ides

From Middle English ides, idus, from Anglo-Norman and Old French ides, from Latin īdūs, a fourth-declension plurale tantum, from the Latin practice of treating most recurring calendrical days as plurals. The Latin term is cognate with Oscan eiduis, both perhaps deriving from an unknown Etruscan term. Middle English and Old French also used the singular form ide.

Þa monðas þe habbað iiii nonas æfter kalendas... habbað to idus xiii dagas and to ii kalendas eahtatyne.
Those months that have 4 nones after the kalends... have 13 days to the ides and eighteen to the second kalends.

10th century, Byrhtferð of Ramsey, Enchiridion (Ashmolean MS 328), Book I, Chapter ii, Section 22

The Roman Month its several days divides
By reckoning backwards, Calends, Nones, and Ides.

1679, J. Moxon, Mathematics made Easie, page 26:

For the modern reader of Latin the most irritating pecularity of this system of dating is that the days after the Ides of any month carry the name of the following month... Another trap for the unwary lies in the fact that the Roman calendars given in most reference books are Julian, not pre-Julian. When Caesar added ten days to the Roman year he put them near the ends of the seven 29-day months, one or two in each. As a result, instead of the day after the Ides of all months being a.d. XVII Kal., in these seven months it is either a.d. XVIII Kal. or a.d. XIX Kal., and all the following days change correspondingly.

1967, Agnes Kirsopp Michels, Calendar of the Roman Republic, page 22:

[March, May, Quintilis, and October] also have their Nones on the seventh, as Numa ordained, because Julius changed nothing about them. As for January, Sextilis, and December, they still have their Nones on the fifth, though they began to have thirty-one days after Caesar added two days to each, and it is nineteen days from their Ides to the following Kalends, because in adding the two days Caesar did not want to insert them before either the Nones or the Ides, lest an unprecedented postponement mar religious observance associated with the Nones or Ides themselves, which have a fixed date.

2011, Robert A. Kaster trans. Macrobius, Saturnalia, Book I, Chapter xiv, Section 8

The third day before the ides of March is March 13th; the third ides of August is August 11th; and the third of the ides of November is November 11th.

(historical, often capitalized) The notional full-moon day of a Roman month, occurring on the 15th day of the four original 31-day months (March, May, Quintilis or July, and October) and on the 13th day of all other months.


Noel

From Middle English Nowel, borrowed from Old French Noel (“Christmas”), from Latin nātālis [diēs Dominī] (“birth[day of the Lord]”). Doublet of natal.


carnival

→ Japanese: カーニバル (kānibaru)

From Middle French carnaval, from Italian carnevale, possibly from the Latin phrase carnem levāmen (“meat dismissal”). Other scholars suggest Latin carnuālia (“meat-based country feast”) or carrus nāvālis (“boat wagon; float”) instead. Doublet of carnaval.

Carnival of Brazil

Venice Carnival

Any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent.

antroxu

festival held just before the beginning of Lent


Maundy Thursday

From Middle English Maunde Þursday (“Holy Thursday”), equivalent to maundy + Thursday. Middle English maundy derives from Old French mandé, from Latin mandātum, in reference to the phrase mandātum novum dō vōbīs (“a new commandment I give unto you”).

inh

The dialect name for Maundy Thursday, Grie(ner)-Durmerschdawg (Green Thursday, literally), is in very large part responsible for the basic lore that attaches to this day: One must eat something green on this day.[…]Failure to eat something green on Maundy Thursday had dire consequences, according to the folk mind: One would get the itch, one would become lousy, or as a York County informant put it, "Mer iss s gans yawr uff em aisel." (One will be a mule all year long.)

1960, Alfred Lewis Shoemaker, Eastertide in Pennsylvania: A Folk-Cultural Study, published 2000, page 13:

It is the tradition among Christians in Africa on Maundy Thursday that, before the sacrament of Holy Communion is served, worshipers move about the sanctuary and seek forgiveness from everyone they have hurt or offended or sinned against — known or unknown — in recent months.

2002, Steven Molin, Journey Of Stones: A Sermon Series For Lent And Easter, page 47:

Most Presbyterian churches have an evening service on Maundy Thursday that includes the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

2011, Donald K. McKim, More Presbyterian Questions, More Presbyterian Answers: Exploring Christian Faith, page 42:

The Thursday before Easter, which commemorates the Last Supper.


