Forms: α. 1 wice (rare), wicu (inflected wican, wiecan), 3–5 wike, 3–6 wyke, 5 wyeke, 6 wieke; 4 wycke, 6–7, 9 dial. wick; β. 3–6 weke, 6 weeke, weicke, weake, 6– week; γ. 1 wucu, 2–3 wuke, 3–5 wouke, 4–5 woke, 4–6 wok, 5 wooke, wouyk, wowke (wokk), 5–6 wolk(e; δ. Sc. 4–8 ouk, owk(e, 5–8 oulk, owlk, ulk, olk, 6 wke, 9 ook. [Com. Teut.: OE. wice wk. fem. corresponds to OFris. wike (WFris. wike, NFris. week, wik), OS. -wika in crûcewika Passion Week (MLG., LG. weke), MDu. weke (Du. week), OHG. wehha, wohha (MHG., mod.G. woche), ON. vika (Norw. vika, Sw. vecka, Da. uge), ? Goth. wikō (once only, rendering τάξις ‘order’ in Luke i. 8):—OTeut. *wikōn-.
As there is no reason to suppose that the Germanic peoples used a reckoning by weeks before they came in contact with the Romans, it is probable that the OTeut. *wikōn- had originally some meaning wider than that of ‘period of seven days,’ which the word has in WGer. and Scandinavian; perh. it meant ‘succession, series,’ and this may have been the sense of Goth. wikō in the only recorded example. The root *wīk- is found in ON. víkja to turn, move, OHG. wehsal (mod. G. wechsel) change.
The remarkable diversity of forms in the Eng. word is due to the different effect, in different dialects, of the initial (w) on the following vowel. The original form with wi- appears rarely in OE. literature (exc. in combinations, where it was general); the β type represented by the standard English form descends from this. The form wucu (inflected wucan) is the ancestor of the γ type (ME. woke, wouke, etc.), whence the δ type was developed in the North by the loss of the initial (w) before the labial vowel. (The written l in many of the Sc. forms, wolk, oulk, etc., was never pronounced.)]
1. The cycle of seven days, recognized in the calendar of the Jews and thence adopted in the calendars of Christian, Mohammedan, and various other peoples; a single period of this cycle, i.e., a space of seven successive days beginning with the day traditionally fixed as the first day of the week.
The Jewish week began with the day after the sabbath, and this beginning was adopted by the Christian church. The days of the Jewish week, except the seventh (the Sabbath) were not named, but distinguished only by number; in early Christian use the name Sabbath was retained for the seventh day, and the first was called the Lord’s day (ἡ κυριακὴ ἡμέρα, dies dominicus), the other days being numbered only. The English names, Sunday, Monday, etc., belong to an astrological week which, quite independently of the Jewish-Christian week, arose from the practice of assigning the successive hours to the seven planets in the order of their distance, and then naming each whole day (of 24 hours) from the planet supposed to rule its first hour. The planetary names, Dies Solis, Dies Lunæ, Dies Martis, etc., came into common use in the Roman empire, and were adopted in translated form by the English (before they came to Britain) and other Teut. peoples; the names Mars, Mercurius, etc., being apprehended as names of Roman gods, were rendered by the names of the Teutonic deities supposed to correspond to these: for details see the articles TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, etc.
α. a. 900. O. E. Chron., an. 878 (Parker MS.). On þære scofoðan wiecan ofer Eastron.
c. 900. Bæda’s Hist., V. ii. (Miller), 388. Mid ðy hit ða án wiice ðæs fæstnes ʓefylled wæs.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xviii. 12. Ic fæsto tuiʓo in wico [c. 975 Rushworth wica].
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 139. Alle oðer daʓes of þe wike beoð to þreldome to þis dei [sunnen dei].
c. 1205. Lay., 13927. Þene feorðe dæi i þere wike heo ȝifuen him [Woden] to wurðscipe.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 70. Euerich urideie of ðe yer holdeð silence, bute ʓif hit beo duble feste; & teonne holdeð hit sum oðer dai iðe wike.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 312/438. Þe seoue Dawes in þe wyke.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 430. I shal nomore com here þis wyke.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 13. Þe Lengþe of a Lenten, flech moot y leue … And Wedenes-day iche wyke wiþouten flech-mete.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 3058. Ilkone of us, withouten lesyng, Might win ilk wike fourty shilling.
a. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 172. [A Saracen said to a Christian] Þis is þe wyke þat ȝoure gret profete deyt in.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, I. i. 4. The seconde parte ys of youre seuen storyes, accordynge to the seuen dayes of the wyeke.
