as the day is long
(Redirected from happy as the day is long)
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Phrase
[edit]- (idiomatic, intensifier, simile) Unceasingly; very; thoroughly; to a very high degree.
- 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
- He shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.
- 1851 April 9, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields:
- And you shall do nothing but what you choose, and shall be as happy as the day is long.
- 1872, Mark Twain, chapter 54, in Roughing It:
- They are quiet, peaceable, tractable, free from drunkenness, and they are as industrious as the day is long.
- 1906, Horatio Alger, chapter 4, in Joe The Hotel Boy:
- "Oh, I don't think they would steal the box. Bart Andrews and Jack Thompson are as honest as the day is long."
- 2003, Brian Buckner and Sebastian Jones, Friends, season 9, ep. 17 The One with the Memorial Service:
- Monica: Alright, wait a second! Why would Ross tell everyone in your class that you are "as gay as the day is long"?
- 2004 October 16, G. Caulkin, B. Glanville, “Souness eyes move to take Duff back on board”, in Times Online, UK, retrieved 6 Sept. 2009:
- "He is direct, honest as the day is long, hard-working and a good lad to have around."
Usage notes
[edit]- Often, but not exclusively, used with the adjectives honest or happy or with synonyms for honest or happy.
- Usually used in a construction having this form: (as) [adjective] as the day is long.