workaday, work-a-day, n. and a.
(ˈwɜːkədeɪ)
Forms: α. 3 (Orm.) werrkedaȝȝ, werkedei, 4–5 werkeday(e. β. 6– workyday, 7– worky-day (6–7 workie-, 7 worki-, workey-). γ. 9 workaday, work-a-day.
[ME. werkeday (3 syllables), of uncertain origin: possibly f. gen. pl. (OE. weorca) of work n. + day n.1, but perh. more probably f. directly on these with assimilation to the trisyllabic sunnedei Sunday, messedei massday. The type workyday is due to the influence of holiday, and workaday presumably to that of nowadays.]
A. n. A day on which work is ordinarily done (distinguished from holiday); a work-day, working-day. Obs. or dial.
| α c 1200 Ormin 11315 Forr ȝure wuke gifeþþ ȝuw Aȝȝ sexe werrkedaȝȝess. a 1225 Ancr. R. 18 Valleð to þer eorðe ȝif hit is werke dei, mit te Gloria Patri. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love i. v. (Skeat) l. 104 After the seven werkedays of travayle. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4971 In þe longe ȝere be werke daye[s] I-nowe. 1426 Audelay Poems 80 On the werkeday ȝif that thou be About thi labor treuly. a 1450 Myrc Par. Pr. (1902) 893 For, a-pon þe werkeday, Men be so bysy in vche way. |
| β 1550 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) II. i. xxvii. 218 That divers preachers within your diocess..do preach as well the worky days as the holy days. 1566 Drant Horace, Sat. ii. F 5, On workyday I neuer coulde be taken With better meate..then roots or chimnye bacon. 1598–9 B. Jonson Case is Altered iv. iii, Fellow Onion for thy sake I finish this workiday. 1603 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 700 Sondaies, Holydaies, and workie days. 1653 R. Flecknoe Misc. 127 He is one that makes alwayes Holy day for others, and worky-day for himself by taking upon him all the businesse. 1725 Bourne Antiq. Vulg. xii. 116 We find a great Deference paid to Saturday Afternoon, above the other worky Days of the Week. 1789 H. Walpole Let. to Mrs. H. More 20 July, What the common people call a worky⁓day. 1860 W. White Wrekin xvii. 170 If our teacher ain't ashamed to stop and shake hands with us, o' worky-days. |
| γ 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xlix, In the very clothes that he wore on work-a-days. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 238/2 Life was an unbroken work-a-day. |
B. attrib. passing into adj. (
cf. working day). Belonging to or characteristic of a work-day or its occupations; characterized by a regular succession or round of tasks and employments; of ordinary humdrum everyday life:
freq. in
phr. this workaday world.
| β 1554 Bury Wills (Camden) 146 My worky day cassocke. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. ii. 55 Prythee tel her but a worky day Fortune. 1672 Dryden Assignation iii. i, With such a Workiday-rough-hewn face too! 1751 Miss Talbot Let. to Mrs. Carter 27 Sept., Oh this nasty worky-day world! 1877 F. Jacox Scripture Prov. xlix. 545 In the common law of facts in this worky-day world. |
| γ 1802 Mrs. Radcliffe Gaston de Blondeville Posth. Wks. 1826 I. 6 The plain reality of this work-a-day world. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xviii, The less of real, hard, struggling work-a-day life there is in that romance, the better. 1857 Musgrave Pilgr. Dauphiné I. i. 8 Their work-a-day dress is a coarse brown or blue serge surtout. 1859 Jephson Brittany xvii. 284 We cannot long indulge in day-dreams in this workaday world. 1874 P. Russell Leaves Journalist's Note-bk. 53 Goswell-road is..one of the most work-a-day of London thoroughfares. 1898 ‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner xii. 128 He did not attempt to understand the lighter side of life, but took it seriously as a work-a-day matter. |