1456. Paston Lett., Suppl. (1901), 57. My lord of Norwich shal the next wyke visite the hous of Hykelyng.
1590. in P. H. Hore, Hist. Wexford (1900), I. 271. James … went to St. James’ faire to Bristowe the last wick.
β. c. 1275. [see 2. c. 1205].
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 1. Þe Wednesdai in þe firste weke of Advent.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 116. He … Of sevene daies made a weke.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xiv. 61. On þe Seterday it rynnes fast, and all þe weke elles it standes still.
1529. More, Lett. to Wife, 3 Sept., Wks. 1419/2. I shal (I think) … get leaue this next weke to come home and se you.
1556–7. Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889), 458. The said [Recorder] shall thre daies every weicke gyve attendaunce.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 231. That thre daies in the weke they tame theyr body with fastynge.
a. 1633. G. Herbert, Outlandish Prov. (1640), 587 [Proverb]. Thursday come, and the week’s gone.
1740. C’tess Pomfret, in C’tess Hartford’s Corr. (1805), I. 208. As this is a week of great devotion and retirement with all good catholics, so it is a week of great idleness and equal retirement with us protestants.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. viii. 222. At Cheripe,… there is a constant store of provisions prepared for the vessels who go thither every week from Panama.
1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857), I. 111. We may probably consider the Week, with Laplace as ‘the most ancient monument of astronomical knowledge.’
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xliv. You couldn’t make it convenient to lend me half a crown till the latter end of next week, could you?
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, i. The present week is yet but at Thursday, and on Monday [etc.].
1867. E. A. Freeman, in Stephens, Life (1895), I. 391. Last week I have been working at the early life of Lanfranc.
γ. c. 1000. Rule St. Benet (1888), 51. Þæt beon an ælcere wucan saltere … ʓesungenne.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron., an. 1118. On þison ʓeare on þære wucon Theophanie wæs anes æfenes swyðe mycel lihtinge.
c. 1200. Ormin, 4173. Itt iss aȝȝ heh messedaȝȝ Att here wukess ende.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 3. And hit [sc. Advent] lasteð þre wuke fulle and sum del more.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2431. Vr eldore him [sc. Woden] bitoc of þe wouke þen verþe day.
a. 1325. MS. Rawl. B. 520, lf. 32. Ant te baillifs … eche woke oþer eche forteniȝt ate leste sullen maken enquestes of men herburgers.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 454. Þus þe persoun þat al þe wouke disposiþ hym to preche to his sheep or [etc.].
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet, xli. 29. Al þe wukis in þe summir, sal ye laste ilke wuke tua dais.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxv. 261. For thei schryven hem and howsele hem evermore ones or twyes in the Woke.
1425–6. in Acta Dom. Conc., II. Introd. 13. The secunde terme begynande the Monunday of the first hail wolke of lenteryn with lik continuacion of termes.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 532/1. Woke (v.rr. wok, wooke), ebdomada, septimana.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 231. To gefe to þe power nedy parysshens of bloxham euery woke & euery ȝere halfe a quarter of corne menglyd.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 303. The peple desyris … the mare to se him na he rade every day, or every wolk or moneth.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 51. Als well on the Satterday as ony other day of the wouke.
δ. c. 1470. Gol. & Gaw., 1343. With reualing and reuay all the oulk hale.
1526. Cartul. S. Nicholai Aberd. (New Spald. Club), I. 154. With ane trentell of messis in ye ouik [? read oulk] yat ye said obit sall happin in.
1565. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 332. That na sellaris be oppynnit bot thryis in the oulk for selling of thair geir.
1566. in Hay Fleming, Mary Q. of Scots (1897), 495. Nocht onlie the twa Sondayis bot also the hole rest of the olk.
1584. J. Melvill, Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.), 181. Ther shalbe four Sermones in the ouk; twa on the Sunday, and twa on the ouk-dayes.
1608. Rec. Innerwick, in A. I. Ritchie, Ch. St. Baldred (1880), 114. The examination to begin ye nixt olk … for that purpose.
1728. Ramsay, Robt., Richy, & Sandy, 31. Last ouk I dream’d my tup … brak his leg.
1807. Tannahill, Soldier’s Return, II. iii. Wife—fetch my bonnet that I caft last owk.
1868. G. Macdonald, R. Falconer, I. xi. 137. I’ll think aboot it whan ance I’m throu wi’ this job. That’ll be neist ook or thereabouts, or aiblins two days efter.
b. With prefixed word, denoting some particular week of the year.
