adv. and sb. Forms: α. 3 to moruwe, 3–5 to morewe, 3–6 to morowe, to morwe, 4 to morȝe. β. 4 to moru, 5 to morw, to morow, 5–6 to morrowe, 6 tomorow, 6–8 to morrow, 6–9 tomorrow, 6– to-morrow. Regularly written as two words till 1500 and usually so till c. 1750. [ME. from to morȝen, to morwen (see TO-MORN), with dropping of final -n, and later of -e, as in inflexions of nouns and vbs., etc. When the final e was lost, w was vocalized to -ow, as in arrow, borrow, sorrow. Cf. MORROW.]
A. adv. 1. For or on the day after today; for or on the morrow.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, 140, in O. E. Misc., 41. Er hit beo day to morewe al oþer hit schal go.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 393/29. Þus time to-moruwe cum aȝein.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2838. Hij wolleþ tomorwe ariue at te hauene of toteneys.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 2089. To morwe y schal hir se.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3513. To-morȝe on þe spryng of þe day … to þe pauyllouns take þe way.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xx. 16. To day leeneth a man, and to moru [1388 to morewe] he asketh it bi ple.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1544. Thanne helpe me lord tomorwe in my bataille.
1426. Audelay, Poems, 25. To-morw or hit be day.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, V. viii. To morowe on the mornyng … sende me a dyssh ful of mylk.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 368. Euery day in the weeke it was sayde, he departeth to morwe.
a. 1628. Preston, New Covt. (1634), 435. This doing of it now, and now, and to morrow, and to morrow, these little distances deceive us, and delude us.
1709. Prior, Song ‘If wine & music have the power.’ But She to Morrow will return.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXIX. 383/2. ‘Sometime; not to-day; to-morrow.’ This is the stereotyped answer which a Turk has always at his tongue’s end.
b. in antithesis to to-day: see TODAY A. 1 b.
† 2. On the morrow after the day mentioned. Sc. Obs.
a. 1699. Kirkton, Hist. Ch. Scot. (1817), 126. After he hade drunk liberally in the Advocate’s house that same day, went to bed in health, but was taken up stark dead to-morrow morning.
1717. Wodrow, Lett. to J. Hart, 8 Oct. A committee for peace was proposed to-morrow, who heard the ministers and Mr. Anderson upon the heads of complaint.
B. sb.
1. The day after this day; the next succeeding day; the morrow. a. after till, unto, from, where it may be adv. b. clearly sb.
a. c. 1386. Chaucer, Melib., ¶ 829. The goodnesse þat thou mayst do this day, do it,… ne delaye it nat til to morwe.
1485. Caxton, Chas. Gt., II. II. xi. 121. It is better to abyde tyl to morowe.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 98 b. Knowest thou whether he shall liue vnto to morowe.
b. 1535. Coverdale, Prov. xxvii. 1. Make not thy boost of tomorow.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, VI. v. To morrowes sun shall spread his timely raies.
a. 1667. Cowley, Ess. in Verse & Prose, Danger Procrastination. Our Yesterdays To morrow now is gone.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 163, ¶ 11. A … Story … which I shall relate at length in my To-morrow’s Paper.
1758. Franklin, Prel. Addr. Pennsylv. Alm. One to-day is worth two to-morrows.
1832. Tennyson, May Queen, i. To-morrow ’ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year.
1838. Longf., Psalm Life, iii. To act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day.
2. attrib. with times of the day: tomorrow morning, forenoon, afternoon, evening, night, dinner-time; also † tomorrow day. The combination is used both as sb. and as adv.
c. 1275. Lay., 17732. Are to morewe heue.
1382. Wyclif, Acts xxiii. 20. That to morwe day thou bringe forth Poul into the counceil.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. xxiii. 70. He commaunded that … his best hors and armour … be withoute the cyte or to morowe daye.
1539. Bible (Great), Matt. vi. 34. Care not then for the morow, for to morowe day shall care for it selfe.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 161. I wil come to your worship to morrow morning. Ibid. (1596), 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 564. I will by to morrow Dinner time, Send him to answere thee.
1681. Otway, Soldier’s Fort., III. i. He shall be Crows-meats by to-morrow Night.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VIII. iii. To-morrow morning I shall but call to see how she is.
Mod. Can you spend tomorrow evening with us?
3. Phrase. Tomorrow come never, a day that will never arrive; ‘when two Sundays meet together’; ‘on the Greek Kalends.’
1725. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq. (1878), I. 70. He shall have it in a very little Time…. When? To morrow come never? [orig. ad Calendas Græcas].
1770. Colman, Man & Wife, III. 46. Marc. Very soon, my dear! to-day, or to-morrow, perhaps. Sally. To-morrow come never, I believe.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Gloss., s.v., Nivver, To-morrow come nivver—when two Sundays meet together.
Hence (nonce-wds.) To[-]morrower, one who puts off till tomorrow; a procrastinator; To[-]morrowing a., that procrastinates; To[-]morrowness, the distinctive quality of being tomorrow.
1810. Coleridge, Lett., to Wife (1895), 563. He is as great a to-morrower to the full as your poor husband.
1880. G. Meredith, Tragic Com., xiv. The postponer, the deferrer, or, as we might say, the to-morrower.
1824. J. McCulloch, Scotl., IV. 300. The Cras hoc fiet of this tomorrowing country.
1897. Bookman, Nov., 235. If to-morrow … in its essential to-morrowness, has no objective existence.
Hence To[-]morrowish a.
1888. Boston Globe, 28 Jan., 4/3. There are thus adjectives [in Volapuk] for ‘tomorrow-ish,’ ‘last-night-ish,’ and hosts of others which can be correctly expressed in English only by using two words or more.
1888. Fall River (MA) Daily Even. News, 10 Aug., 4/2. The Alcalde of Yauco is up-to-date. There is nothing slow or to-morrow-ish about him.
