Groundhog day

name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    An annual festival held in Canada and the USA on February 2 in which the arrival time of the spring season is predicted by whether or not a certain groundhog can see its shadow.

    "The prominence of the groundhog as a popular figure in the country lore of the Eastern States is shown by his having been given a place with the Saints on the calendar, February 2 being widely known as "Groundhog Day." It is claimed that on this date the groundhog wakes from his long winter sleep and appears at the mouth of his burrow to look about and survey the weather. If the sun shines so that he can see his shadow, bad weather is indicated and he retires to resume his sleep for another six weeks. Otherwise, the winter is broken and mild weather is predicted. Even on the outskirts of Washington some of the countrymen still appraise the character of the coming spring by the weather on "Groundhog Day.""

Noun
  1. 1
    A situation in which events appear to be repeating themselves in a cyclical fashion. informal

    "Jackson, working on production this summer, sounded very much as if he were missing the trilogy already: "Each movie has a very different tone, feel and structure so I've never really felt like I've been trapped in a Groundhog Day for seven years working on one project.""

  2. 2
    if the groundhog emerges and sees its shadow on this day, there will be 6 more weeks of winter wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To live out a situation in which events appear to be repeating themselves in a cyclical fashion. informal, intransitive

    "When Dis told her about groundhog daying, named after the old movie, she'd underestimated the way the experience would play out for her, going through the same conversations over again, trying different gambits but ending up in the same[…]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From the title of the film Groundhog Day (1993), in which a man is forced to live out the same day over and over in a time loop.

Etymology 2

From the title of the film Groundhog Day (1993), in which a man is forced to live out the same day over and over in a time loop.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: groundhogday