The weeks of the ecclesiastical calendar commonly thus referred to are Easter week, the Ember weeks (EMBER2), PASSION-WEEK, HOLY WEEK (also called GREAT week), ROGATION week (also called GANG-WEEK, GRASS-week, PROCESSION-week), WHIT-week (also called WHITSUN-week, † WHITSUN DAY-week, † Pentecost-week).
a. 950. Guthlac (Prose), xx. 161. On þære eastorwucan.
c. 1450. Brut, II. 437. In Cristemesse wike.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, II. 278. In Penthecoste weke … In trynyte wyke.
1482. Cely Papers (Camden), 94. I perposed to a byn with yow in the esterne weke.
c. 1500. Cartul. S. Nicholai Aberd. (New Spald. Club), I. 259. One Wedinsday in ye penthicost owk nixt eftir ye synod.
1622. Laud, Diary, 23 April, Wks. 1853, III. 138. Being the Tuesday in Easter week.
1692. Pepys, Lett. to Evelyn, Easter Monday. The last being Confession, this in all good conscience should be Restitution Week.
¶ c. Sometimes applied transf. to other artificial cycles of a few days that have been employed by various peoples, e.g., the eight days’ ‘week’ of the Romans (see NUNDINE), the five days’ ‘week’ believed to have been used by the ancient Germans, etc.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, VI. ii. 435. They accompted their weekes by thirteene dayes, marking the dayes with a Zero or cipher.
2. A space of seven days, irrespective of the time from which it is reckoned. † All a week: for a whole week.
† Forty weeks: often used for the length of the period of gestation.
c. 1055. Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia, VIII. 288. On þam beoð twa & fifti wucena.
c. 1205. Lay., 22931. To feouwer wikene [c. 1275 wekene] uirste Þat wrec [read werc] wes iuorðed.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2473. So woren forð .x. wukes gon, get adde Iacob birigeles non.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 66. And two ȝer and al-mest þreo wyke.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7942. Þis ost … bisegede þen castel, six wuke wel vaste.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18587. He … Was tua and thritti winturs ald, And monet sex and wyckes tua.
c. 1315. Shoreham, V. 110. In þyssere ioye we scholde by-louken Al hyre ioyen of uourti woken Þe wylest he zede wyþ chylde.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 9353. Al a wyke þe kyng þer lay, He spilte his tym.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IX. 359. He gert his menȝe busk ilkane, Quhen sex owkis of the sege ves gane.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 100. And in þe wombe of þat wenche was he fourty wokes.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. ix. (1495), 354. A monthe conteynyth foure wekes and a weke seuen naturall dayes.
c. 1400. Beryn, 1047. For foure wookis full, or he did hir entere, She lay in lede within his house.
c. 1420. Wyntoun, Cron., IV. xxv. 2375. Þat about þe hundrethe day, Wouyk, monethe or moment [etc.].
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 1662. He regnede not foure ȝere here, By sixe wykeus as yche vnderstonde, Þat he was martrid.
1466. Paston Lett., Suppl. 108. I thynke of every day a wyke tyl ye be content.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 273. Hyr dochtir had of xij wokkis ald a knayff.
a. 1520. Skelton, Magnyf., 1003. I haue not kept her yet thre wokys.
1534. Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.), II. 214. Whiche catall hath ben … Impoundyd by the tyme and space of ten wykes at the leste.
1553. Edin. Burgh Rec. (1871), II. 278. The expensis of the ulk precedand the xxvj day of Marche.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. v. 36. So many Dayes, my Ewes haue bene with yong: So many weekes, ere the poore Fooles will Eane.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 248. Efter mony oulkes quhen mekle tha had wrocht and mekle had swat, tha [etc.].
1615. R. Cocks, Diary (Hakl. Soc.), I. 9. He hath byn in this place a wick, and never came into the English howse till now.
1734. Pope, Hor. Sat., II. ii. 93. A Buck was then a week’s repast, And ’twas their point, I ween, to make it last.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. i. Wks. 1874, I. 24. A man determines … that he will walk to such a place with a staff a week hence.
1744. M. Bishop, Life, 114. Thinking every Day a Week, and Week a Month.
1751. F. Coventry, Pompey the Little, II. xii. 236. As he had expected a Parcel from London by the Coach for a Week before, he naturally concluded this to be the same.
