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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BANYAN-DAY, BANYAR-, n. A day on which little food is to be had, or only scraps left over from the days before. In pl. hard times.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
Banyar, heard only in phr. “b[anyar]-days” = hard times, days of straitened living = Engl. banyan (naut.).Bnff.2 1932:
“This his been a banyan-day.” The expression is sometimes used by Whitehills fishermen. I cannot say if it is used elsewhere.

[Introduced by sailors into the above dialects. F. C. Bowen in A Dictionary of Sea Slang gives “Banyan Days, days on which no meat was served to a ship's crew in the old Navy and Merchant Service.” Port., Arab. banyān, Gujarati vāniyo, Sanskrit vanij, merchant. Man of trading caste. . . . This caste abstains from animal food, hence naut. banyan day. See Weekley.]

1783

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