middayn.
/ˌmɪdˈdeɪ/, U.S. /ˈˌmɪdˈˌdeɪ/ 1.
a. The middle of the day; the time when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, noon. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > noon or midday > [noun]
noontideeOE
middayOE
overnoonOE
noontimeOE
noona1225
undern13..
high noon1370
undern-tide1387
meridianc1390
merionc1390
meridiec1392
midoverunderna1400
high dayc1425
noon season1461
nooninga1500
noonday1535
midnoon1580
mid-seasona1616
M1741
noon-mark1842
noon1852
sun-hot1894
OE On Length of Shadow (Tiber.) in T. O. Cockayne Leechdoms, Wortcunning, & Starcraft (1866) III. 218 On þone twelftan dæg byð seo sceadu to underne & to none xxv fota & to middæge xxii.
?a1200 ( tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Harl. 6258B) cxxv. 112 Nim þa wyrt on ærne morȝen oþþer to middæȝe [OE Vitell. to middan dæge].
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 125 Alswa wel onbuten mid-niht alswa on mid-daiȝ.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 21 Abute middei, hwa se mei..þenche o godes rode.
c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 151 Bi þat hit was middai hiȝ, Floriz was þe brigge niȝ.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 5189 Miday passed & none cam.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 95v (MED) He schal drinke þe same drinke at middaie & at euen also.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 322 Sich melody, myd-day ne morne, As was maide thore.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. AAiiv The light of the mornynge and the light of the myddaye,..is all of one nature.
1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. 179 They are like to men compassed & couered with darknes at Midday.
1612 J. Donne Second Anniuersarie 43 in First Anniuersarie Whose twilights were more cleare, then our mid day.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 112 Ere mid-day arriv'd In Eden. View more context for this quotation
a1732 F. Atterbury Serm. Several Occas. (1734) I. 184 Had he [sc. Jesus] appeared at Mid-day to all the People, yet all the People would not have believed in him.
1838 H. H. Milman in E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xv. 380 (note) The received notion, that the sun concealed at midday was a sinister presage.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe IV. vii. 505 Her letters..were written in the mid-day of Louis's reign.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. vi. 42 The sun at mid-day shines down the glacier.
1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood xiii The church was always clean and ready for me after about mid-day.
1910 W. De Morgan Affair of Dishonour vii. 87 That he should, simply from an idle indulgence of laziness, lie sluggard-wise till near mid-day.
1951 E. Templeton Island of Desire (1952) i. xii. 101 He never ate more than one course at midday when he was working.
1981 M. West Clowns of God iii. 67 When he left the Vatican it was a quarter to midday.
1995 K. Atkinson Behind Scenes at Museum (1996) i. 30 The sun stands at mid-day, white-hot with anger.
b. As a count noun: an occurrence of midday; a period at the middle of the day.
ΚΠ
1882 P. H. Hayne Poems 315 Dawns blush, and mid-days burn, 'till..We pause bewildered, yearning for the sun.
1942 W. Stevens Coll. Poems (1954) 257 Sometimes at sleepy mid-days it succeeds.
1945 Ecology 26 79/1 When the middays were warm, not many squirrels were out.
1993 M. Angelou Wouldn't take Nothing for my Journey Now iv. 24 On balmy spring days, blistering summer noons, and cold, wet, and wintry middays, Annie never disappointed her customers.
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society > faith > worship > canonical hours > sext (noon) > [noun]
middayOE
midday songOE
sextc1450
OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 218 Sexta, middæg.
OE Ælfric's Colloquy (1991) 44 Post haec cantauimus sextam : æfter þisum we sungan middæg.
c1300 St. Brendan (Harl.) 225 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 225 Þe foweles sunge ek here matyns..& siþþe also prime, & vnderne siþþe & middai.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure 1587 (MED) He sall haue maundement tomorne or myddaye be roungen.
a1500 Rule Minoresses in W. W. Seton Two 15th Cent. Franciscan Rules (1914) 105 (MED) Also þe orisouns at þe houres of þe day, of prime, of mydday, & of none, schul be determinyd vnder þe tune of chapiteris.
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the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > South > [noun]
southlandOE
southc1175
southc1300
southwarda1350
meridianc1386
middaya1425
meridional1550
southwards?1574
south'ard1624
a1425 (a1382) Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) 1 Kings x. 2 Thow shalt fynde two men byside the sepulcre of Rachel in the coostis of Beniamyn in the mydday [a1425 L.V. in myddai; L. in meridie].
1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde ii. i This place Aaron is named the ryght mydday as she that is sette in the myddle of the worlde.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Acts viii. 26 Aryse and goo towardes midde daye.
