dog days
6
5.5
- noun
- /dɔg deɪz/
:
días de perros
- Something to watch as we enter the dog days of the season.
- the dog days of summer
- the dog days of August
And they provide color through those kind of hotter dog days of summer, if you will.
- And they provide color through those kind of hotter dog days of summer, if you will.
Examples
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In the dog days of August, many people prefer to stay indoors to avoid the sweltering heat.
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During the dog days of summer, Solar System sights are few and far between.
Academic text (2007) -
I know the dog days still lie ahead.
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I know the dog days Of the summer
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Well, for the dog days, it's another beautiful day in the capital city.
-
The dog days of August.
Fiction book (1994) -
It's August 25th, the dog days of summer.
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ALEXA: Well, folks, we are certainly in the dog days of summer right now.
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I guess there really isn't much going on right now during the dog days of summer.
Blog text (22) -
If reasonably climate-controlled, it would be a popular option during the dog days of summer.
Blog text (11)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
The warmest season of the year between spring and autumn
66
1.0
The warm part of the year when days are long
30
3.2
A period of very hot weather that lasts several days
3
3.0
A long period of very hot weather that can harm people and crops
1
3.5
A period of several days with much hotter weather than usual
The hottest period of the year is usually in July and August when people stay indoors
A very hot time of the year when people stay inside to avoid the heat
Antonyms
How Hot
Surface Forms
Morphology
dog + days
The meaning 'the hottest period of summer' (and the extended sense of stagnation) cannot be predicted from the literal words 'dog' and 'days' by a B1 learner—the link is historical/astrological and idiomatic rather than compositional. Because the connection between 'dog' and heat is non-obvious and language-specific, learners who know the constituents but have not seen the phrase will not reliably infer its meaning.
Etymology
Dog days comes from an old story about the bright Dog Star (Sirius), which rose with the sun in late summer and was blamed for making the weather hotter. So dog days means 'the hottest part of summer' and it also came to mean a slow, lazy time.