Day
Pronunciation
- enPR: dÄ, IPA: /deɪ/
- Rhymes: -eɪ
- Homophones: dey
Alternative forms
- daie archaic
Origin
From Middle English day, from Old English dæġ ("day"), from Proto-Germanic *dagaz ("day"), from Proto-Indo-European *dÊ°egÊ·Ê°- ("to burn"). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Dai ("day"), West Frisian dei ("day"), Dutch dag ("day"), Low German Dag ("day"), German Tag ("day"), Swedish and Danish dag ("day"), Icelandic dagur ("day"). Compare Albanian djeg ("to burn"), Lithuanian degti ("to burn"), Tocharian A tsäk-, Russian жечь, Sanskrit दाह (dÄha, "heat"), दहति (dahati, "to burn").
Latin diēs is a false cognate; it derives from from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- ("to shine").
Full definition of day
Noun
day
(plural days)- Any period of 24 hours.I've been here for 2 days and a bit.
- A period from midnight to the following midnight.The day begins at midnight.
- (astronomy) Rotational period of a planet (especially earth).A day on Mars is slightly over 24 hours.
- The part of a day period which one spends at one’s job, school, etc.I worked two days last week.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 7, “... 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. ...â€
- Part of a day period between sunrise and sunset where one enjoys daylight; daytime.day and night; I work at night and sleep during the day.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 8, 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, ….
- A specified time or period; time, considered with reference to the existence or prominence of a person or thing; age; time.Every dog has its day.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, 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.
- Orwell Animal Farm|6If they had no more food than they had had in Jones's day, at least they did not have less.
- A period of contention of a day or less.The day belonged to the Allies.