holiday
See also: Holiday
Contents
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English halyday, holyday, halidei, haliȝdei, from Old English hāliġdæġ (“holy day, Sabbath”), equivalent to holy + day. Cognate with West Frisian hjeldei (“holiday”), Danish helligdag (“holiday”), Norwegian helligdag (“holiday”), Swedish helgdag (“holiday, feast”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
holiday (plural holidays)
- 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.
- (chiefly Britain) A period of one or more days taken off work for leisure and often travel; often plural (US English: vacation).
- 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.
- (chiefly Britain) (US English: vacation) A period during which pupils do not attend their school; often plural; rarely used for students at university (usually: vacation).
- I want to take a French course this summer holiday.
- A gap in coverage, e.g. of paint on a surface, or sonar imagery.[1]
SynonymsEdit
- (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 termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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 for leisure and often travel
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period during which pupils do not attend school
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unintentional gap
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
VerbEdit
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.
TranslationsEdit
to take a period of time away from work or study
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to spend a period of time for travel
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ReferencesEdit
- ^ Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/holiday (accessed: June 26, 2007).