1787. Hoy, Lett., 31 Oct., in Burns’ Wks. (1809), II. 110. I should give him nought but Stra’bogie castocks to chew for sax ouks, or ay until he [etc.].
1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, I. ix. She was within six weeks of seventeen, and surely she need not be sent down again to the schoolroom.
1865. Mrs. Whitney, Gayworthys, xlii. Then there came a week of rain.
b. Seven days as a term for periodical payments (of wages, rent, or the like), or as a unit of reckoning for time of work or service.
1426–7. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904), 66. Also payd to Thomas Seviere and his felawe to set vndir þe clerkis chamber dore þe o mason a hole woke iiij s. iij d.
1492. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 205. And for alimos, gevin woulkly, of xxiiij wokkis, xlviij li.
1527. St. Papers Hen. VIII., IV. 473. After the rate of 18d by the wooke.
1552–3. Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871), II. 342. Item to Andro Mansioun for half ane ulk’s wage.
1557–8. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 409. Payde to wyllyam Elssame for j quarter and vj wyekes the soms of xix s. vj d.
1580. Fermor Acc., in Archæol. Jrnl. (1851), VIII. 181. Pd for xii weickes bord for Mr. Richard Farmor and his man, at viis the weicke iiijli iiijs.
1784. Morn. Chron., 26 May, 4/1. Advt., The above premises may be taken by the week, and entered upon immediately.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, iii. (end). The house is full of boarders,… many of whom … contract by the week for their board and lodging.
1882. Besant, All Sorts, xxi. Eighteen shillings a week would buy him outright until his engagements begin again. Ibid., xxii. And in two days more the week’s rent would be due.
1886. C. E. Pascoe, London of To-day, ii. (ed. 3), 39. A week’s notice is the general rule before vacating rooms.
1914. ‘Ian Hay,’ Knt. on Wheels, xviii. I have two thousand a year…. I don’t know how much that is a week, but I’ll work it out some day in shillings and see.
† c. Followed by day used pleonastically. (See DAY sb. 11.)
c. 1440. Partonope, 6634. This lyfe they ladde vj. wekes day.
c. 1670. [see DAY sb. 11].
d. Used vaguely for an indefinite time, as in a week or two, implying a moderate space of time; weeks, referring to a duration that is felt as long.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 567. But thurgh his magik for a wyke or tweye It semed that alle the Rokkes were aweye.
c. 1422. Hoccleve, Min. Poems, 174. My freend, aftir, I trowe, a wike or two That this tale endid was, hoom to me cam, And seide [etc.].
15[?]. Lyndesay, Play, 1048, in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club), 505. Than scho deit to, within ane olk or two.
1550. Crowley, Way to Wealth, 195. How often hast thou gone whole dayes togither, whole weakes, yea whole yeres, and neuer thought once to loue hym aryght?
1597. in J. Melvill’s Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.), 424. Alas! the mounths, alas! the wkes and dayes, That I consum’d in foolishe sports and plays.
1797. Jane Austen, Sense & Sensib., xxix. He did feel the same, Elinor—for weeks and weeks he felt it. I know he did.
1891. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Lumley, vi. ‘Oh, Vere is not going for weeks—weeks,’ declared Mrs. Jock with great decision.
1918. Times Lit. Suppl., 18 April, 183/2. The unbounded hospitality of a time when a few letters of introduction gave weeks of princely entertainment.
e. Feast of weeks Heh. Antiq. [tr. Heb. ḥag šābūsōth] = PENTECOST 1.
1382. Wyclif, Exod. xxxiv. 22. The solempnyte of weekis.
1535. Coverdale, ibid., The feast of wekes. [So the later versions.]
3. The six working days, as opposed to the Sunday; the period from Monday to Saturday inclusive. Cf. WEEKDAY.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 244. Ʒif se terminus ʓescyt on sumon dæʓe þære wucan þonne byð se sunnan dæʓ þær æfter easter dæʓ.
1340. Ayenb., 212. Þeruore me let of bodiliche workes of þe woke uor betere to onderstonde to bidde god.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 243. For summe of my seruauns beoþ seke oþer-while, Of alle þe wike [v.rr. wyke, weke, wowke] heo worcheþ not so heor wombe akeþ.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. i. 76. Why such impresse of Ship-wrights, whose sore Taske Do ’s not diuide the Sunday from the weeke.