1582 T. Blenerhasset Reuelation of True Minerua sig. B3 When Titan sittes in middayes circle seate, when goodly Guardes doth Artike Pole displaie, then, [etc.].
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iii. ii. 121 The Southerne which blows from the Midday or South, is hote.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. (In sense 1.)† midday devotions n. Obsolete† midday mealtime n. Obsolete† midday time n. Obsolete
midday coach n.
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1624 R. Bellings Sixth Bk. Arcadia App. 109 Draw here bright Phoebus in his mid-day Coach, And let his rayes my Mistris eyes approach.
1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations II. xi. 180 To London by the mid-day coach.
ΚΠ
1694 F. Bragge Pract. Disc. Parables xiii. 435 Our midday devotions, because we are then in the midst of the dangers and temptations of the day.
midday dinner n.
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the world > food and drink > food > meal > [noun] > midday meal or lunch
noonmeatOE
noona1225
midday meala1425
noon meal?c1460
Sunday dinner1602
nooning1649
luncheona1652
noon dinner1656
nummit1777
tiffin1800
sandwich lunch1828
lunch1829
twelve hours1844
free lunch1848
midday dinner1852
Sunday lunch1854
nooning-meal1865
Mittagessen1876
business lunch1880
tray lunch1936
pub lunch1954
working lunch1954
liquid lunch1970
three-martini lunch1972
1852 J. L. Blake Farm & Fireside 370 The principal invited guests were expected to be present at a mid-day dinner, soon after which the ceremony was to be performed.
1904 J. London Sea-wolf xxiv. 217 At the midday dinner, Wolf Larsen informed the hunters that they were to eat thenceforth in the steerage.
1991 R. Davies Murther & Walking Spirits iv. xvi. 206 On the alternate Sundays he and Virginia must have midday dinner with the Boutells.
midday express n.
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1858 M. Tuckett Diary 16 Sept. in H. Fox Mariana's Diary 5 We left home..by the mid-day express.
1886 Catholic World Mar. 765 It was barely possible for me to catch the midday express... I arrived at the Great Western terminus only to hear the faint shriek of the departing engine.
midday flight n.
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1722 T. Tickell Kensington Garden 9 He chas'd the hornet in his mid-day flight, And brought her glow-worms in the noon of night.
a1842 S. Woodworth Shooting Stars i. iii, in Poet. Works (1861) 229 Why, what a dunce was Æsop's bird of night, To ape the eagle in his mid-day flight.
1986 Scotsman 31 July (Property Market Suppl.) 10/7 (advt.) We will..travel to Newcastle to catch the midday flight to Jersey.
midday heat n.
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1593 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Biiijv Titan tired in the midday heate, With burning eye did hotly ouer-looke them. View more context for this quotation
1833 H. Ellison Madmoments I. 140 At Morn, or dewy Eve, or Middayheat, On land or sea or air, oh let my voice Be heard with yours.
1882 Catholic World Nov. 193 The mid-day heats are spent.
1990 D. Attenborough Trials of Life vi. 137 The gopher tortoise that lives in the southwestern deserts of the United States needs..to escape the worst of the mid-day heat.
midday light n.
ΚΠ
1598 W. Rankins Seauen Satyres 3 The serpent shewes her speckled brest, When as the eye of heauen is in his height, Aduauncing vp her greene inuenom'd crest: Increasing mallice by the midday light.
a1729 G. Seagood in William & Mary Coll. Q. Hist. Mag. (1898) 7 35 Streight the Sky is taken from his Sight, And Sylvan Shades obstruct the Mid-day Light.
1930 J. Masefield Wanderer of Liverpool 87 Summer's mid-day light.
1994 J. Glover To Niagara Frontier 80 Flowers..display in the deep un-Coagulated, mid-day light.
midday meal n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > meal > [noun] > midday meal or lunch
noonmeatOE
noona1225
midday meala1425
noon meal?c1460
Sunday dinner1602
nooning1649
luncheona1652
noon dinner1656
nummit1777
tiffin1800
sandwich lunch1828
lunch1829
twelve hours1844
free lunch1848
midday dinner1852
Sunday lunch1854
nooning-meal1865
Mittagessen1876
business lunch1880
tray lunch1936
pub lunch1954
working lunch1954
liquid lunch1970
three-martini lunch1972
a1425 (a1396) R. Maidstone Paraphr. Seven Penitential Psalms (BL Add. 39574) 739 in M. Day Wheatley MS (1921) 50 My dayes þoruout þe ȝheer..slyden as a mydday meel.
