What does a month of sundays mean

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Definition of month of Sundays, a

A long time, as in I haven't seen Barbara in a month of Sundays. This expression, which would literally mean thirty weeks, has been used hyperbolically since it was first recorded in 1832. One writer suggests it originally connoted a long dreary time, since games and other kinds of amusement used to be forbidden on Sunday.

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Definition of month of Sundays, a
How to use month of Sundays, a in a sentence
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
References[edit]
Further reading[edit]
Where did the phrase a month of Sundays come from?
How many days are a month of Sundays?
What Does not in a month of Sundays mean?
What does a week of Sundays mean?

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How to use month of Sundays, a in a sentence

ROME — What does it take for a Hollywood A-lister to get a private audience with Pope Francis?
A Charlie Hebdo reporter said that security provision had been relaxed in the last month or so and the police car disappeared.
The month of May will see an Irish referendum on the legalization of same-sex marriage.
As he tried to make his way through a crowd of mourners late last month, he looked preoccupied and even disoriented.

The Daily Beast has followed some of the refugees who landed in Sicily a month ago.
On the thirteenth of the same month they bound to the stake, in order to burn alive, a man who had two religious in his house.
Now-a-days it is the bankrupt who flouts, and his too confiding creditors who are jeered and laughed at.
The Father had been in sore straits of mind, as month after month had passed without tidings of his "blessed child."
After an eight weeks' siege, a breach having been made, the city surrendered, and a month later the fort followed the example.
He felt himself the meanest, vilest thing a-crawl upon this sinful earth, and she—dear God!

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Probably a reference to the passing of as many Sundays as there are days in a month, that is, between 28 and 31 weeks.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

(Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌmʌnθ əv ˈsʌndeɪz/, /-diz/
(General American) IPA(key): /ˌmʌnθ əv ˈsʌnˌdeɪz/, /-ˈsən-/, /-diz/
Hyphenation: month of Sun‧days

Noun[edit]

month of Sundays (plural months of Sundays)

(idiomatic, informal) A very long time; a period regarded as too long. [from mid 18th c.]Synonyms: eternity, (both hyperbolic) forever, week of Saturdays, (both informal) week of Sundays; see also Thesaurus:eon
It seems like it’s been a month of Sundays since we saw him last.
- 1759, Hamilton Murray [pseudonym], chapter X, in The Life and Real Adventures of Hamilton Murray. […], London: […] J. Burd, […], OCLC 1227591180, pages 120–121:
  [T]he captain had ordered his back to be anointed with ſome pickle, by way of preſerving ſome mortification, which increaſed his agony ſo intolerably, that he exhibited the various contorſions and wreathings of a rattle ſnake with ſurprizing velocity, to the no ſmall edification of the commander, who ſwore he ſhould dance to the ſecond part of the ſame tune, for a month of Sundays; ſtill repeating the word citation, which he could neither underſtand, nor digeſt.
- 1808, [George Colman the Younger], Presume Not beyond Measure: A Serio-comic Letter of Advice, Addressed to the Editors of All the Public Papers. […], London: […] J[ohn] Hatchard, […], OCLC 2754430, page 14:
  Let the Sunday papers have their day: it is all they have; though it would require a month of Sundays to read all they publish upon it.
- 1850, [Charles Kingsley], “The Plush Breeches Tragedy”, in Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], OCLC 1000395324, page 71:
  Why, what an orator you are! Really, I haven't heard more fluent or passionate English this month of Sundays.
- 1883, Hodgson Pratt, “On the Same [Art in Large Towns. In what Way Can the Influence of Art be Best Brought to Bear on the Masses of the Population in Large Towns?]”, in Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co., OCLC 503413272, section V (Art), page 595:
  From many quarters in London even a park is far distant, while we have months of Sundays which are wet and cold, when the dens where many people live would be preferred because affording shelter from the weather.
- 1915 December, “Hodder and Stoughton’s Christmas List of Novels [advertisement]”, in The Bookman, volume XLIX, number 291, London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton […], OCLC 781608980, page xv, column 4:
  The most vivacious, sparkling, entertaining piece of comedy you are likely to come across in a month of Sundays.
- 1973, Matt Braun, chapter 3, in El Paso, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, published July 1999, →ISBN, page 203:
  Just what do you hope to gain by badgering my people down here? They're not going to spill their guts to you in a month of Sundays.
- 2001, David Michael Smith, “Balsam Fir”, in Stories from the Manger, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 31:
  ["]But if I told you the rest of the truth, you wouldn't believe me anyway." / "Try me." / "Guarantee it, you won't," the man teases. "Not in a month of Sundays."
- 2002 May, Alexandra Morton, chapter 3, in Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us, 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published June 2004, →ISBN, page 28:
  As I listened to the tapes over months of Sundays, it became clear that I would not work with [John] Lilly. I was more interested in the dolphins speaking to dolphins than in the attempts to teach them our language.
- 2014, Lois Shepheard, “The Controversial Marriage”, in Black McIntosh to Gold, Carindale, Qld.: Glass House Books, →ISBN, page 187:
  Over the years, she'd visited the McIntoshes and also her daughters in Sydney but she had never, in a month of Sundays, dreamed she would live there herself.
- 2015, James Grissom, Follies of God: Tennessee Williams and the Women of the Fog (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 50:
  I [Tennessee Williams] told her [Eva Le Gallienne] I had, indeed, read the plays of Mr. [Henrik] Ibsen, had seen them in numerous productions, and found them to be quite like the act of eating a box of soap flakes, when they were not like two months of Sundays in church.

Usage notes[edit]

The term is often used negatively, for example, “never in a month of Sundays” or “not in a month of Sundays”.

Derived terms[edit]

never in a month of Sundays

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

^ Compare Gary Martin (1997–), “A month of Sundays”, in The Phrase Finder.

Where did the phrase a month of Sundays come from?

This expression, which would literally mean thirty weeks, has been used hyperbolically since it was first recorded in 1832. One writer suggests it originally connoted a long dreary time, since games and other kinds of amusement used to be forbidden on Sunday.

How many days are a month of Sundays?

n. 1. A unit of time corresponding approximately to one cycle of the moon's phases, or about 30 days or 4 weeks. 2.

What Does not in a month of Sundays mean?

idiom. If you say that something will not happen in a month of Sundays, you mean that it is very unlikely to happen: He's never going to get that finished in a month of Sundays! Long periods of time.

What does a week of Sundays mean?

(idiomatic, informal) A very long time; a period regarded as too long. [ from mid 18th c.] quotations ▼synonyms ▲ Synonyms: eternity, (both hyperbolic) forever, week of Saturdays, (both informal) week of Sundays; see also Thesaurus:eon.