Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Holiday
Hol′i-day
,Noun.
[
Holy
+ day
.] 1.
A consecrated day; religious anniversary; a day set apart in honor of some person, or in commemoration of some event. See
Holyday
. 2.
A day of exemption from labor; a day of amusement and gayety; a festival day.
And young and old come forth to play
On a sunshine
On a sunshine
holiday
. Milton.
3.
(Law)
A day fixed by law for suspension of business; a legal holiday.
☞ In the United States legal holidays, so called, are determined by law, commonly by the statutes of the several States. The holidays most generally observed are: the 22d day of February (Washington’s birthday), the 30th day of May (Memorial day), the 4th day of July (Independence day), the 25th day of December (Christmas day). In most of the States the 1st day of January is a holiday. When any of these days falls on Sunday, usually the Monday following is observed as the holiday. In many of the States a day in the spring (as Good Friday, or the first Thursday in April), and a day in the fall (as the last Thursday in November) are now regularly appointed by Executive proclamation to be observed, the former as a day of fasting and prayer, the latter as a day of thanksgiving and are kept as holidays. In England, the days of the greater church feasts (designated in the calendar by a red letter, and commonly called red-letter days) are observed as general holidays. Bank holidays are those on which, by act of Parliament, banks may suspend business. Although Sunday is a holiday in the sense of a day when business is legally suspended, it is not usually included in the general term, the phrase “Sundays and holidays” being more common.
The holidays
, any fixed or usual period for relaxation or festivity; especially, Christmas and New Year's day with the intervening time.
Holˊi-day
,Adj.
1.
Of or pertaining to a festival; cheerful; joyous; gay.
Shak.
2.
Occurring rarely; adapted for a special occasion.
Courage is but a
holiday
kind of virtue, to be seldom exercised. Dryden.
Webster 1828 Edition
Holiday
HOLIDAY.
[See Holyday.]Definition 2024
Holiday
Holiday
See also: holiday
English
Alternative forms
Proper noun
Holiday
- A surname.
- (US) A shorthand term for the holiday season or Christmas season, especially when paired with a year. (e.g. "Holiday 2014").
See also
- Halliday
holiday
holiday
See also: Holiday
English
Noun
holiday (plural holidays) (chiefly Britain)
- A day on which a festival, religious event, or national celebration is traditionally observed.
- Today is a Wiccan holiday!
- A day declared free from work by the state or government.
- A period of one or more days taken off work by an employee for leisure.
- A period during which pupils and students do not attend their school or university.
- I want to take a French course this summer holiday.
- A period taken off work or study for travel or leisure.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
- No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or […] . And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
-
- A gap in coverage, e.g. of paint on a surface, or sonar imagery.[1]
Synonyms
- (day on which a festival, etc, is traditionally observed): feast day (celebratory religious event)
- (day declared free from work by the government): Bank Holiday (UK), national holiday
- (period of one or more days taken off work by an employee for leisure): leave, time off
- (period taken off work or study for travel): vacation (US)
- (gap in coverage): lacuna
Derived terms
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Translations
day on which a festival, etc, is traditionally observed
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day declared free from work by the government
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period of one or more days taken off work by an employee for leisure
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period during which pupils and students do not attend their school or university
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period taken off work or study for travel
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unintentional gap
Verb
holiday (third-person singular simple present holidays, present participle holidaying, simple past and past participle holidayed) (chiefly Britain)
- To take a period of time away from work or study.
- (Britain) To spend a period of time for travel.
Translations
to take a period of time away from work or study
to spend a period of time for travel
References
- ↑ Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/holiday (accessed: June 26, 2007).