dog days

American  

plural noun

1. the sultry part of the summer, supposed to occur during the period that Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the sun: now often reckoned from July 3 to August 11.

2. a period marked by lethargy, inactivity, or indolence.

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dog days British  

plural noun

1. the hot period of the summer reckoned in ancient times from the heliacal rising of Sirius (the Dog Star)

2. a period marked by inactivity

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dog days Cultural  

1. The hot, muggy days of summer. The Romans associated such weather with the influence of Sirius, the dog star, which is high in the sky during summer days.

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dog days Idioms  

1. Hot, sultry summer weather; also, a period of stagnation. For example, It's hard to get much work done during the dog days, or Every winter there's a week or two of dog days when sales drop dramatically. The term alludes to the period between early July and early September, when Sirius, the so-called Dog Star, rises and sets with the sun. The ancient Romans called this phenomenon dies caniculares, which was translated as “dog days” in the first half of the 1500s.

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Other Word Forms

• dog-day
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of dog days

1530–40; translation of Latin diēs caniculārēs; see canicular

Example Sentences

Dog days of summer, Mets edition: Max Scherzer, already sidelined with an oblique strain, got bit on his pitching hand by his pooch.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 10, 2022

Dog days of a distanced summer got you down?

From Seattle Times • Jul. 31, 2020

Dog days: On Wednesday morning, after writing out a lineup better suited for a split-squad game in spring training, Detroit Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire sat in his office in Anaheim and spoke bluntly.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2018

Dog days? hardly. cow stripers feast around the waters of Martha's Vineyard, while bull redfish roil the Indian and Banana Rivers in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Lord’s mercy! Dog days done made him mad.”

From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong