Michaelmas
(ˈmɪkəlməs)
Forms: 1 Sanct Michaeles mæsse, 3 Miȝheles-masse; 3 miel-, missel-, 3, 5 miȝhel, 3–5 mychel, 4 myel-, mihele-, misschel, 4–5 myhel, 5 myhil, myhell, michel-, miȝele-, mighell-, meghel-, mykel-, mykyl, myȝhel-, 5–6 myghel(l-, mighel-, 6 myell-, myhyl-, mihel-, michall-, 7 michal-; 3– masse, etc. (see mass n.1); 4 mykames; 7– Michaelmas. Also 9 dial. Mihil-, Mile-, Mildmas.
[f. the name of St. Michael the Archangel: see mass n.1]
The feast of St. Michael, 29 Sept., one of the four quarter-days of the English business year.
| [a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1101 Se eorl syððan oð ðet ofer sc̃e Michaeles mæsse her on lande wunode.] c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 53/229 Op-on Miȝhel-masse fourtene-nyȝht. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9508 Þ e kinges poer & is ost..wende vorþ to oxenford aboute mielmasse. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 240 Fro mychelmesse to mychelmesse I fynde hem with wafres. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 35 Be-twixen þe feste of the natiuite of oure lady & Misschelmasse. 1435 Nottingham Rec. II. 361 At ye Anounsiacion of oure Lady and Meghelmes. 1452 in Berks, Bucks & Oxon Archæol. Jrnl. Oct. (1903) 78 For ij lb wex candells a ghens myhellmas xij.d. 1469 M. Paston in P. Lett. II. 365 Wednsday or Thursday aftyr Mykylmes. 1475 Presentm. Juries in Surtees Misc. (1888) 26 At the gret cowrtes at Mykelmes, þe yer [etc.]. 1530 Palsgr. 804/2 At Mychelmesse, a la saynt Michel or le jour de sainct Michel. 1536 Anc. Cal. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 497 The wyche off trewythe was grawnttyd att myellmas last past. 1539 in W. A. J. Archbold Somerset Relig. Ho. (1892) 117 We intende..to letowte the pastures and demeynes now from mighelmas forthe quarterly. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 212 Alhallowmas last, a fortnight a-fore Michaelmas. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Burrow Lawes c. 43. 124 The first [sc. head-court] is after the feast of Michalmes. 1661 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 70 Which sum..shall be collected..at Michal masse and Lady day. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 424 ¶5 By Michaelmas 'tis odds but we come to down⁓right squabbling. 1819 Sport. Mag. 274 He will blow upon his fingers before Mildmas [footnote, Michaelmas]. 1864 Tennyson North. Farmer, Old Style xii, And I'd managed for Squoire coom Michaelmas thutty year. |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
Michaelmas goose,
Michaelmas onion,
Michaelmas rent;
Michaelmas blackbird, the ring ouzel (
Turdus torquatus);
Michaelmas crocus, the autumn crocus (
Colchicum autumnale);
Michaelmas daisy, a sea-starwort, (
a) wild aster (
Aster Tripolium); (
b) one of several garden asters of a shrubby habit and bearing masses of small purplish flowers;
Michaelmas day = sense 1;
Michaelmas eve, the evening before Michaelmas;
† Michaelmas moon = harvest moon;
† Michaelmas pardon (see
pardon n.1 3 b);
Michaelmas spring, an autumnal spring; also
fig.;
Michaelmas term, a term or session (beginning soon after Michaelmas) of the High Court of Justice in England; and also of Oxford, Cambridge, and various other universities;
Michaelmas tide, the season of Michaelmas.
Old Michaelmas day: the day that would have been called 29 Sept. if the Old Style had been retained without correction: from 1900 onwards this has been 12 Oct.
| 1822 Latham Hist. Birds V. 39 note, Ring Ouzel..a British Species, only seen in spring and autumn. By some called the *Michaelmas Blackbird. |
| 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxvi. (1794) 391 Many [Asters] as confounded under the Vulgar title of *Michaelmas Daisies. 1882 Garden 24 June 437/2 A brown-centred small Michaelmas Daisy. |
| [c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 304/165 Men synguez a-*Miȝheles-masse⁓day In holie church also Of one bataile þat seint Miȝhel with a dragun scholde do.] 1359 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 97 And yis gilde schal haue, by ȝere, foure mornspeches..ye ferthe schal be on mykames day. 1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 154 The fryday next afftyr Myhelmesse day my mastyr delyveryd to my sayd lord..vj.s. viij.d. 1864 Chambers' Bk. Days II. 387/2 Michaelmas Day, the 29th of September, properly named the day of St. Michael and All Angels. |
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8793 So þat a *Missel⁓masse eue mid hor ost hii come. |
| 1792 Statist. Acc. Scot. II. 438 note, The son-in-law binds himself to give him [the father-in-law] the profits of the first *Michaelmas moon. |
| 1763 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. IV. 34 One of these crops, known by the name of *Michaelmas onions, is sown in August. |
| 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iv. (Arb.) 619 Thus they spend *Michaelmas rent in Mid-summer Moone, and would gather their Haruest before they haue planted their Corne. 1763 Museum Rust. (ed. 2) I. 75 If the markets are low, they fail in the payment of their Michaelmas rent. |
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 135 Be mindfull abrode of *Mihelmas spring. 1658 W. Gurnall Chr. In Arm. Verse 16. x. (1669) 210/1 God promised him a Michaelmas spring (I may so say) a son in his old age. |
| 1721 Amherst Terræ Fil. App. (1754) 281 He was, in *michael⁓mas-term following, admitted commoner in Oriel college. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. ix. 329 The morrow of All Souls..(which day is now altered to the morrow of St. Martin by the last act for abbreviating Michaelmas term). 1903 Oxf. Univ. Cal. p. xiii, Oct. 10. Oxford Michaelmas Term begins. |
| 1903 Longm. Mag. Oct. 516 At *Michaelmas-tide heavy waggons lumber through the villages. |