Daymare

//ˈdeɪˌmɛɚ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A vivid, unpleasant mental image, having the characteristics of a nightmare, during wakefulness.

    "What walks I took alone, down muddy lanes, in the bad winter weather, carrying that parlor, and Mr. and Miss Murdstone in it, everywhere: a monstrous load that I was obliged to bear, a daymare that there was no possibility of breaking in, a weight that brooded on my wits, and blunted them!"

Verb
  1. 1
    To have a daymare. intransitive, transitive

    "There must be something better to spend my precious time daymaring."

Example

More examples

"What walks I took alone, down muddy lanes, in the bad winter weather, carrying that parlor, and Mr. and Miss Murdstone in it, everywhere: a monstrous load that I was obliged to bear, a daymare that there was no possibility of breaking in, a weight that brooded on my wits, and blunted them!"

Etymology

From day + mare, after nightmare.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.