Easter

en-noun

Easter (countable and uncountable, plural Easters)

→ Chickasaw: Iista'

The noun is derived from Middle English Ester, from Old English ēastre, seemingly from Ēastre, a proposed Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn whose festival is thought to have been celebrated around the vernal equinox. Further from Proto-West Germanic *Austrā, from Proto-Germanic *Austrǭ, derived from either Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- (“dawn; east”) or, more semantically plausible, from *austrą, *auzrą, a metathesized form of *wazrą (“spring (season)”), *-ǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ (“spring”).
The English word is cognate with German Low German Oostern (“Easter”), Old High German ōstarūn (modern German Ostern) and is possibly a doublet of east. Despite a modern folk etymology, not related to Ishtar.
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

We spent each of the past five Easters together as a family.

During the Easter season, the Russians are planning “a great battle in Donbas,” the Russian-occupied region in Ukraine’s far east. “This is not Christian behavior at all, as I understand it. On Easter they will kill, and they will be killed.”

2022 April 15, Anne Applebaum, Jeffrey Goldberg, quoting Volodymyr Zelensky, “LIBERATION WITHOUT VICTORY”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 2022-04-15:

Western Christianity
Western Christianity

Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity

Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church

A Christian feast commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated on the first Sunday (and Monday) following the full moon that occurs on or next after the vernal equinox, ranging in most of Western Christianity (such as Protestantism and Roman Catholicism) from March 22 to April 25, and in Eastern Christianity (such as the Coptic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church) from April 4 to May 8.

Paasfees

Jesus Daaztsą́ą́dę́ę́ʼ Náádiidzáhígíí Bééhániih

Eastertide (“the period from Easter to Whitsun”).

(UK, Ireland, law, education) Ellipsis of Easter term.

(paganism) A festival held in honour of the goddess Eostre or Ostara, celebrated at the vernal equinox or within the month of April; Eostre, Ostara.

ostara

After two dayes folowed eſter⸝ and the dayes of ſwete breed. And the hye preſtꝭ [prestis] and ſcrybꝭ [scrybis] ſought meanes⸝ howe they myght take hym [Jesus] by crafte and putt hym to deeth.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Marke xiiij:[1], folio lxv, verso:


Passion Sunday

From the Passion of Christ, the suffering of Jesus preceding and during his crucifixion, from passio (“suffering”).

near synonym: Sunday of Mary of Egypt, the fifth Sunday of Great Lent by the Byzantine Rite calendar

The fifth Sunday in Lent, the second Sunday before Easter, the first day in Passiontide.

peyak ayamihiwikîsikâw pamayes ka âpisisinokîsîkak

(rare, inexact) Synonym of Palm Sunday: the sixth Sunday in Lent, the Sunday before Easter, the mid-point of Passiontide.


Easter Monday

The Monday after Easter Sunday; a bank holiday in Britain and a holiday in many other places.


full moon

From Middle English ful mone, from Old English full mōna, equivalent to full + moon.

The phase of the moon when it is in opposition to the sun and its full disc is therefore visible.

The moon when it is in opposition to the sun.


new moon

From Middle English newe moone, newe mone, equivalent to new + moon.

donkermaan

phase of moon when in conjunction with sun

Coordinate term: full moon

The phase of the moon when it is in conjunction with the sun and is therefore obscured.

Coordinate term: full moon

The moon when it is in conjunction with the sun.

Coordinate term: old moon

The phase of the moon when it is waxing.

Coordinate term: old moon

The day when the new moon is first seen or is expected to appear.


Palm Sunday

From the palm fronds supposedly laid before Jesus during his entrance to Jerusalem preceding his crucifixion. Originally Old English Palmsunnandæg or palm-sunnandæg. The current spelling dates to the 17th century.

The sixth Sunday in Lent, the Sunday before Easter.

ܥܹܐܕܵܐ ܕܐܘܿܫܲܥܢܹ̈ܐ

ʿēdā d-ošaʿnē


Easter egg

/ˈiː.stəɹ ˌɛɡ/

Adventure (1980 video game)#Easter_egg
Easter egg

From Easter + egg. Cognate with German Low German Ooosterei (“Easter egg”), Middle High German ōsterei ("Easter egg"; > modern German Osterei). So called because eggs would be eaten during Easter to break the fasting during Lent. (No eggs, dairy, meat except fish, lard, or foods containing these ingredients could be eaten during Lent.) The computing sense is from the early 1980s, popularized by the video game Adventure.

gloss

"Easter egg"; > modern German <i class="Latn mention" lang="de">Osterei</i>

Because eggs were inexpensive in most regions, the practice of decorating Easter eggs crossed all social classes and remained somewhat simple.

