Dog days of summer
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
The hottest, most oppressive days of summer, often slow and languid, when heat saps energy and life feels stagnant or uncomfortable. It evokes a time of lethargy.
Origin
From ancient astronomy, linked to the heliacal rising of Sirius, the 'Dog Star,' in Canis Major, brightest in the sky. Greeks and Romans, around 1500 BCE, saw Sirius's appearance in July-August as intensifying heat, blaming it for drought and malaise-Homer's 'Iliad' calls it a fever-bringer. Medieval Europe kept the term, as in a 1546 almanac noting 'dog days' from July 25 to August 28. It merged stellar myth with summer's reality, enduring as a vivid seasonal marker.
Variants
- Dog days
Usage Examples
- It's the dog days of summer; too hot to do anything.
- Sales slump in the dog days of summer every year.
- The dog days of summer kept us indoors with the AC on.
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