Midsummer Dayn.
/ˌmɪdsʌmə ˈdeɪ/, U.S. /ˈˌmɪdsəmər ˈdeɪ/ 1. (a) In the northern hemisphere: 24 June, the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, and one of the recognized quarter days in England and Wales. (b) Sometimes also: the day of the summer solstice (21 or 22 June in the northern hemisphere, and 21 or 22 December in the southern).
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the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > summer > midsummer > midsummer day or eve
Midsummer DaylOE
midsummer1530
witches' nighta1697
OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) iv. 44 Wið lifre sar genim on middesumeres dæg þa ylcan wyrte.]
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1131 Swa he ferde ham to his agen mynstre & þær wunode eall to mid sumer dæi.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 210 For þi ne schule ȝe beon..ihuslet inwið tweolf moneð [bute] fiftene siðen: Midwinter dei..Midsumerdei.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 10266 Alle þe bissopes..Þat ar missomer day in to this londe come.
c1450 (?c1425) St. Mary of Oignies ii. x, in Anglia (1885) 8 177 Fro þe annuncyacyone of oure lady vnto myssomer-daye.
1556 in J. G. Nichols Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 29 The mydsomer day followynge was his sonne crownyd Henry the viijth at Westmyster.
1613 F. Beaumont Knight of Burning Pestle in Fifty Comedies & Trag. (1679) i. i My valiant love will batter down Millions of Constables, and put to flight, Even that great Watch of Midsummer day at night.
1710 J. Addison Tatler No. 221. ⁋2 Upon Midsummer-Day last, as he was walking with me in the Fields.
1862 R. H. Patterson Ess. Hist. & Art 363 We are no bad risers in the morning, but we never saw the sun rise on Midsummer-day but once.
1956 R. Macaulay Towers of Trebizond xx. 224 The rent for the flat was also overdue, and the landlord's letters had gone on getting stiffer and colder ever since midsummer day.
1997 S. Leigh & S. Taylor Livery Companies (Corporation of London) 24 The Committee now consists of 24 liverymen,..and is appointed annually by Common Hall on Midsummer Day.
2. In form midsummer day. A day in midsummer.
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1801 J. Minshull Comic Opera ii. ii My midsummer days are almost gone, Fresh vigor'd youth I feel return.
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre I. xiii. 245 The length of the Midsummer days favoured my inclination to apply.
1920 E. Wharton Age of Innocence xxvi. 264 Four months had passed since the midsummer day that he and Madame Olenska had spent together.
1997 D. DeLillo Underworld 502 I was ready for this, hammering hard surfaces on some country road in the julepy haze of a midsummer day.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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