2009, Ace Collins, chapter 23, in Stories Behind the Traditions and Songs of Easter:

A dyed or decorated egg, traditionally associated with Easter and, in the Western European tradition, sometimes hidden for children to find.


Easter Bunny

From Easter + bunny, calque of German Osterhase (literally “Easter hare”).

calque

An Easter Bunny Party

1905 April 30, Mary Dawson, “An Easter Bunny Party”, in Good Housekeeping, volume 40, page 461:

One day the old Easter Bunny looked out of his winter covert and Said to his Bunny-wife, who was busy coloring Easter eggs, “It is high time we set out to look for the Easter Lily.”

1915 April 1, The Christian Advocate, volume 90, page 438:

Soon I ran into two Easter Bunnies who gave me candy. Honest! All right, it was really two women wearing pink bunny hoods.

2005, Danie Martin, Always Another Mountain: A Woman Hiking the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain to Mount Katahdin, Virtualbookworm Publishing, →ISBN, page 35:

Yeah, remember? We’re Spies, we deal in fact, not chasing after Easter Bunnies.
Yeah, right. Wait the Easter Bunny’s missing? A-ha-ha! Just kidding, guys! I know the Easter Bunny is tucked away safe in his little toadstool house up in the fjords of British Columbia.

2006 March 16, Bryan Thompson, “I Want My Mummy”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 2, spoken by Alexandra “Alex” (Jennifer Hale as Samantha “Sam” and Katie Leigh), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:

Easter Bunnies can be booked for businesses (such as Malls), for churches, for community Easter Egg Hunts or even as a preferred birthday party costume character for a birthday that falls close to Easter.

2014, Margy Johnson, Start Your Own Costume Character Business & Make Great Money Working at Home, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 73:

Some residents rotated decorations seasonally by displaying holiday wreaths in the winter and plastic Easter Bunnies and pinwheels in the spring.

2016, Kimberley Kinder, DIY Detroit: Making Do in a City without Services, University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN:

Two costumed Easter Bunnies, handing out plastic, candy-filled eggs and hugging children, hopped in our ranks.

2016, Richard J. Gonzales, “Conclusion”, in Raza Rising: Chicanos in North Texas, University of North Texas Press, →ISBN, page 287:

A symbolic rabbit sometimes depicted delivering Easter eggs to children.

Osterhaas

Symbolic rabbit sometimes depicted delivering Easter eggs to children


Eastertide

From Easter + -tide (“period surrounding a festival”).


Whitsun

1909, Sidney Heath, Romance of Symbolism: Fonts and the symbols of baptism - The times [for baptism] of which Whitsun Eve is one, are specified by ... the constitutions for Orthobon for England, Gerona, 517, c. iv.

1978, Peter Bailey, Leisure and class in Victorian England: Rational recreation and the contest for control, quoting "a British observation from early 20th century", read in Orvar Löfgren, On Holiday: A History of Vacationing (2002) - The excursion train used to vomit forth, at Easter and in Whitsun week, throngs of millhands of the period, cads and their flames, tawdry, blowsy, noisy, drunken.


Whitsun

Of, or relating to Whitsunday or Whitsuntide


Whitsunday

Inherited from Middle English Whitsonday, from whit (“white”) + Sonday (“Sunday”), from Old English hwīt sunnandæg, probably from the white clothes worn by newly baptized Christians as Pentecost was a traditional date of baptism in early medieval England. Doublet of White Sunday.

inh+

Jesus, ascended into Heav'n again/Bestow'd this won'drous Gift upon good Men/That various Nations, by his Spirit led,/All understood what Galileans said.

1773, John Byrom, “On Whitsunday”, in Miscellaneous Poems:

An older name for this day [Pentecost] is Whitsunday, or “white Sunday,” named for the white garments worn by the newly baptised.

