holiday

See also: Holiday

English

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhɒlɪdeɪ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈhɑləˌdeɪ/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

holiday (plural holidays)

  1. A day on which a festival, religious event, or national celebration is traditionally observed.
    Today is a Wiccan holiday!
  2. A day declared free from work by the state or government.
  3. (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.
  4. (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.
  5. 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

Translations
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Translations to be checked

Verb

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

  1. To take a period of time away from work or study.
  2. (Britain) To spend a period of time for travel.

Translations

References
  1. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/holiday (accessed: June 26, 2007).

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

holiday

  1. Alternative form of halyday
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