birthday
(ˈbɜːθdeɪ)
[f. birth n.1 + day.]
1. The day on which any one is born; also fig. that of regeneration; transf. (of things), the day or date of origin or beginning.
| 1580 Baret Alv. B 711 The daye that the citie was first founded on, the birth day. 1599 Davies in Farr S.P. (1845) I. 102 We..That haue bene euer from our birth-day blind. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 130 ¶10 The Anniversary of the Birth-day of this Glorious Queen. 1784 Cowper Task i. 18 The birthday of Invention. 1858 Sears Athan. viii. 68 Now therefore comes the second birthday of man. |
2. The anniversary or annual observance of the day of birth of any one; sometimes
spec. that of the sovereign.
| [c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiv. 6 On Herodes gebyrd-dæᵹe.] 1382 Wyclif Mark vi. 21 Eroude in his birthe day [1388 birthdai] made a soper to the princes. 1579 Fulke Refut. Rastel 796 To celebrate his Martyrs byrth day. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. v. i. 71 This is my Birth-day; as this very day Was Cassius borne. 1755 Connoisseur No. 117 This suit..was made up for a noble lord on the last birthday. 1859 Tennyson Enid 633 A costly gift..given her on the night Before her birthday. |
3. attrib. and
comb., as
birthday boy,
birthday card,
birthday dress,
birthday feast,
birthday finery,
birthday gift,
birthday girl,
birthday ode,
birthday party,
birthday present,
birthday treat,
birthday wish, etc.;
birthday book, a book in diary form with spaces for recording birthdays;
usu. having quotations for each day from the works of a particular author; also, a book suitable for a birthday present; a book compiled to honour someone's birthday;
birthday honours, the titles of honour conferred by the sovereign on each anniversary of his or her official birthday; so
birthday gazette;
† birthday('s mind, the commemoration of a birthday;
birthday suit, a dress worn on the King's birthday; also (humorous): the bare skin; so
birthday attire,
birthday clothes,
birthday gear.
| 1860 ‘G. & P. Wharton’ Wits & Beaux of Society I. 127 In ‘birthday attire’. |
| 1859 (title) The boy's birth-day book; a collection of tales, essays, and narratives of adventure. 1881 C. Dixon (title) The Longfellow birthday book. 1884 Spectator 12 Jan. 58/1 Mr. Arnold does not describe classes of men sufficiently numerous and various to supply apt quotations for a birthday book. 1967 Listener 25 May 690/1 Garlands, festschrifts and birthday books tend to be tedious. |
| 1959 H. Pinter Birthday Party ii, Shine it on the birthday boy. |
| 1902 Little Folks Oct. 287/2 Miss Shaw seemed to appreciate Moya's birthday card very much. 1961 H. S. Turner Something Extraordinary ii. 39 My birthday was on Sunday... I have got six birthday cards. |
| 1732 Ld. Egmont Diary 2 June (1920) 279 Mr. Spencer was a man of extraordinary breeding to acknowledge the favour of a common visit in his birthday clothes. |
| 1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda I. v. 148 (title) Birthday Dresses. |
| 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain I. xxiii. 244 Mrs. Charles Wilmot's little girl was to have a birth-day feast, at which Mary, Blanche, and Aubrey were to appear. |
| 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 84, I now stood..in all the truth of nature... The figure I made..outshone all other birth-day finery whatever. |
| 1910 Beatrix Gatacre General Gatacre xvii. 262 On the 24th in the Birthday Gazette, his name appeared as a recipient of the Gold Medal of a New Order, the Kaiser-i-Hind. |
| 1734 Swift Strephon & Chloe in Poems (1958) II. 591 To see some radiant nymph appear In all her glitt'ring birthday gear. |
| 1868 W. Collins Moonst. (1871) 61 Your uncle's birthday gift. |
| 1909 E. Nesbit Daphne in Fitzroy St. i. 3 (title) Birthday Girl. |
| 1886 Kipling Departm. Ditties (ed. 2) 8 Then the Birthday Honours came. Sad to state and sad to see, Stood against the Rajah's name nothing more than C.I.E.! 1897 Sat. Rev. 5 June 626/2 In any list of Birthday honours or New Year honours one expects to see the name of at least one distinguished man. |
| 1606 Holland Sueton. 265 Because he had celebrated the Birth-dayes-minde, of Otho the Emperour. Ibid. 101 His birth-day-mind [natalem suum] falling out in the time of the Plebeian games. |
| 1803 C. Wilmot Let. 6 Mar. in Irish Peer (1920) 146 The composition of a birthday Ode. 1942 E. Blom Music in England vi. 104 Purcell in his birthday-ode and welcome-song mood. |
| 1830 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 314 The time that a birthday ox takes in roasting. |
| 1852 Mrs. Gaskell Let. 4 Sept. (1966) 198 Yesterday..we had a birthday party for Julia. |
| 1796 M. Edgeworth Parent's Assistant (ed. 2) II. ii. (title) The Birth-Day Present. 1854 C. M. Yonge Castle Builders xxii. 342 Her immense wax-doll, a birthday present from her papa. |
| 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom II. xli. 43 He made an apology for receiving the count in his birth-day suit. 1809 [see suit n. 19 e]. 1727 Swift What Pass. Lond. Wks. 1755 III. i. 184 So many birth-day suits were countermanded the next day. 1922 Blunden Bonadventure xxvii. 167 A dancing saloon, where birthday suits were the fashion. |
| 1851 Sharpe's London Jrnl. XIII. 200/1 Father alwaies gives us a birthdaye treat. 1902 A. Bennett Grand Babylon Hotel i. 12 I'll be content this year with the cheapest birthday treat you ever gave me. |