Also, good afternoon or evening or morning. Formal ways of saying "Hello" or "Goodbye." For example, He began rather oddly by addressing the audience with "Good day," or "Good afternoon, ladies," said the sales clerk as we walked out. All these greetings represent an abbreviation of the now obsolete God give you a good day (afternoon, etc.), which dates from about 1200. Also see good night.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.