int. Obs. or arch. [Aphetized form of ALACK-A-DAY.] = ALACK-A-DAY.
1695. Congreve, Love for L., II. ii. Good lack-a-day, ha, ha, ha.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, I. vi. 189. Lack-a-Day, Sir, everything will be dwindled away to just nothing.
1719. Fielding, Tom Jones, X. ix. Good-lack-a-day! why there now, who would have thought it!
1779. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, Nov. I wish all the cloth were like him; but, lackaday! ’tis no such thing.
1820. W. Tooke, trans. Lucian, I. 455. Lackaday; they are gone every mother’s son.
1849. Miss Mulock, Ogilvies, xvi. (1875), 127. Ah, lack-a-day! it’s a troublesome world!
