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holiday

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Holiday

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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    From Middle English halyday, holyday, halidei, haliȝdei, from Old English hāliġdæġ (holy day, Sabbath), equivalent to holy +‎ day. Compare West Frisian hjeldei (holiday), Danish helligdag (holiday), Norwegian helligdag (holiday), Swedish helgdag (holiday, feast).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    holiday (plural holidays)

    1. A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed.
      Near-synonyms: holy day, feast day, festival (feast day sense)
      Today is a Wiccan holiday!
      • 2005, Bill Clinton, My Life[1], volume II, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 5:
        Monday, January 18, was the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. In the morning I held a reception for the diplomatic representatives of other nations in the inner quadrangle at Georgetown, addressing them from the steps of Old North Building.
    2. A day declared free from work by the state or government.
      Synonyms: (UK) bank holiday, national holiday, day off, off day
    3. (chiefly UK, Australia) A period of one or more days taken off work for leisure and often travel; often plural.
      Synonyms: leave, time off, (US) vacation; see also Thesaurus:vacation
      How much holiday are you allowed?
      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:
        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.
      • 1949 August 11, “A Dreamer’s Holiday”, performed by Perry Como, The Fontaine Sisters, and The Mitchell Ayres Orchestra:
        Climb aboard a butterfly and take off in the breeze. Let your worries flutter by and do the things you please. In the land where dollar bills are falling off the trees. On a dreamer’s holiday. [] Make it a long vacation. Time, there is plenty of. You need no reservation. Just bring along the one you love.
    4. (chiefly UK, Australia) A period during which pupils do not attend their school; often plural; rarely used for students at university (usually: vacation).
      Synonym: (US) vacation
      I want to take a French course this summer holiday.
    5. (finance) A period during which, by agreement, the usual payments are not made.
      a mortgage payment holiday
    6. A gap in coverage, e.g. of paint on a surface, or sonar imagery.[1]
      Synonym: lacuna

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • Tok Pisin: holide
    • Chichewa: hólide
    • Japanese: ホリデー

    Translations

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    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

    Verb

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    holiday (third-person singular simple present holidays, present participle holidaying, simple past and past participle holidayed) (chiefly UK)

    1. (intransitive) To take a period of time away from work or study.
    2. (UK, intransitive) To spend a period of time in recreational travel.

    Translations

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    References

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    1. ^ holiday”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

    Anagrams

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    Middle English

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    Noun

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    holiday

    1. alternative form of halyday