heyday
/ˈheɪdeɪ
/noun (usually one's heyday)
The period of a person’s or thing’s greatest success, popularity, activity, or vigour: the paper has lost millions of readers since its heyday in 1964...
- In its heyday, only 30 years ago, just under 1,000 trawlers operated from the port.
- Over three million people walked through its door every year in its heyday before the war.
- You have to go back 10 years, to the heyday of Radio 1, to find a station with a bigger audience.
Synonyms
prime, peak, height, high point, high spot, peak of perfection, pinnacle, acme, zenith, day, time, bloom, flowering, culmination, crowning point;
prime of life, best days, best years, salad days
Origin
Late 16th century (denoting good spirits or passion): from archaic heyday!, an exclamation of joy, surprise, etc..
From the early 16th century people shouted hey-day! to express joy, surprise, or some other intense emotion. It may have come from Low German heida! or heidi!, ‘hurrah!’. By the end of the same century heyday meant ‘a state of high spirits or passion’. Perhaps through a false association with day, it began to refer to the period of a person's or thing's greatest success or activity in the mid 18th century.