Groundhog Day
7
3.2
- noun
- /ˈɡraʊndˌhɔɡ deɪ/
- US
:
Día de la Marmota
- The tradition of Groundhog Day includes waiting for a cute groundhog to predict the weather for the rest of winter.
- annual Groundhog Day
- Groundhog Day celebration
- Groundhog Day, Feb.
Examples
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Well, I feel like every time I do laundry, it's Groundhog Day because there's, you know, half of the shirts are in one load of laundry.
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And the hard part about this job is it's like Groundhog Day, right?
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The closer you can come to just Groundhog Day, you just repeat that day.
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It is almost like the movie Groundhog Day; every day you wake up and it's the same thing over and over.
Blog text (19) -
Then I joined Barb in the living room, and we watched a Bill Murray film, Groundhog Day.
Fiction book (2000) -
It's Groundhog Day!
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It feels like Groundhog Day again; why is that, BVD?
Blog text (29) -
On February 2nd, townspeople gather to celebrate Groundhog Day with festivals and traditions.
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Many families look forward to watching the groundhog on Groundhog Day to see if it will see its shadow.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally obvious insofar as it names a day associated with a groundhog (so a learner who knows 'groundhog' and 'day' can infer it's an event involving groundhogs). However, the specific cultural meaning (February 2nd and the shadow-based folklore predicting winter length) is culturally specific and not derivable from the words alone, so full understanding requires prior exposure.
Etymology
Groundhog Day comes from an old tradition on February 2nd when a groundhog comes out of its hole. If the animal sees its shadow, people say winter will last longer, and if not they say 'spring will come early', so the day is about the animal 'predicting' the rest of winter.