diurnal, a. and n.
(daɪˈɜːnəl)
[ad. L. diurnāl-is daily, f. diēs day. Cf. F. diurnal (admitted by the Academy 1694), It. giornale (Florio 1598: now only n.) and see journal.]
1. Performed in or occupying one day; daily. Chiefly of the motion of the heavenly bodies.
| c 1430 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. (R.) Bicause that it drew to the night And that the sonne his arke diurnall Ypassed was. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 54 Phebus..was entred his chariot, minding to finishe his diurnall Arcke. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. Ded. (1721) 179 The Diurnal Motion of the Sun. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 804 The joyous sun His twelfth diurnal race begins to run. 1890 C. A. Young Elem. Astron. §363 No spots are visible from which to determine the planet's [Uranus's] diurnal rotation. |
2. Of or belonging to each day; performed, happening, or recurring every day; daily. Of periodicals: Published or issued every day. arch.
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. i. xxviii. (ed. 7) 77 The diurnall excesse of the Moones Motion from the Sun. 1638 Wotton Let. to Milton 10 Apr. in Reliq. Wotton., Genoa, whence the passage into Tuscany is as diurnal as a Gravesend Barge. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 101 ¶7 The Spectator published those little Diurnal Essays which are still extant. 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 234 The subject having been so recently before the public in all the diurnal prints. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. ix, The Laird's diurnal visits. 1848 Lowell Fable for Critics Poet. Wks. 1890 III. 33 They're all from one source, monthly, weekly, diurnal. |
3. Of or belonging to the day as distinguished from the night; day-: opp. to nocturnal. In Zool., spec. of animals active only during the day.
| 1623 Cockeram, Diurnall, of or belonging to the day. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. vii.[viii]. §4 The houses of prayer which the Jewes had..for their diurnall and nocturnal offices. c 1750 (title) Complete Modern London Spy, or a Real, New and Universal Disclosure of the Secret, Nocturnal and Diurnal Transactions in London and Westminster. 1874 Wood Nat. Hist. 287 This..bird is..very late in returning to rest, later indeed than any of the diurnal birds. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 784 The expanded position [of leaves or petals] is called that of growth or the diurnal position, the opposite one that of sleep or the nocturnal position. |
† 4. Of or pertaining to the (particular) day (of the week). Obs. rare.
| 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 375 The obligation of the day which was then the sabbath, died and was buried with him, but in a manner by a diurnal transmutation revived again at his resurrection. |
5. Lasting for a day only; ephemeral. rare.
| 1866 Treas. Bot., Diurnal, enduring but for a day, as the flower of Tigridia. |
B. n.
1. Eccl. A service-book containing the day-hours, except matins (this being a night office); † hence, a book for devotional exercises; a book of devotion (obs.).
| [1512 (title) Diurnale ad usum Sarum. 1549 Act 3 & 4 Edw. VI, c. 10 §1 All Books called..Cowchers, Journales, Ordinales..shall be..abolished.] ? a 1550 (title) A Dyurnall for Deuoute Soules, to ordre themselfe therafter. 1686 (title) The Christian Diurnal of Father Nicholas S.J. Revised and much augmented and translated into English by S[ir] T. H[awkins]. 1846 W. Maskell Mon. Rit. Eccl. Ang. I. p. cxxx. (On Service books). |
2. A book for daily use, a day-book, diary; esp. a record of daily occurrences, a journal. arch.
| 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 301 The diurnall of our course, sayling thither and returning. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 320, I ever carried with me a little memorial or diurnall, where I set down all the curiosities I met with. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Let. x, Let me proceed in my diurnal. |
3. A newspaper published daily; also loosely, any newspaper published at short periodical intervals; a journal. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1640 St. Trials, Abp. Laud (R.), I found myself aggrieved at the Diurnal, and another pamphlet of the week, wherein they print whatsoever is charged against me, as if it were fully proved. 1646 Marquis of Worcester in Dircks Life ix. (1865) 147, I..perused all the diurnals for more than a quarter of a year. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 204 ¶4 We Writers of Diurnals are nearer in our Styles to that of common Talk than any other Writers. [The Tatler was published three times a week.] 1823 Scott Peveril xxvii, It was in every coffee-house, and in half the diurnals. |
| attrib. 1644 Mercurius Brit. 4–11 Jan., A Diurnall maker, a paper-intelligencer. 1654 Cleveland (title) A Character of a Diurnal-Maker. |
4. A diurnal bird, butterfly, or moth.
| In recent Dicts. |
Hence diˈurnalness, diurnal quality.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II, Diurnalness, the happening daily. |