2004, Vicki K Black, Welcome to the Church Year: An Introduction to the Seasons of the Episcopal Church:

The Sunday of the feast of Pentecost, seven weeks after Easter


Whitsunday

Whitsunday Region, a local government area in northern Queensland, Australia.


Whitsuntide

en-noun

Whitsuntide (countable and uncountable, plural Whitsuntides)

The third year he had a tailor staying with him before Whitsuntide, making new clothes for the holidays.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 158:

There are eight 4-wheel coaches of the open toastrack type, but provided with roofs, and during the holiday season, usually beginning at Whitsuntide, trains are run as required on the one-engine-in-steam principle.

1941 July, “The Isle of Man Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 315:


St. Patrick's Day

A Roman Catholic holiday commemorating Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland on 17ᵗʰ March.


St. George's Day

The saint's day of Saint George, the patron saint of England, celebrated on April 23ʳᵈ.


name day

In Italy, many individuals celebrate not only their birthday but also their name day, the feast day of the saint for whom they were named. Celebrations on one's name day are often as important as those on one's birthday; […]

2014, Ada Gobetti, Partisan Diary: A Woman's Life in the Italian Resistance, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

The feast day of the saint after whom one is named.


sesquicentenary

From sesqui- (“one and a half”) + centenary (“100 year anniversary”).


sesquicentennial

From sesqui- (“one-and-a-half”) + centennial (“of 100 years”). By surface analysis, sesqui- + cent- + -ennial.

surf

The city celebrated its sesquicentennial last year.


Jewish calendar

(religion, Judaism) A lunisolar calendar used for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of the State of Israel.


fantasia

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-fantasia.wav

Borrowed from Italian fantasia (“imagination, fancy, fantasy; musical composition with improvisational characteristics”), from Latin phantasia (“fancy, fantasy; imagination”), borrowed from Ancient Greek φᾰντᾰσῐ́ᾱ (phăntăsĭ́ā, “appearance, look; display, presentation; pageantry, pomp; impression, perception; image”), from φᾰ́ντᾰσῐς (phắntăsĭs) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Φᾰ́ντᾰσῐς (Phắntăsĭs) is derived from φᾰντᾰ́ζω (phăntắzō, “to make visible, show; to become visible, appear; to imagine”), from φαίνω (phaínō, “to appear; to reveal; to shine”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”). The English word is a doublet of fancy, fantasy, phantasia, and phantasy.

doublet

The Fantasia, by Mr. [Pio] Cianchettini, is upon [Gioachino] Rossini's air "Tu che accendi," so often made the theme of piano forte lessons. [...] Mr. Cianchettini's imagination is very vivid and full, and we know of nothing more florid or requiring lighter and more delicate touching than this Fantasia.

1821, “… Fantasia, for the Piano Forte, on Di Tanti Palpiti, by Pio Cianchettini. London. Mitchell. [review]”, in The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, volume III, number X, London: […] Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, […], →OCLC, page 252:

Miss [Eleanor Margaret] Geary is a brilliant pianiste, who make light of the modern difficulties set down for the instrument: her performance of [Theodor] Döhler's Anna Bolena fantasia was achieved without apparent effort, and won considerable applause; [...] Miss E[lizabeth] Geary is a vocalist, possessing a sweet and flexible voice, [...] this young lady also played a fantasia on the concertina very adroitly.

1841, Eleanor Margaret Geary, “[Addenda.] Reviews Consequent upon a Grand Morning Concert Given by Miss Geary and Miss Elizabeth Geary, at Willis’s Great Concert Room, King Street, St. James’s, June 21st, 1841, …”, in Musical Education; with Practical Observations on the Art of Piano-forte Playing, London: D’Almaine and Co., […], →OCLC, page 44:

The little Italian party, before alluded to, had collected around the piano. The white and plump fingers of the gay and black-eyed daughter of the Roman marchioness were tripping lightly up and down the octaves of the instrument, and her little tastefully arranged head was merrily dancing from side to side, keeping time to the half-improvised phantasia, which trickled like a wayward stream from her hands.

1853 July, Thomas Buchanan Read, “Pilgrims of the Great St. Bernard”, in George R[ex] Graham, editor, Graham’s Magazine, volume XLIII, number 1, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Watson & Co. […]?], →OCLC, chapter VIII, page 105:

She [Josepha Barbara Auernhammer] published subsequently many works of her own, (in all 63,) which, as well as her play, especially the extempore phantasias, were distinguished by much delicate feeling and a vivid imagination.