1882. Besant, All Sorts, xxix. On this Sunday morning, when the old man looked as if the cares of the week were off his mind.
4. a. Week of years: used in Lev. xxv. 8 by Wyclif, Tindale, and in the Douay Bible (after the Vulgate) for ‘a period of seven years’ (Coverdale has ‘yeare sabbathes,’ and the other versions ‘sabbaths of years,’ following the Heb.). Also used by commentators in explanation of the ‘weeks’ mentioned in Dan. ix. 24–27, where periods of seven years are meant.
1382. Wyclif, Levit. xxv. 8. And thow shalt noumbre to thee seuen wekes [1388 woukis] of ȝeerys.
a. 1591. H. Smith, God’s Arrow, ii. (1593), D 1 b. This worde Hebdomada … is sometimes taken for a weeke of daies, that is, seauen daies…. But at other times it signifieth the space of seauen yeares, and then is it called Hebdomada Annorum, A weeke of yeares.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 147. Doe wee not obserue how in three weeks of yeares three are dead?
1650. Sclater, Expos. Rom. iv. Ep. Ded. A 2. Having now, (by the space of full three weeks of years, and more) … had a strong dispute with my thoughts, whether [etc.].
c. 1680. R. Fleming, Fulfilling Script., II. iii. (1726), 278. They know Daniel’s seventy weeks … clearly takes in his [the Messiah’s] coming, and though it were taken either for weeks of days, or of years, it must long since be expired, but if they should mean weeks of ages, then for many thousand years his coming could not be yet expected.
b. Week of days: used by Bible commentators (following a mistranslation of Dan. x. 2) to denote a literal week as opposed to the ‘week of years’: see quots. in 4 a.
It is not clear whether Scott’s use for ‘a whole week’ is an echo of this, or whether it was a current phrase.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Dan. x. 2. At the same time, I Daniel was in heauines for thre weekes of daies. Ibid., 3. Til thre weekes of daies were fulfilled. Ibid. (1611). Three full weekes [margin, Heb. weeks of dayes].
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., x. They dared not keep me a week of days in durance.
5. In various idioms. a. A week [see A. adj. 2, 4, prep.1], every week, weekly, per week. (See also 2 b.)
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 344. Of alle swuche þinges schriue hire enes a wike ette leste.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, V. 415. He usede twyes a wooke to sitte al day to fore þe chirche dore.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour, 12. A good woman … that fasted iij. tymes a woke.
1861. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., ix. 118. It is repeated seven times a-week.
b. In expressions serving to fix a date. This day, tomorrow, Monday, etc. week: seven days before or after the day specified. Similarly this day, etc. (So many) weeks. Yesterday, Monday, etc. was a week (dial.), seven days before the day mentioned. † Formerly also four (etc.) weeks day, exactly four weeks (cf. 2 c).
1398. Munim. de Melros (Bannatyne Club), 490. [Gif] defaut be of þir paymentis … ovre runnene ande ganeby sex wowkis daye eftir þe lymite terme.
1454. Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889), 281. That al maner of men of Iryshe blode … avoyde [i.e., quit Dublin] by this day iiii. wekys. And gyff eny of this Iryssh blode … may be founde within the said cite or frauncheis after the said iiii. wekys day, they shall … be put in prisone.
1531. Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.), II. 187. The same Court so adiorned to be kepte ther that day thre wekes next ensuyng.
1582. Sir J. Popham, in H. Hall, Soc. Eliz. Age (1886), 262. I mene if God please to be at Salisburie the wekes-daie at night before Easterdaie.
1700. in Jrnl. Friends’ Hist. Soc. (1914), Oct., 181. Wee heard … of her being ther last 4th day was a weeke.
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXVI. 160. The whole of the money must be made good that night week.
1815. Scott, Guy M., v. Allow me to recommend some of the kipper—it was John Hay that catcht it, Saturday was three weeks.
1831. Lincoln Herald, 23 Sept., 4/4. Early on Monday morning week, an attempt was made [etc.].
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xliv. Send Charley to me this night week—‘for the letter.’
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. vi. The crisis came on Saturday, the day week that Thompson had died.
1863. Miss Braddon, Aurora Floyd, xx. Last Saturday was a week I touched at Liverpool with a cargo of furs [etc.]. Ibid. When I came back last Saturday week.
