Banyan Day
Preserved but no longer current.
An old English nautical phrase to describe a day in which no meat came in the rations. In Australia it found its way to out- stations where the hands were likely to have eaten all their meat before the last day of the ration period, thus becoming involuntary vegetarians. In Australia it is found in official documents in the later 18th century.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Banyan Day” mean?
An old English nautical phrase to describe a day in which no meat came in the rations. In Australia it found its way to out- stations where the hands were likely to have eaten all their meat before the last day of the ration period, thus becoming involuntary vegetarians. In Australia it is found in official documents in the later 18th century.
Is “Banyan Day” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.