1857, Hugh James Rose, “AURENHAMMER,^([sic – meaning AUERNHAMMER]) (Josepha)”, in A New General Biographical Dictionary, […], volume II, London: T. Fellowes, […], →OCLC, pages 368–369:

Among English composers working during the first half of the seventeenth century, John Coprario distinguished himself as a first-rate craftsman and as the innovator of the three-movement fantasia-suite. [...] These pieces should be viewed in the context of his total output of eight two-part fantasias; ten three-part fantasias; seven four-part fantasias; [...]

1982, Richard Charteris, “Preface”, in John Coprario, edited by Richard Charteris, Twelve Fantasias for Two Bass Viols and Organ, and Eleven Pieces for Three Lyra Viols (Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era; XLI), Madison, Wis.: A-R Editions, →ISBN, →ISSN Invalid ISSN, page vii, column 1:

Representative as they are of [Georg Philipp] Telemann's introduction to Germany of the lighter and less contrpuntal galant style from France, these fantasias are also obvious precursors of the Classical sonata form.

1987, “Publisher’s Note”, in Georg Philipp Telemann, edited by Max Seiffert, The 36 Fantasias for Keyboard, New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, →ISBN:

In 1783 C[arl] P[hilipp] E[manuel] Bach's fourth collection of keyboard music for Kenner und Liebhaber was published by Brietkopf in Leipzig. [...] For the first time in the Kenner und Liebhaber series, this volume contained two free fantasias in addition to sonatas and rondos, a novelty that not only caught the attention of the critics, but seems to have been considered by Bach as a particular selling point for the volume: [...]

2001, Annette Richards, “C. P. E. Bach and the Landscapes of Genius”, in The Free Fantasia and the Musical Picturesque (New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 34:

(music, also figurative) A form of instrumental composition with a free structure and improvisational characteristics; specifically, one combining a number of well-known musical pieces.

ֆանտազիա

It is, however, a ceremony of immense antiquity, and the chief civil festival of the year among the Arabs, who love nothing more dearly than a "phantasia" of this sort.

1872 October 19, “The Cutting of the Nile: From The Pall Mall Gazette”, in Littel’s Living Age, volume XXVII (Fourth Series; volume CXV overall), number 1480, Boston, Mass.: Littel & Gay, →OCLC, page 189, column 2:

When, at the head-centre, the lady demonstrator, armed with a Brobdingnagian whalebone needle, threaded with a bright red cord, executed herringboned fantasias on a canvas frame resembling a violin stand, it all looked easy enough.

1899, I[srael] Zangwill, “The Keeper of Conscience”, in “They that Walk in Darkness”: Ghetto Tragedies, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Jewish Publication Society of America, →OCLC, section VII, page 289:

Consequently 'War in the Air' means social destruction instead of victory as the end of war. It not only alters the methods of war but the consequences of war. After all that has happened since this fantasia of possibility was written, I do not think that there is much wrong with this thesis.

[1921], H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Preface”, in The War in the Air (Collins’ Thin Paper Pocket Edition; 20), London, Glasgow: Collins Clear-Type Press, →OCLC; quoted in Charles E. Gannon, “Promoters of the Probable, Prophets of the Possible: Technological Innovation and Edwardian Near-future War Fiction”, in Rumors of War and Infernal Machines: Technomilitary Agenda-setting in American and British Speculative Fiction, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003, →ISBN, page 82:

[The Warrior's Barrow (Kjæmpehøjen)] admirably conformed to his employers' National-Romantic aims. This is equally true of the four new plays with which [Henrik] Ibsen honoured his contract: St. John's Night) (Sancthansnatten, 1853), a phantasia having a good deal in common with [William] Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream [...]

1966, Brian W[esterdale] Downs, “Ibsen before 1884”, in Modern Norwegian Literature 1860–1918, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 44:

These are the years in which she [Ellen Terry] begins to sign her letters in a phantasia of different names.

1987, Nina Auerbach, “Our Lady of the Lyceum”, in Joan DeJean, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Peter Stallybrass, Gary Tomlinson, editors, Ellen Terry, Player in Her Time (New Cultural Studies), Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 209:

Her art is always with her, clothing her from throat to toes in an indelible fantasia of color and form and myth.

