Dictionary

haymaking en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English hey makyng; equivalent to hay + making.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The cutting of grass and subsequently curing it to make hay as fodder for animals.
   • Harvesting. With the aid of thoroughly up-to-date machinery, lucerne haymaking on the farm has become a regular routine. Briefly, the hay is cut with an ordinary mower, drawn into windrows with a rotary rake, picked up by a hay loader, carted direct to a derrick press, baled and wired without the formality of being stacked, and drawn at once to the railway. From waving lucerne in the paddock to fragrant hay on the truck something less than three days is involved in the height of the season, and a team of eight men, including the foreman, keep pace with the growth of 120 acres. 1922, New South Wales Department of Agriculture, “Leguminous Crops”, in The Farmers' Handbook, 4th edition, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: John Spence, page 557:
   • They especially liked to be with the mowers in the hay-making season, seating themselves, greatly to their satisfaction, on the long thick branch of a maple-tree, among the dense foliage. 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 93:
   • The red-painted farm-houses, peculiar to Norway, lay picturesquely scattered on the higher points of the undulating valley, where men and women were busy hay-making. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 279:
2. (countable, uncountable) Taking full advantage of an opportunity while it lasts.
   • In their haymaking days, the Spoonful created a string of '60s chestnuts: "Do You Believe In Magic?", "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice," "Daydream," "Summer In The City," "Nashville Cats." 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 330:

Forms

Relateds

make hay while the sun shines · haymaker

Translations (18)

de Heuernte (cutting and curing of grass) · sh ко̀сидба (cutting and curing of grass) · nrf f'naison (cutting and curing of grass) · uk сіножа́ть (cutting and curing of grass) · pl sianokosy (cutting and curing of grass) · hy հունձ (cutting and curing of grass) · uk сінокі́с (cutting and curing of grass) · nl hooioogst (cutting and curing of grass) · ru сеноко́с (cutting and curing of grass) · sh kòsidba (cutting and curing of grass) · xcl հունձք խոտոյ (cutting and curing of grass) · pt fenação (cutting and curing of grass) · kk шабын (cutting and curing of grass) · io fen-rekoltado (cutting and curing of grass) · it fienagione (cutting and curing of grass) · cs senoseč (cutting and curing of grass) · fr fenaison (cutting and curing of grass) · fi heinänteko (cutting and curing of grass)