1861 D. Greenwell Poems 224 Come and share My mid-day meal.
1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood vi. 109 ‘Ye'll be for a daunder, sir,’ she said after the midday meal.
1981 M. Cunningham & J. Laber Fannie Farmer Cookbk. (1988) 752 Brunch is a good way..to get together with friends for a relaxed midday meal.
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the world > food and drink > food > meal > meal-time > [noun] > lunch-time
midday mealtimec1400
luncheon-time1823
lunchtime1859
dinner camp1925
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. x. 246 At mydday meel-tyme, ich mete with hem ofte.
midday post n.
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1857 J. W. Carlyle Lett. II. 314 I may have a letter by the midday post.
midday rest n.
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1821 Ld. Byron Cain iii. i, in Sardanapalus 412 His hour of mid-day rest is nearly over.
1899 Overland Monthly Nov. 460 (caption) A midday rest on the forward deck.
1987 F. Kuppner Intelligent Observ. Naked Women xlvi. 78 A streamlet where peasant families..Splash through the later half of their midday rest.
midday sleep n.
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1830 A. Heber Life R. Heber II. xxiii. 203 He would..pass the whole of the day..in mental labour, without allowing himself the hour's mid-day sleep in which the most active generally indulge.
1892 C. F. G. Cumming Two Happy Years Ceylon (ed. 4) II. xx. 176 A gigantic lizard..awoke from its midday sleep.
1939 Speculum 14 84 Men worked from five in the morning to between seven and nine in the evening, witha half-hour off for breakfast and one hour and a half for dinner and midday sleep.
midday slumber n.
ΚΠ
1837 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. I. Introd. 19 The period of the first waking of science, and that of its mid-day slumber.
1891 F. T. Palgrave Visions of Eng. 175 Shading pine and torrent-song Breathe midday slumber, sudden, sweet.
1983 Shakespeare Q. 34 177 Oliver's miserable midday slumber..invokes a Biblical, Christian moral figure.
midday splendour n.
ΚΠ
1838 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. May 174 The lessons of my master..taught me to take advantage of the mid-day splendor, which soon after opened upon me.
1855 J. S. C. Abbott Hist. Napoleon II. iv. 72 A brilliant moon diffused almost midday splendor.
1891 F. Tennyson Daphne 107 Down the high slopes of the mountains flow'd Shadow on shadow softly, as tho' they strove Against the midday splendours.
1913 S. Phillips Lyrics & Dramas 31 I have caught in darkness ere the sun, A lovelier-liquid note from matin bird Warbled, than..in the mid-day splendour I have heard.
midday sun n.
ΚΠ
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) ii. 159 (MED) The mydday sonne ek stonde hit with to mete, In placis colde.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) i. i. 14 His sparkling Eyes,..More dazled and droue back his Enemies, Then mid-day Sunne, fierce bent against their faces. View more context for this quotation
1745 J. Wesley Answer to Rev. Church 22 The Difference between them is as great as the Difference between the Light of the Morning and that of the Mid-day Sun.
1805 R. Wilson Life Gen. Sir R. Wilson (1862) I. App. i. 351 The burning rays of the mid-day sun cause them no lassitude.
1930 N. Coward Mad Dogs & Englishmen in Coll. Sketches & Lyrics (1931) 286 But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
2000 Scootering 5 Mar. 94/3 I've sat at traffic lights in both the midday sun and freezing rain and it still won't cloud over.
midday thermometer n.
ΚΠ
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. vii. 78 So mild that our mid-day thermometers gave but 7°.
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 22512 (MED) At middai time, als sais þe bok, Blacken it sal þat ilk time.
a1500 (?c1400) Song of Roland (1880) 847 (MED) Ther fell in Fraunce A straung wedur, A gret derk myst in the myd-day-tym.
1549 W. Baldwin Canticles of Salomon i. §vi. sig. a. ivv O Christ.., I know that thou..In mid day time, when men in fayth be hole, Doest feede and rest.
midday train n.
ΚΠ
1852 S. Brooks Anything for Change 6 If you like to give him up, say so, and he shall go back to town by the mid-day train.
1874 F. C. Burnand My Time xi He could dispose of me by a mid-day train.
1943 C. Beaton Diary Dec. in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) xiii. 117 I could either take a midday train back to London.., or there was a transport plane going in an hour.
1988 D. Shanahan Legal Tender i. 22 Going to the hills on the midday train.
b. (In sense 3).† midday field n. Obsolete† midday forest n. Obsolete† midday side n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
a1425 (c1384) Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) Ezek. xx. 46 Prophecy thou to the wodi place, or wildernes, of the myddai, or south, feeld [L. agri meridiani].
