dog days
UK/ˈdɒɡ deɪz/US/ˈdɔɡ deɪz/
dog days noun: the days following the heliacal rising of Sirius, now in early August (Gregorian) at dates varying by latitude.
Noun
dog days pl (normally plural, singular dog day)
- The days following the heliacal rising of Sirius, now in early August (Gregorian) at dates varying by latitude.
- ... a sterre, wherof canicular or dogge days be named Dies caniculares.1538, Thomas Elyot, “Canicula”, in The Dictionary of Syr Thomas Eliot
- Dog days bright and clear
Indicate a good year;
But when accompanied by rain,
We hope for better times in vain.1883, H.H.C. Dunwoody, "Proverbs Relating to Months, Weeks, and Days" in Weather Proverbs, Signal Service Notes, No. IX, p. 98
- Synonyms:
- canicular days
- The unpleasantly hot days of late summer.
- Why ſhould thoſe Eteſian and Eaſterne winds blow cōtinually in ſome places, at ſet times, one way ſtill, in the dog dayes only: heere perpetuall drought, there dropping ſhowres; [...]1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Ayre Rectified. With a Digression of the Ayre.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James...
- The dog days of August have often spelled trouble for the world economy.2013 August 17, “A Rickety Rebound”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8849
- Any similar period of inactivity, laziness, or stagnation.
- The two-cassette miniseries, produced by Oliver Stone, arrives in early August, in time to stir the dog days of summer rentals.1993, Billboard, volume 105, number 24, page 62
dog days meaning in Tamil, Arabic and Persian
dog days in Tamil
- கத்தரி நாட்கள்
dog days in Arabic
- the days between early July and early September
- أَيَّام الشِّعْرَى ʔayyām aš-šiʕrā, الخَمَاسِين al-ḵamāsīn
- unpleasantly hot days
- سَمَائِم samāʔim
dog days in Persian
- the days between early July and early September
- روزهای سگی ruzhāye sagi
Synonyms of dog days
Forms of dog days
| singular | dog day |
|---|
Origin of dog days
Calque of Latin diēs caniculārēs (“puppy days”), a calque of Ancient Greek κυνάδες ἡμέραι (kunádes hēmérai, “dog days”), from κυνάς (kunás, “of or related to dogs”), from Κῠ́ων (Kŭ́ōn, “the Dog”) in reference to the star Sirius, which appears in Homeric Greek as "Orion's dog". The return of Sirius to the night sky (its heliacal rising), occurring in antiquity around July 25 (Athens) or 29 (Rome), was considered by the Greeks and Romans to herald what were considered the hottest, least healthy, and least lucky days of summer.
Questions about dog days
- What does dog days mean?
- Dog days means the days following the heliacal rising of Sirius, now in early August (Gregorian) at dates varying by latitude.
- What is dog days in Tamil?
- Dog days in Tamil is கத்தரி நாட்கள். See Dog days meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is dog days?
- Dog days is a noun.
- How do you pronounce dog days?
- Dog days is pronounced /ˈdɒɡ deɪz/ (UK).
Words near dog days in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dog days (page history and authors); dog days (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-dog days.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dog days.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dog_days. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.