Dayes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An old plural form referring to several periods of twenty-four hours or to the span of a person's lifetime
2. Archaic spelling for multiple spans of daylight or of time, often used in older English writing to mean many periods
3. Obsolete plural meaning a number of days, or the years and seasons that make up a lifetime in older literature

Etymology: "Dayes" is the plural of "daye," an obsolete spelling of "day" in the sense of a long span of time, a period of many days or years. Writers of earlier English used "dayes" for stretches like "the dayes of his youth," meaning the whole period of a life or era rather than a single twenty-four-hour stretch. The word "day" itself is an Old English noun, "dæg," inherited from ancient Germanic roots, and its spelling shifted over the centuries as the language changed. The older plural in "-es" sits alongside "days," which eventually became the standard form.

Antonyms: night