2003, Ann K. Schwader, “Body of Work”, in Kevin L. O’Brien, editor, Strange Stars & Alien Shadows: The Dark Fiction of Ann K. Schwader, Aurora, Colo.: Lindisfarne Press, →ISBN, page 39:

David and my parents looked up from passing bowls of potato and chicken salad. Great, a mayonnaise fantasia.

2012, Zoe Fishman, chapter 2, in Saving Ruth, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow, →ISBN:

[T]he zippy musical numbers in which Mary Poppins (a stiff-lipped Emily Blunt) whisks cherubs Annabel, John, and Georgie (Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson, respectively) away into colorful hyperreal fantasias impress.

2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-05-24:

(chiefly art, by extension) Any work which is unstructured or comprises other works of different genres or styles.

fantazija

As for the wonderful feats of horsemanship one hears of or sees among the Arabs, they are due to sharp spurs like razors, and to bits strong enough to break an animal's jaw. […] The favourite feat at their fantasias or fêtes of suddenly pulling up their horses short while at a hand-gallop, ruins their legs, and there is in consequence scarcely a horse to be seen whose hind-legs are not spavined.

1868, Mrs. H. Lloyd Evans, “Across the Atlas”, in Last Winter in Algeria, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 100:

These fantasias consist of sham fights, the men riding at full gallop at one another, and firing as they pass; the play might have ended more seriously than was intended, for one Spahi had unknowingly a ball in his rifle, which whizzed close to his enemy's head, but the man never winced, or took any more notice than if it had been blank cartridge, and the fantasia continued as before.

1875 February, “Biskra, in French Algeria, on the Verge of Sahara”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours. Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume XVIII, number I, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie […], →OCLC, page 218, column 2:

Everyone was enjoying himself. Political differences seemed to be forgotten. The King was smarter than anyone realized. Bang! Bang! Bang! The fantasias went on and on, the Berber warriors in white, standing up in their silver stirrups on bay, gray, black, and chestnut stallions, firing their silver-chased rifles in perfect unison into the air. [...] The men cheered and the women ululated as each successful fantasia run was completed.

1976, Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, “The Feast of Accession to the Sultan’s Throne”, in A Street in Marrakech: A Personal View of Urban Women in Morocco, Long Grove, Ill.: Waveland Press, published 1988, →ISBN, part II, page 223:

Mimi was keen to ride a berber horse and Said arranged a Fantasia especially for us – or was it for her? – with the best riders around Marrakech.

1990 April 30, “Sisley: Relaxed Elegance [advertisement]”, in Edward Kosner, editor, New York, volume 23, number 17, New York, N.Y.: News America Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 199:

However, in the last few years, the stud farms in Morocco and elsewhere in the world have rediscovered the qualities of the barb [Barbary horse], which, in Berber tradition, remains the king of the "fantasias", a festival that is also becoming fashionable once again.

2009 October, Laurent Roustan, “The Horse, Present since the Dawn of Time”, in Alphatrad Internationale, transl., Au Royaume du Cheval: Les Haras Nationaux du Maroc [In the Kingdom of the Horse: The National Studs of Morocco], Souyri, Aveyron, France: Editions Au fil du Temps, →ISBN:

A traditional festival of the inhabitants of the Maghreb (in northwest Africa) featuring exhibitions of horsemanship.


Shrove Tuesday

The second element is Tuesday; the first element may be a reflex of Old English *scrāf “confession” (related to the modern verb shrive), from the medieval practice of priests hearing confessions on this day.

Coordinate term: Fat Thursday

Observe when the Moon is new in February, the next Tuesday after is Shrove-tuesday: but if it change on Tuesday, then the next Tuesday following is Shrove-tuesday

1712, Erra Pater, A Prognostication for Ever, Made by Erra Pater, page 7:

The day appointed for this extraordinary hunting-party was Shrove Tuesday. The Protestants of Paisley, in whose neighbourhood this story may be said to have originated, cannot discern the difference betwixt Shrove Tuesday and any other Tuesday; but if a Roman Catholic Princess, even in our free times, should be invited to a hunting-match on Shrove Tuesday, she would be shocked at the profane invitation.

