forever and a day
For a very long or seemingly endless time.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I waited for the bus for forever and a day.”
“It takes forever and a day for this computer to start up.”
“You spend forever and a day choosing what to wear every morning.”
“The meeting dragged on for forever and a day, and I was exhausted by the time it finally ended.”
“The old house has been for sale for forever and a day, but nobody seems interested in buying it.”
“My best friend and I have known each other for forever and a day, since we were in kindergarten.”
“The legal department took forever and a day to review the contract, which delayed our project by several months.”
“She felt as though she had been waiting for forever and a day for the letter that would change her life.”
folk etymology
Possibly a folk-etymological alteration of the phrase *forever and ay*, the idiom is believed to have evolved through a shift in the final term. While the precise date of its transition remains unrecorded in the brief source history, the form reflects a linguistic adjustment from the archaic *ay*, meaning ever, to the more familiar *day*.
- 01
a cold day in July
The time of occurrence of an event that will never happen.
- 02
a day late and a dollar short
Too late and too feeble to achieve the desired effect.
- 03
a year and a day
A long time.
- 04
all one's born days
One's whole life.
- 05
as the day is long
Unceasingly; very; thoroughly; to a very high degree.
- 06
bad hair day
A day when things seem to be unmanageable or go wrong.
- 07
bad old days
The past, seen as a time when things were worse.
- 08
banyan day
In British naval tradition, a day of the week when galley kitchens served no meat on board ship.
Last updated August 10, 2026