or wet-day, subs. phr. (common).—Hard times; whence, TO LAY UP FOR A RAINY-DAY = to provide against necessity or distress.—GROSE (1785).
1617. L. ANDREWES, Ninety-Six Sermons (‘Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology’ (1841–3), ii. 346]. This they caught as an advantage we see, and laid it up for a RAINY DAY, and three years after out they came with it.
1662. FULLER, Worthies, xi. Ergo, saith the Miser, part with nothing, but keep all against a WET DAY.
1836. EVERETT, Orations, I. 285. The man whose honest industry just gives him a competence, exerts himself that he may have something against a RAINY DAY.
1885. Evening Standard, 23 Oct. They must in prosperous times put by something for a RAINY DAY.
