dog days

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The Word of the Day for July 28 is:

dog days   \DOG-DAYZ\   noun 
    *1 : the hot sultry period of summer between early July and early September 
in the northern hemisphere 
     2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity 

Example sentence: 
     With the steamy dog days upon us, air conditioners are selling like 
hotcakes. 

Did you know? 
     Dogs aren't the only creatures uncomfortable in oppressive heat, so why 
does a dog get singled out in "dog days"? The dog here is actually the Dog 
Star, which is also called "Sirius." The star has long been associated with 
sultry weather in the northern hemisphere because it rises simultaneously with 
the sun during the hottest days of summer. In the ancient Greek constellation 
system, this star (called "Seirios" in Greek) was considered the hound of the 
hunter Orion and was given the epithet "Kyon," meaning "dog." The Greek writer 
Plutarch referred to the hot days of summer as "hemerai kynades" (literally, 
"dog days") and a Latin translation of this expression as "dies caniculares" is 
the source of our English phrase.





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