Day and St
Preserved but no longer current.
Peter's Eve "to be captaine and gardian of the batchelers and the unwedded youth of the civitie." For the year the "Mayor" had authority to punish those who frequented houses of ill-fame. He was termed "Mayor of the Bull-ring" because he conducted any bachelor who married during his term of office to an iron ring that used to hang in the market place and to which bulls were tied for baitmg, and make him kiss it.
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 “Day and St” mean?
Peter's Eve "to be captaine and gardian of the batchelers and the unwedded youth of the civitie." For the year the "Mayor" had authority to punish those who frequented houses of ill-fame. He was termed "Mayor of the Bull-ring" because he conducted any bachelor who married during his term of office to an iron ring that used to hang in the market place and to which bulls were tied for baitmg, and make him kiss it.
Is “Day and St” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.