holiday
a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.
any day of exemption from work (distinguished from working day).
a time or period of exemption from any requirement, duty, assessment, etc.: New businesses may be granted a one-year tax holiday.
Sometimes holidays. Chiefly British. a period of cessation from work or one of recreation; vacation.
an unintentional gap left on a plated, coated, or painted surface.
of or relating to a festival; festive; joyous: a holiday mood.
suitable for a holiday: holiday attire.
Chiefly British. to vacation: to holiday at the seaside.
Origin of holiday
1Other words for holiday
Other words from holiday
- pre·hol·i·day, adjective
Other definitions for Holiday (2 of 2)
Billie "Lady Day", 1915–59, U.S. jazz singer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use holiday in a sentence
The conversations can be about the challenges of holidays, anniversaries, and new family configurations.
Everyone at This Dinner Party Has Lost Someone | Samantha Levine | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTChristians should have addressed that conflict more forcefully over the holidays.
What, I suspect, we really want from Santa is peace (and quiet) at home for the holidays.
But throughout it all, Ryan learns the true meaning of the holidays and spends it with family.
Last year, it let an unemployment extension for the long-term jobless expire during the holidays.
To GOP Congress, as Usual, It’s Welfare on the Chopping Block | Monica Potts | December 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The weeks lengthened into months, and the holidays came; but just before the holidays Black Sheep fell into deadly sin.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II | Rudyard KiplingThese gorgeous tea-cups were never used but on high-days and holidays, or on the advent of any particular visitors.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieYou hand it over to me and come back with me next holidays, and bring me a coach-full of your fellows.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries | Charles G. HarperWhen a letter comes, forward it at once, and if necessary I shall go there during the holidays, and bring her home.
The Cromptons | Mary J. HolmesIn spring the students were generally set an important task to be completed during the summer holidays.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky | Modeste Tchaikovsky
British Dictionary definitions for holiday (1 of 2)
/ (ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ, -dɪ) /
(often plural) mainly British
a period in which a break is taken from work or studies for rest, travel, or recreation: US and Canadian word: vacation
(as modifier): a holiday mood
a day on which work is suspended by law or custom, such as a religious festival, bank holiday, etc: Related adjective: ferial
(intr) mainly British to spend a holiday
Origin of holiday
1British Dictionary definitions for Holiday (2 of 2)
/ (ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ) /
Billie. real name Eleanora Fagan; known as Lady Day. 1915–59, US jazz singer
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with holiday
see busman's holiday.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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