YESTERDAY

yesterday

(adverb) on the day preceding today; “yesterday the weather was beautiful”

yesterday

(adverb) in the recent past; only a short time ago; “I was not born yesterday!”

yesterday

(noun) the day immediately before today; “it was in yesterday’s newspapers”

yesterday

(noun) the recent past; “yesterday’s solutions are not good enough”; “we shared many yesterdays”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

yesterday (plural yesterdays)

The day immediately before today; one day ago.

(figuratively) The recent past, often disparaging.

Usage notes

• The plural yesterdays is unusual and often poetic for the recent past, e.g. “all our yesterdays have come back to haunt us”.

• While pronunciations with /ˈjɪ-/ are now dialectal, they were formerly found in the standard language. For example, writer and orthoepist Thomas Sheridan prescribed such a pronunciation in his work.

Adverb

yesterday (not comparable)

On the day before today.

Synonym: the last day (Ireland)

Antonym: tomorrow

(informal) As soon as possible.

Source: Wiktionary

Yes"ter*day, n. Etym: [OE. ýisterdai, AS. geostran dæg, from geostran, geostra, giestran, gistran, gystran, yesterday (akin to D. gisteren, G. gestern, OHG. gestaron, Icel. gær yesterday, to-morrow, Goth. gistradagis to-morrow, L. heri yesterday, Gr. hyas) + dæg day. Cf. Hestern.

1. The day last past; the day next before the present. All our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Shak. We are but of yesterday, and know nothing. Job viii. 9.

2. Fig.: A recent time; time not long past. The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday, when compared with the line of supreme pontiffs. Macaulay.

Yes"ter*day, adv.

Definition: On the day last past; on the day preceding to-day; as, the affair took place yesterday.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

YESTERDAY

Etymology

Noun

Usage notes

Adverb

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