ΚΠ
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Ezek. xx. 47 And thou schalt seie to the myddai forest [L. saltui meridiano].
ΚΠ
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion i. 5 Let vs (nobler Nymphs) vpon the mid-daie side, Be frolick with the best.
C2. † midday circle n. Obsolete a great circle; = meridian n. 3.† midday devil n. Obsolete used as a translation of the Vulgate daemonium meridianum (Psalm 90[91]:6), for which the King James Bible has ‘the destruction, that wasteth at noone-day’ and the Revised English Bible (1989) ‘the plague raging at noonday’, sometimes identified as accidie; cf. meridian adj. 1a.† midday fiend n. Obsolete = midday devil n.† midday line n. Obsolete = meridian line n. at meridian adj. Compounds.† midday song n. Obsolete = sense 2.† midday sphere n. Obsolete the celestial sphere with the sun at its highest point in the sky.† midday sprite n. Obsolete (perhaps) = midday devil n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > geodetic references > [noun] > meridian
meridional linec1392
meridianc1400
midday line?a1439
meridian circlec1550
meridian line1559
midday circle1559
1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 21 The meridiane or middaie circle (saith he) is describid and drawen by the poles of the worlde [etc.].
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > a devil > [noun] > active at noon
midday fienda1425
midday devila1500
midday spritea1529
noon devil1560
noonday devil1651
noon-sprite1892
eOE Junius Psalter xc. 6 A ruina et demonio meridiano : from hryre & deofle middæglecum.]
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xc. 6 Thou sall noght hafe drede of the inras and mydday deuyll.
a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) iii. ii. sig. N.viiv In this temptacion he sheweth himself, such as the prophet nameth him, demonium meridianum, the mid day deuill.
1709 A. Pope Chaucer's January & May in Poet. Misc.: 6th Pt. 180 They stile a Wife..A Night-Invasion, and a Mid-day Devil.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > a devil > [noun] > active at noon
midday fienda1425
midday devila1500
midday spritea1529
noon devil1560
noonday devil1651
noon-sprite1892
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Psalms xc. 6 Thou schalt not drede..of asailing, and a myddai feend [a1382 E.V. myddai deuel; L. dæmonio meridiano].
?a1475 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Harl. 6579) ii. xxxviii. f. 120 Þei are bigilid of þe midday fende.
midday flower n. rare a mesembryanthemum (most of which open their flowers only for a short time at midday).
ΚΠ
1885 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. V. i. 35/1 Mid-day flower, an Australian popular name for Mesembryanthemum.
1955 C. van Alphen-Schenk tr. A. C. Muller-Idzerda 100 Indoor Plants (1957) 81 Mesembryanthemum. Mid-day Flowers. The so-called shrubby Mesembryanthemums are succulent plants... The name Mid-day Flower probably arose because many of them open their flowers in the middle of the day and then usually only in the sun.
1994 Ann. Rev. Ecol. & Systematics 25 529 Opening of the flowers is usually restricted to a certain period of the day (often around midday, hence the name ‘midday-flowers’ for this family [sc. Mesembryanthemaceae]).
ΚΠ
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) i. 600 (MED) In his speer the sonne..mor cleer dede shyne Than it doth now in his mydday lyne.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 7 The line indicated by the shadow at noon is known as the meridian line or mid-day line.
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Let. to Wulfsige (Corpus Cambr.) in B. Fehr Die Hirtenbriefe Ælfrics (1914) 12 Þa seofon tidsangas..þe him gesette synd, swa-swa se sinoð hi gedihte: Uhtsang and primsang, under[n]sang and middægsang, nonsang and æfensang, and nihtsang.
1806 J. Lingard Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church I. vi. 287 They [sc. the religious services] were called the uht or morning-song, prime-song, under-song, midday-song, none-song, even-song, and night-song.
1853 D. Rock Church our Fathers III. ii. 8 In like manner, midday-song or sext, and none-song, were gone through.
ΚΠ
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 968 (MED) Þei ȝaf a liȝt..As Phebus doþ in his mydday spere.
?a1450 ( J. Lydgate Serpent of Division (McClean) (1911) 55 As Phebus, þe sonne, whan he arisith in þe Oryent and..assendith into þe hieste poynt of þe mydday spere.
?a1562 G. Cavendish Metrical Visions in Life Wolsey (1825) II. 10 My byldyngs somptious, the roffes with gold and byse Shone lyke the sone in myd day spere.
ΚΠ
a1529 J. Skelton Speke Parrot in Poet. Wks. (1843) II. 24 So myche coniuracions for elvyshe myday sprettes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.OE