dog day

noun

One of the dog days of summer: a late-summer day.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

noundog day (plural dog days)

plural dog days

  1. One of the dog days of summer: a late-summer day.

    "A terrible terrible dog day storm. Or maybe even a cyclone."

    1946, Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding
    2 more examples

    This is a perfect dog-day. The atmosphere thick, mildewy, cloudy. It is difficult to dry anything. The sun is obscured, yet we expect no rain.

    1856 July 30, Henry David Thoreau, The Journal of Thoreau, volume 2, page 1

    August 24, 1993 was the first day of the new school year at Cedar City High School. The day dawned sunny and steamy, promising another "dog day" in southern Ohio.

    1998, Nina G. Dorsch, Community, Collaboration, and Collegiality in School Reform, page 51

Origin

A singularization of dog days.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

dog day. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dog%20day

MLA

“dog day.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dog%20day. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dog day,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dog%20day.

Source: dog day on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.