month of Sundays

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English[edit]

WOTD – 3 January 2021

Etymology[edit]

Probably a reference to the passing of as many Sundays as there are days in a month, that is, between 28 and 31 weeks.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

month of Sundays (plural months of Sundays)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) A very long time; a period regarded as too long. [from mid 18th c.]
    Synonyms: eternity, (both hyperbolic) forever, week of Saturdays, (both informal) week of Sundays; see also Thesaurus:eon
    It seems like it’s been a month of Sundays since we saw him last.
    • 1759, Hamilton Murray [pseudonym], chapter X, in The Life and Real Adventures of Hamilton Murray. […], London: […] J. Burd, […], →OCLC, pages 120–121:
      [T]he captain had ordered his back to be anointed with ſome pickle, by way of preſerving ſome mortification, which increaſed his agony ſo intolerably, that he exhibited the various contorſions and wreathings of a rattle ſnake with ſurprizing velocity, to the no ſmall edification of the commander, who ſwore he ſhould dance to the ſecond part of the ſame tune, for a month of Sundays; ſtill repeating the word citation, which he could neither underſtand, nor digeſt.
    • 1808, [George Colman the Younger], Presume Not beyond Measure: A Serio-comic Letter of Advice, Addressed to the Editors of All the Public Papers. […], London: […] J[ohn] Hatchard, […], →OCLC, page 14:
      Let the Sunday papers have their day: it is all they have; though it would require a month of Sundays to read all they publish upon it.
    • 1850, [Charles Kingsley], “The Plush Breeches Tragedy”, in Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 71:
      Why, what an orator you are! Really, I haven't heard more fluent or passionate English this month of Sundays.
    • 1883, Hodgson Pratt, “On the Same [Art in Large Towns. In what Way Can the Influence of Art be Best Brought to Bear on the Masses of the Population in Large Towns?]”, in Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, section V (Art), page 595:
      From many quarters in London even a park is far distant, while we have months of Sundays which are wet and cold, when the dens where many people live would be preferred because affording shelter from the weather.
    • 1915 December, “Hodder and Stoughton’s Christmas List of Novels [advertisement]”, in The Bookman, volume XLIX, number 291, London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton […], →OCLC, page xv, column 4:
      The most vivacious, sparkling, entertaining piece of comedy you are likely to come across in a month of Sundays.
    • 1973, Matt Braun, chapter 3, in El Paso, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, published July 1999, →ISBN, page 203:
      Just what do you hope to gain by badgering my people down here? They're not going to spill their guts to you in a month of Sundays.
    • 2001, David Michael Smith, “Balsam Fir”, in Stories from the Manger, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 31:
      ["]But if I told you the rest of the truth, you wouldn't believe me anyway." / "Try me." / "Guarantee it, you won't," the man teases. "Not in a month of Sundays."
    • 2002 May, Alexandra Morton, chapter 3, in Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us, 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published June 2004, →ISBN, page 28:
      As I listened to the tapes over months of Sundays, it became clear that I would not work with [John] Lilly. I was more interested in the dolphins speaking to dolphins than in the attempts to teach them our language.
    • 2014, Lois Shepheard, “The Controversial Marriage”, in Black McIntosh to Gold, Carindale, Qld.: Glass House Books, →ISBN, page 187:
      Over the years, she'd visited the McIntoshes and also her daughters in Sydney but she had never, in a month of Sundays, dreamed she would live there herself.
    • 2015, James Grissom, Follies of God: Tennessee Williams and the Women of the Fog (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 50:
      I [Tennessee Williams] told her [Eva Le Gallienne] I had, indeed, read the plays of Mr. [Henrik] Ibsen, had seen them in numerous productions, and found them to be quite like the act of eating a box of soap flakes, when they were not like two months of Sundays in church.

Usage notes[edit]

The term is often used negatively, for example, “never in a month of Sundays” or “not in a month of Sundays”.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Compare Gary Martin (1997–) “A month of Sundays”, in The Phrase Finder.

Further reading[edit]

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