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In its earliest appearances in English, in the 16th century, heyday was used as an interjection that expressed elation or wonder (similar to our word hey, from which it derives). Within a few decades, heyday was seeing use as a noun meaning "high spirits." This sense can be seen in Act III, scene 4 of Hamlet, when the Prince of Denmark tells his mother, "You cannot call it love; for at your age / The heyday in the blood is tame…." The word's second syllable is not thought to be borne of the modern word day (or any of its ancestors), but in the 18th century the syllable's resemblance to that word likely influenced the development of the now-familiar use referring to the period when one's achievement or popularity has reached its zenith.
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Examples of heyday in a Sentence
Curtis Pashelka, The Mercury News, 7 Feb. 2025
In the latter half of the 19th century, during the heyday of British colonial rule, administrative officials considered mass ritual bathing at festivals such as Kumbh a great threat to public sanitation and hygiene and a potential source of cholera outbreaks.
—Sudipta Sen, The Conversation, 5 Feb. 2025
It's also rooted in the heyday of opera in New Orleans.
—Matt Bloom, NPR, 3 Feb. 2025
Head-to-head fighting games were born in the heyday of American arcade culture in the ‘90s and there were competitions even then — usually meetups at the local bowling alley or arcade or basement.
—Ahmed Ali Akbar, Chicago Tribune, 31 Jan. 2025
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“Heyday.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heyday. Accessed 13 Feb. 2025.
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