1779, David Dalyrymple, Annals of Scotland From the Accenssion of Robert I, page 283:

The day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.


tens

teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties

Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties

The period from a year 100x + 10 to a year 100x + 19 (mostly referring to the 1910s or 2010s). The teens, the oneties.


workday

From Middle English werkdai, werkedei, werkedai, from Old English weorcdæġ (“workday”), equivalent to work + day. Cognate with West Frisian wurkdei (“workday”), Dutch werkdag (“workday”), German Low German Warkdag (“workday”), German Werktag (“workday”). See also workaday.

PTO

often antonymous, but one can be off during a workday

weekend

often antonymous, depending on one's work schedule

It will take five workdays to process your application.

(chiefly US) Any of the days of a week on which work is done; any day in a workweek. The five workdays in many countries are usually Monday to Friday (and are defined as such in official and legal usage even though many people work on weekends).

business day

day on which work is done in legal and official usage


Easter egg hunt

en-noun

Easter egg hunt (plural Easter egg hunts)

I was a little chunky anyway, and slow, so slow that I was once the only kid at an Easter egg hunt who didn’t get a single egg, not because I couldn’t find them but because I couldn’t get to them fast enough.

A common festive activity held at Easter, where Easter eggs are hidden outdoors (or indoors during inclement weather) for children to run around and seek; this may also be a contest to see who can collect the most eggs.

caça dels ous de Pasqua

activity held at Easter where hidden Easter eggs have to be found


All Souls' Day

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

Tomb Sweeping Day
Tomb Sweeping Day#English

(uncommon) Synonym of Tomb Sweeping Day, a Chinese holiday.


All Saints' Day

(Christianity) In Christian tradition, the annual feast day celebrating the life of all saints, taking place on the first day of November, or (in the Greek church) on the first Sunday after Pentecost.


teens

The final syllable of the numbers from thirteen to nineteen. More at teen.

She is in her teens.

The time of life between thirteen and nineteen years old; the teenage years.

teenageår

time of life between 13 and 19 years old


All Hallows

/ˌɔːl ˈhæləʊz/

From all + plural of hallow (“saint”). Forms in -n (All-Hallown etc.) show reflex of the original genitive plural (Old English halgena).

(chiefly archaic) All Saints' Day, the 1st of November; the Christian feast day honoring all Christian saints.


colour wheel

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-colour wheel.wav

With fears that draping normal Christmas fairy lights through the tree's aluminium branches would cause a short circuit, the trees were lit from below by a rotating colour wheel divided into wedge-shaped segments of variously coloured plastic.

2013, Martin Pullen, The Completely Useless Guide to Christmas:

The twins led him across the room to a silver aluminum Christmas tree in the far corner. A device on the floor cast light on the tree from a bulb behind a slowly turning color wheel.

2013, Robert Jeschonek, Christmas at Glosser's, page 13:

A device that emits varying colours of light by the use of a wheel, commonly used to illuminate Christmas trees.


Advent

(Christianity) The period or season of the Christian church year between Advent Sunday and Christmas.


Annunciation

/əˌnʌnsɪˈeɪ̯ʃn̩/

(Christianity) The announcement by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would give birth to a son, namely Jesus. Celebrated on 25th March.


Donner

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First attested in the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”. Named from Dutch donder (“thunder”), and perhaps influenced by the German form Donner.

A Visit from St. Nicholas
Santa Claus's reindeer


Epiphany

Epiphany (countable and uncountable, plural Epiphanies)

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Edward Burne-Jones

ref

From the collection of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom.

The season or time of the Christian church year, either from the Epiphany feast day to Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent), or from the Epiphany feast day to the feast of Candlemas (marking the presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple in Jerusalem).


Lammas

From Old English hlafmæsse (“loaf mass, harvest festival”).


Lent

Shortened form of Lenten, from Old English lencten, from Proto-West Germanic *langatīn (“spring”), as in a season into which days lengthen as it progresses. Related to German Lenz and Dutch lente (“springtime”).

الصَّوْم الْأَرْبَعِينِيّ

Christian period of penitence before Easter

(Christianity) A period of the ecclesiastical year preceding Easter, traditionally involving temporary abstention from certain foods and pleasures.

(Eastern Christianity) The 40 days preceding Lazarus Saturday, the Saturday preceding Holy Week.

(Roman Catholicism) The 46 days preceding Easter, reckoned as 40 days by excluding Sundays.

Hezekiah gave up vaping for Lent.


Nativity

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(Christianity) The birth of Jesus as described in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.


