adam

plural adams

1. UShumorousThe day or night before an eve; two days or nights before a holiday, most commonly Christmas.

plural Adams · alternative Adams · alternative Adams · alternative McAdam · alternative McAdams · alternative McCaw · alternative MacAdam · alternative MacAdams · alternative MacCaw

1. lifestyleThe first man and the progenitor of the human race.

   And Adam called his wiues name Eue, because she was the mother of all liuing.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:20

   1 more example

   Say Goddeſs, what enſu'd when Raphael, / The affable Arch-angel, had forewarn'd / Adam by dire example to beware / Apoſtaſie,

   1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 40–43

2. A male given name from Hebrew.

   What splendid names for boys there are! / There's Carol like a rolling car, / And Martin like a flying bird, / And Adam like the Lord's First Word,

   1933, Eleanor Farjeon, “Boys' Names”, in Over the Garden Wall, Faber and Faber, page 90

   3 more examples

   In his tall stalwartness Adam Bede was a Saxon, and justified his name; but the jet-black hair, made the more noticeable by its contrast with the light paper cap, and the keen glance of the dark eyes that shone from under strongly marked, proninent, and mobile eyebrows, indicated a mixture of Celtic blood.

   1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Workshop”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 3

   Since then I have deciphered some more of Adam’s hieroglyphics, and think he has now become sufficiently important as a public character to justify this publication.

   1904, Mark Twain, Extracts from Adam's Diary

   The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, a key lawmaker in Democrats’ congressional investigations into former President Donald Trump during his presidency.

   2023 June 21, Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson, “House votes to censure Democratic congressman who led Trump investigations”, in CNN, archived from the original on 29 Jun 2023

3. figurativelyOriginal sin or human frailty.
4. usuallyChristianityJesus Christ, whose sacrifice, in Christian theology, makes possible the forgiveness of Adam's original sin.

   Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in thy love.

   1739, Charles Wesley, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

   2 more examples

   And so it is written: The first man Adam was made a liuing soule, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 15:45

   Christ, the true and better Adam, Son of God and Son of man; Who, when tempted in the garden never yielded, never sinned.

   2020, Matt Boswell, Keith Getty, Matt Papa, “Christ the True and Better”, in Almost Home: The Hymns of Matt Boswell and Matt Papa, Vol. 2, performed by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa

5. Designating a neoclassical style of furniture and architecture in the style of Robert and James Adam.

   Inside were six-panelled doors, wide floor-boards, a curving colonial staircase, white Adam-period mantels, and a rear set of rooms three steps below the general level.

   1936, HP Lovecraft, The Haunter of the Dark

   1 more example

   McIntyre's best pieces, such as the fireplace in the Otis house, managed to convey both an opulent warmth and a restrained elegance, and compares favorably with the artistic saturnalia of an Adam fireplace.

   2001, Norman K. Risjord, Representative Americans: The Revolutionary Generation, page 164

6. An English surname originating as a patronymic.
7. A Scottish surname originating as a patronymic.
8. A French surname originating as a patronymic.
9. A German surname originating as a patronymic.
10. slangThe drug ecstasy.

    I heard people say they were taking "Adam." Is that the same drug or something different? Ecstasy goes by many different names […]

    2008, Jennifer Wider, The Doctor's Complete College Girls' Health Guide, page 94

    1 more example

    I prefer to call it "Adam." "Ecstasy" is a beautiful word, but I think Ecstasy is a word more often used by people taking it for thrills.

    1990, Jerome Beck, The MDMA Controversy: Contexts of Use and Social Control, page 131