Kate Bornstein
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The day in heyday originally had nothing to do with the kind of day that's made up of 24 hours. Heyday was first used in the first half of the 16th century as an extended form of the interjection hey, used since the 13th century to express elation or wonder, as it still often is in phrases like "hey, look at that!" The day part was most likely just an extra syllable tagged on for effect. By the end of the 16th century heyday had developed noun use with the meaning "high spirits," as when Shakespeare's Hamlet tells his mother, "You cannot call it love; for at your age / The heyday in the blood is tame …” It wasn't until the 18th century that the day syllable's resemblance to the word day likely influenced the development of the now-familiar use referring to the period when one's achievement or popularity has reached its zenith.
Examples of heyday in a Sentence
Chelsea Torres, FOXNews.com, 16 May 2026
In the 1950s and ’60s, the heyday of the state’s dairy farming industry, Connecticut had nearly 1,000 dairy farms.
—Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 16 May 2026
As if to cool that fire, classical selections are used to bed large swathes of the film, with electronic grooves that hark back to the heyday of acid house from Paul Hartnoll, co-founder of British rave scenesters Orbital.
—Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 15 May 2026
The Rolling Stones rolled back the clock in a new music video that makes the band appear to be in their 1970s heyday again.
—Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 14 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for heyday
Cite this Entry
“Heyday.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heyday. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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