order of the day, the

Idioms  

1. The prevailing or expected mode, the current agenda, as in Volatility is the order of the day in high-tech stocks, or T-shirts and blue jeans were the order of the day for the picnic. This expression, dating from the late 1600s, originally alluded to the subject of debate in a legislature on a particular day, as well as to specific commands given to troops. Its figurative use dates from the second half of the 1700s.

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Example Sentences

Expropriations became the order of the day, the land typically redistributed among the peasant and rancher majority.

From Slate • May 29, 2017

Bright polo tops and cargo shorts are the order of the day, the pigs get scrubbed and the barn occasionally receives a shot of air freshener.

From Reuters • Jun. 14, 2010

General Carl A. Spaatz issued a special order of the day: the strategic air war had been won; hereafter U.S. heavy bombers would range on tactical missions.

From Time Magazine Archive

That day General Lockhart placed, in the order of the day, the names of Lisle and his little party as having shown conspicuous gallantry, in defending themselves against a vastly superior force.

From Through Three Campaigns A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti by Paget, Walter

Therefore, dinner-parties being the order of the day, the four young people feasted abroad every evening, and spent the afternoons at various tennis and croquet parties instituted in their honour.

From The Fortunes of the Farrells by Vaizey, George de Horne, Mrs.