Isn't it weird how "yesterday" means "exactly one day ago" but "yesteryear" means "an indeterminate number of years ago" and there's no such thing as yestermonth, yesterweek, or yesterhour?
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@LouisIngenthron the definition of yesterday as "any times in the past, but particularly recent past" is a modern definition
yestermonth is not a common enough word to be recognized by all dictionaries, so it is debatable.. but there is modern expert usage I was able to find at least as late as 2009 and dictionaries (some) recognize and use this usage as an example:
https://www.wordsense.eu/yestermonth/
@freemo Even the examples they give for the secondary definition that matches yours are archaic idioms.
If someone says "I dropped the check in the mail yesterday.", then no reasonable person would understand that to mean anything other than "the day before today."
Even the examples they give for the secondary definition that matches yours are archaic idioms.
When a definition is considered archaic it is explicitly listed as such.. These are modern idiomys, they just have been around a while. But they were also examples, so that doesnt mean much anyway. When a phrase is archaic it is labeled as such, these are clearly not archaic definitions according to the dictionary.
If someone says “I dropped the check in the mail yesterday.”, then no reasonable person would understand that to mean anything other than “the day before today.”
Thats because as humans we are remarkably good at discerning the definition in use by context.
Here is a non idiomatic usage of this definition:
“No one would wear yesterday’s fashion to the Oscars!”
Not an idiom, clearly not archaic, and used to mean “the recent past” clearly and no one in their right mind would think they ment “the day before today” in this context.
@freemo Well played. I concede the point.
@LouisIngenthron Good debate though, thanks.
@LouisIngenthron @freemo Related fun words:
The day before yesterday is ereyesterday.
The day after tomorrow is overmorrow.
Yesterday evening is yestreen.
@LouisIngenthron
Thats not true...
Yesterday means "any time in the past".. though particularly used for the recent past.
Yestermonth is a word
Yesterweek is a word too