1883. D. C. Murray, Hearts, xiii. Can you make it convenient to be there this day week?
1889. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Mrs. Bob, i. Let us say Thursday week, dear—This is Saturday, so it is quite enough notice to give.
c. Week and week about: in alternate weeks.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, vi. 94. The girls were supposed to market week and week about.
6. Proverbial phrases. † a. To be in by the week: to be ensnared, caught; fig. to be deeply in love. To go to it by the week: to commit oneself thoroughly.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 69. This prouerbe shewth the in by the weeke.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. ii. 4. He is in by the weke, we shall haue sport anon.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretorie, II. (1595), 47. Yet now we be in, let vs go to it by the week.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 61. O that I knew he were but in by th’ weeke.
1598. R. Bernard, Terence, Andria, I. i. (1607), 12. He is in the snare; he is in for a bird, hee is in by the weeke.
1612. Webster, White Devil, E 1. Enter Flamineo and Marcello guarded, and a Lawyer. Law. What are you in by the weeke.
b. Too late a week: a jocular understatement for ‘far too late.’ Now only as echo of Shaks.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. iii. 74. At seauenteene yeeres, many their fortunes seeke But at fourescore, it is too late a weeke.
1826. Scott, Jrnl. (1890), I. 105. If she had her youthful activity, and could manage things, it … would amuse her. But I fear it is too late a week. Ibid. (1829), II. 220.
c. † The week of the four Fridays: an imaginary date that will never arrive (obs.). A week of Sundays: seven Sundays or weeks as representing a long time.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), I. Ded. p. x. At the period that the hogs shall … feed along with the herrings;… or on the week of the four Fridays, so long looked for by astrologians.
1898. ‘C. Hare,’ Broken Arcs, I. ii. 13. Tes wark … never done, an’ nar’ a bit o’ play for I,… no, not in a week o’ Sundays.
1901. D. Sladen, My Son Richard, iv. He … got to know her more intimately in that five minutes than he might otherwise have done in a week of Sundays.
d. Pugilistic slang. To knock (a person) into the middle of next week: to give (him) a decisive blow, to punish severely; to astound, flabbergast.
1821. Moncrieff, Tom & Jerry, II. iv. They knock’d me into the middle of next week—besides tipping me this here black eye—only see how red it is!
1833. [S. Smith], Lett. J. Downing, xv. (1835), 95. The first clip I made was at Amos,—but he dodged it, and I hit one of the Editors of the Globe, and knocked him about into the middle of next week.
1846. W. T. Porter, Quarter Race Kentucky, 105. The next moment he was knocked into the middle of the next three weeks!
1859. Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, xvi. I believe you would knock me into next week if I were to have a battle with you.
1883. W. H. Bishop, in Harper’s Mag., Oct., 720/2. He is good nature itself, yet it would not be comfortable to be knocked by his heels into the middle of next week, even in play.
7. Combinations: † week-boy, a boy hired by the week, as distinguished from an apprentice; week-long, continuing for a week; week-night, a night in the week other than Sunday night; also attrib.; week-old a., that has lived or lasted a week; † week-silver, some kind of feudal dues (prob. in commutation of WEEK-WORK).
1662. Act 14 Chas. II., c. 5 § 17. No Master Weaver … shall … sett on worke above two Apprentices or any *weeke-Boy to weave in a Lombe in the said Trade in worsted weaving.
1683. [see DEVIL sb. 5 a].
1898. Daily News, 15 Sept., 6/4. The ladies, true to their *week-long enthusiasm,… made the University College Theatre look very bright.
1847. Ld. Lindsay, Chr. Art, I. p. clxviii. I lay at the feet of Jesus,… yoking down my struggling flesh with week-long fastings.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xl. Both he and Ellen thought it strange that their mother should insist on that book on a *week-night; they never usually read it [the bible], save on Sunday evenings.
1877. Spurgeon, Serm., XXIII. 120. Week-night services.
1892. Lichfield Mercury, 25 March, 8/5. If we obstinately shut our eyes and keep company with the hapless *week-old kittens.
1903. Kipling, Five Nations, 115. Out of the darkness we reach For a handful of week-old papers And a mouthful of human speech.
1430. in N. & Q., 13th Ser. I. 449/1. Exceptis redditibus, seruiciis,… et xvij. s. annuis vocatis *Weikseluer.
Hence † Wukemalum adv. [-MEAL], by weeks.
c. 1200. Ormin, 536. Drihhtin Godd To þewwtenn wukemalumm. Ibid., 554.
