August is the eighth month of the year and the last full month of summer in the northern hemisphere. In August, the August bank holiday, born in August.
It has thirty-one days. In Britain it is the main school holiday month and the quietest in politics — the silly season, when newspapers run stories nothing else would displace. There is also an adjective august, stressed on the second syllable — aw-GUST — meaning dignified and impressive: an august institution, august company. It is formal and slightly ceremonial, and it comes from the same emperor.
1nounaugustThe eighth month of the year.
“Nothing happens in August and everybody pretends otherwise.”
2adjectivedignifiedDignified and impressive.
“It is an august institution with a very leaky roof.”
august is a month, or a quality of dignity.
The month was renamed for the emperor Augustus, whose own title meant venerable or majestic. It had been Sextilis, the sixth month, from the old Roman year that began in March — which is also why September to December have the wrong numbers in their names.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂ewg-
Latin
augustus — majestic, venerable, august; imperial, royal
French
auguste — noble, stately; august
English, today
august
Built from
From French auguste (“noble, stately; august”) or Latin augustus (“majestic, venerable, august; imperial, royal”), from augeō (“to augment, increase; to enlarge, expand, spread”). a doublet of August and Augustus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA