rainy day, a

Idioms  

1. A time of need or trouble, as in We knew a rainy day would come sooner or later. This idiom is often used in the context of save for a rainy day, which means to put something aside for a future time of need. [Late 1500s]

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Example Sentences

Amy Jackson, an early-education instructor at the Center School in Greenfield, Mass., remembers one rainy day a few years ago when she was outside with her students.

From New York Times • Sep. 6, 2020

A full movie on a rainy day, a couple of half-hour TV shows before pickup?

From Slate • Jun. 7, 2019

On a rainy day, a succession of elegant customers trailed in and out as Dunne chatted about the store, providing a fine snapshot of the typical customer: well-turned-out, well-read, well-spoken.

From New York Times • Feb. 2, 2016

Surely you wonder how you could ever complain again—about a rainy day, a broken piece of china, or someone's unkind words.

From US News • Aug. 9, 2011

Unless it should be decidedly a rainy day, a carriage will call for you at half-past eleven o'clock in the forenoon.

From The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Stearns, Frank Preston