dayward, day-watch, daywear, daywork, day work, day-work, day-worker, dayworker, day worker, day-year principle, D-day, deathday, deciday, degree day, degree—day, dish of the day, ditch day, dog-day, dog day cicada, dog days, don't give up the day job, don't give up your day job, don't quit your day job, doona day, double day, dress-down day, due day, dumping day, early day motion, early days, Earth day, E-day, eight-day clock, eight days a week, Ember day, end of day, end of the day, end one's days, even a stopped clock is right twice a day, every day, every-day, everyday, every day is a school day, every day of the week, every day of the week and twice on Sunday, every day of the week and twice on Sundays, every dog has his day, every dog has its day, every dog must have his day, every dog must have its day, evil day, Evolution Day, eye of day, fair as the day, fat day, father-daughter day, fifth-day fits, first-day, First-day, first-day cover, first day cover, first notice day, first order of the day, fish and company stink after three days, five-a-day, five-day fever, five-day week, for days, forever and a day, four-day week, four-day weekend, free day, one day to the next, full-body day, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gag-a-day, gameday, game day, gangday, garbage day, give the time of day, glory days, go about one's day, God be with the days, golden days, good day, good old days, gym day, hackday, haggaday, halcyon days, half day, happy days, happy day scenario, have a nice day, have a nice day syndrome, have had its day, have had one's day, have had one's day under the sun, have seen better days, have seen one's day, heat day, heigh-day, highday, high days and holidays, holiday, holy day, holy day of obligation, honest as the day, hump day, I don't have all day, if a day, if one is a day, I haven't got all day, in all one's born days, Independence Day, independence day, in one's born days, in one's day, INSET day, in someone's day, interday, International Day of the Girl, International Day of the Girl Child, in the cold light of day, in this day and age, in three days, intraday, it is not every day, it's early days, it's not every day, judgement day, judgment day, judicial day, Julian day, kiloday, laced day-moth, Lady-day, last day, late in the day, latter-day, Latter-day Saint, law day, lawful day, lay day, leap day, leg day, length of days, liberation day, light day, live to fight another day, Lord's day, Lord's Day, lunar day, make a day of it, make one's day, make someone's day, man day, man-day, market day, match day, May-day sweep, M-day, mean solar day, me day, members' day, mental health day, middle day, modern-day, muck-up day, mufti day, multiday, my day, naked as the day one entered the world, naked as the day one was born, name day, name the day, natal day, national day, National Heroes Day, neck day, next-day, night-and-day, night and day, nine days wonder, nine days' wonder, nine day wonder, nine-day wonder, ninety days, ninety-day wonder, Ninoy Aquino Day, nonday, not look a day over, now-a-days, now a days, Octave Day of Easter, off day, oh my days, old days, on a day-to-day basis, one-day, one-day cricket, one-day international, one-day match, one of these days, one of those days, one's born days, one's days are numbered, open day, Orange Shirt Day, order of the day, pajama day, paper day, pass the time of day, pasture day moth, pay day, ped day, peep o' day, peep of day, personal day, person-day, picture day, plain as day, playday, POETS day, poets' day, poet's day, poets day, post day, present-day, privilege day, push day, quarter day, quarter-day, queen for a day, rag day, rain day, rebirthday, recycle day, red day, red flag day, red-letter, red letter day, red-letter day, return day, Rome was not built in a day, Rome wasn't built in a day, Rome wasn't burned in a day, rue the day, rule the day, running day, Sabba-day, Sabbath-day, Sabber-day, safe day, salad days, same-day, same day lay, same-day lay, save for a rainy day, save something for a rainy day, save the day, scanday, school day, schoolday, Scout Official for a Day, sea day, seaday, sea-day, second day cover, the day, the light of day, seize the day, seven-day, seven-day wonder, Seventh-day, Seventh-day Adventism, Seventh-day Adventist, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seward's Day, ship's days, show day, sidereal day, six bob a day tourist, skier day, skip day, slow news day, snow day, solar day, some day, somedays, some days a diamond, some days a stone, speech day, sports day, Star Wars Day, stellar day, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, summer's day, sunny-day flooding, sweat like a nigger on election day, tag day, take one day at a time, teacher planning day, teacher work day, tenday, term day, that'll be the day, the day before, the last day, the next day, these days, this day six monthsone of these fine days, those were the days, three day eventing, three-day fever, three-day measles, three days ago, three day sickness, three-day sickness, three-day weekend, ticket day, tide day, time of day, today, to-day, today is a good day to die, tomorrow is another day, to one's dying day, totally kind day, totally nice day, to the day, to this day, trash day, twelfth-day cake, twelfth day cake, twenty-four hours a day, two-a-day, two days after tomorrow, Twosday, until one's dying day, vacation day, varnishing day, V-E Day, Victoria Day, V-J Day, Waffle Day, wake up one day, washday, washing day, weather day, wedding-day, weekday, week-day, we haven't got all day, what a lovely day, what day is it today, win the day, without day, woman-day, workaday, work-a-day, work day, yard trash day, yard-trash day, yearday, yesterday, you learn something new every day, zero-day, zero day
Related terms
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, sol
Hypernyms
period
Hyponyms
122 termsApple Gifting Day, arm day, Ayurveda Day, back day, bad hair day, Bastille Day, birthday, Boxing Day, brain day, bridal day, calendar day, Canada Day, cardio day, chest day, Christmas Day, civil day, Commitment Day, core day, Corregidor Day, day game, Day of Atonement, Day of Judgment, day of reckoning, day of rest, Days of Awe, days of grace, day star, D-Day, dollar day, doomsday, duvet day, Easter Day, feast day, field day, Flag Day, flag day, foreday, Friday, fun-day, fun day, Gay Freedom Day, Going Home Day, heyday, holiday, holy day, holy day of obligation, I-Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Israel Day on Fifth, Jerusalem Day, judgment day, laundry day, Liberation Day, lifeday, loveday, lower body day, May Day, mental health day, midday, Monday, Mothering Day, name day, Native American Day, New Year's Day, noonday, one day, Patriot Day, payday, polling day, push day, Q-Day, Quds Day, Quitter's Day, race day, raceday, rainy day, rest day, saint's day, Saturday, scambling day, Seipp's day gecko, sick day, solar day, someday, St. Andrew's Day, St. David's Day, St. George's Day, St. John's Day, St. Patrick's Day, St. Pattie's Day, St. Patty's Day, St. Stephen's Day, Sunday, synodic day, the other day, Thursday, total body day, trading day, Trafalgar Day, Tuesday, Twelfth Day, twenty-four hour day, upper body day, Victoria day, wedding day, Wednesday, weekday, workday, working day, workout day, Wren Day, anniversary, deathday, festival, month's mind, twelvemonth's mind, unbirthday, year's mind, mufti day, personal day, school day, washday
Holonyms
week, fortnight, halfmonth, month, year
Meronyms
morning, midday, noon, afternoon, evening, night, midnight, postmidnight hours, daytime, nighttime, twilight, dawn, dusk, hour, minute, second

day

verb
Etymology

Inherited from Middle English day, from Old English dæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dag, from Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“day”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). Cognates Cognate with Scots day, dei, dey, dy (“day”), Yola daie, dei, dey, die (“day”), North Frisian dai, doi, däi (“day”), Saterland Frisian Dai (“day”), West Frisian dei (“day”), Bavarian Dåg, Tåg (“day”), Central Franconian Daach (“day”), Cimbrian tag, tage (“day”), Dutch dag, dagge (“day”), German Tag (“day”), German Low German Dag, Dagg (“day”), Limburgish Daach, Daag (“day”), Luxembourgish Dag (“day”), Mòcheno ta (“day”), Vilamovian taog (“day”), West Flemish dag (“day”), Yiddish טאָג (tog, “day”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish dag (“day”), Faroese and Icelandic dagur (“day”), Norn dagh (“day”), Crimean Gothic tag (“day”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags, “day”), Vandalic *dag- (“day”); also Breton deviñ (“to burn”), Cornish dewi (“to kindle”), Irish daigh (“fire, flame”), dóigh (“to burn, singe; sear, scorch”), Manx daah (“to scorch, singe; to cauterize”), Scottish Gaelic dòth (“scorch, singe; burn”), Welsh deifio (“to scorch, singe”), Latin foveō (“to warm, keep warm”), Greek τέφρα (téfra, “ash, cinder”), Albanian dhez, ndez (“to kindle, light”), Old Prussian dagis (“summer”), Armenian հրդեհ (hrdeh, “fire”), Sanskrit दह् (dah, “to burn, consume by fire, scorch, roast”).

1

Rare To spend a day (in a place).

  • I nighted and dayed in Damascus town[.]1885, Richard F. Burton, chapter XXIII, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume I, The Burton Club, page 233:
Related terms
Sabbath, calendar

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.