rainy day
29
1.6
- noun
- /ˈreɪni deɪ/
- Informal
:
día lluvioso (literal)
- It's wise to set aside some savings for a rainy day when unexpected expenses may arise.
Lasers don't do so well in fog and rainy days and low cloudy days.
- Lasers don't do so well in fog and rainy days and low cloudy days.
- It is a very cold and rainy day here.
- So you set a good foundation for a rainy day and what would you say?
- But reading on a rainy day hits ambience, the vibes.
- But currently it is a horrible wet and rainy day outside.
- What's the point of having a rainy day fund when it's pouring and you don't use it?
- It is a cozy, chilly rainy day.
- So what happens if you step outside and it's a cloudy or rainy day?
- It just stores fat away, you know, for a rainy day, but then there's no rainy day.
Examples
-
Ten grand for a rainy day.
-
But recently, most of the rainy day funds have been exhausted.
-
So you set a good foundation for a rainy day and what would you say?
-
I like to save this blood for rainy days.
-
Save it for a rainy day
-
Now he wanted it all? Everything that had been stored up for a rainy day.
Fiction book (1998) -
What's the point of having a rainy day fund when it's pouring and you don't use it?
-
It can be a rainy day fund for your children, your grandchildren, your great, great grandchildren.
-
Sitting on my grandfather's lap on rainy days when he couldn't go to work in the fields.
-
Many people find comfort in knowing they have a financial cushion for a rainy day.
Antonyms
How Rainy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal sense 'a day when it rains' is directly and transparently derived from 'rainy' + 'day'. However, the common figurative sense (as in 'save for a rainy day' = saving for future difficulties) is a metaphorical extension; it is somewhat predictable from the constituents and cross-linguistically attested but likely requires some exposure for a B1 learner to map rain → hardship. Because it combines a fully compositional literal sense with a partially inferable figurative sense, the item is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
The phrase rainy day comes from the image of a rainy day when people stayed inside and could not work, so they saved money for that time. That's why saying 'for a rainy day' means keeping something now to use later when you need it.