Meaning
To go to bed, especially to go to sleep for the night. It is an informal, chiefly American expression, though it is widely understood elsewhere. Casual, colloquial register with a folksy, good-humoured tone; unsuited to formal writing. Regional use: American English (understood generally).
Origin
The image is literal: before sprung mattresses were common, bedding was often a sack or mattress stuffed with hay or straw, so 'hitting the hay' meant flopping onto your straw bed. The Phrase Finder traces the phrase to the American sporting scene, with an early citation from the Oakland Tribune of July 1903 about the Olympic heavyweight boxer Sam Berger, and dates the idiom to the United States in the early 20th century. The parallel form 'hit the sack', using the same straw-stuffed image, appeared around the same period.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- hit the bed
- hit the sack
- make the hay
Usage Examples
- I have an early flight, so I am going to hit the hay right after dinner.
- After the double shift, he hit the hay without even changing out of his overalls.
- Let's hit the hay; the trailhead is a three-hour drive at dawn.