Idiom
forever and a day
Meaning
For a very long or seemingly endless time.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“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.”
Examples
simple
“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.”
contextual
“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.”
complex
“She felt as though she had been waiting for forever and a day for the letter that would change her life.”
Origin
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*.
Key words
Related idioms
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