Scrooge

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The fictional character Ebenezer Scrooge.


Independence Day

Independence Day
Independence Day (India)
Independence Day (Philippines)

(US) A holiday celebrated in the United States commemorating the country's independence from Great Britain, celebrated each year on the 4th of July.

(Philippines) A national holiday in the Philippines observed annually on June 12, commemorating the declaration of Philippine independence from Spain in 1898.

(India) A national holiday in India observed annually on August 15, commemorating the nation’s independence from Great Britain in 1947.


All Hallows' Day

A Christian feast day, 1st November, honouring the saints (or, as the name implies, "hallows"); the day after Halloween.


Halloween

→ Hawaiian: Heleuī

→ Hindi: हैलोवीन (hailovīn)

desc

→ Japanese: ハロウィン, ハロウィーン

→ Japanese: ハロウィン, ハロウィーン

→ Malayalam: ഹാലോവീൻ (hālōvīṉ)

→ Maori: Harawīni

→ Russian: Хеллоуи́н (Xellouín)

→ Bashkir: Хэллоуин (Xellowin)

→ Tajik: Хеллоуин (Xellouyin)

→ Tatar: Хэллоуин (Xellouwin)

→ Thai: ฮาโลวีน (haa-loo-wiin)

→ Ukrainian: Хеллові́н (Xellovín)

A Scottish shortening of Allhalloweven, from Allhallowmas (the obsolete earlier name of All Saints' Day) + even (an archaic or poetic variant of eve; see also een).

They all get dressed up in scary costumes at Halloween.

1987, Kai Hansen, "Halloween", Helloween, Keeper Of The Seven Keys: Part 1.
Black is the night full of fright / You'll be missing the day / What will be here very soon / Changing your way / A knock at your door / It is real or is it a dream / On trembling legs you open the door / And you scream... on Halloween

The eve of All Hallows' Day; October 31st; celebrated (mostly in English-speaking countries) by children going door-to-door in costume and soliciting candy with menaces.


trick-or-treat

en-verb

trick-or-treat (third-person singular simple present trick-or-treats, present participle trick-or-treating, simple past and past participle trick-or-treated)

trick-or-treats (present singular third-person)
trick-or-treating (participle present)
trick-or-treated (participle past)
trick-or-treated (past)

From trick or treat, the phrase stated as a greeting when accosting a household.

Coordinate term: soul (All Souls Day)

(intransitive) To go door-to-door asking for candy on Halloween night while wearing a costume.


trick-or-treater

Those darn trick-or-treaters egged my car.

One who goes trick-or-treating on Halloween, usually a child dressed in a costume.


All Fools' Day

April 1, a day when practical jokes are traditionally played


Eid al-Fitr

From Arabic عِيد اَلْفِطْر (ʕīd al-fiṭr, “Festival of Breaking the Fast”) in reference to the previous avoidance of food from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan.

derived

عِيد اَلْفِطْر

Eid ul-Fitr is one of the main celebrations in the Islamic calendar. […] Prior to Eid ul-Fitr celebrations people give an extra donation of food or money that is distributed to needy people so that no one will be without the means to celebrate the event. This donation is called Zakat ul-Fitr.

1998, Barbara DuMoulin, Sylvia Sikundar, Celebrating Our Cultures: Language Arts Activities for Classroom Teachers, Markham, Ont.: Pembroke Publishers, →ISBN, page 27:

At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate one of the most important Islamic holidays, Eid al-fitr. It is a one-day celebration after the last day of fasting. In the evening on the twenty-ninth day of Ramadan, we go out to see if the moon has appeared. If the moon is not seen, we fast one more day. If it is seen, the next day is Eid al-fitr. During Eid al-fitr, we visit friends and family and have people over to our houses. It is a very happy and special holiday for children.

2003, Aisha Karen Khan, What You Will See Inside a Mosque, Woodstock, Vt.: SkyLight Paths Publishing, →ISBN, page 20:

At the end of Ramadan, there is an exuberant celebration called Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Fast-Breaking. […] Eid al-Fitr falls on the first day of Shawwal, the month that follows Ramadan in the Islamic calendar. In the morning, Muslims gather early in outdoor locations or mosques to perform the Eid prayer, which is a short congregational prayer followed by a sermon. After the sermon is finished, everyone leaves to visit family and friends. It is common to bring gifts, especially to children. The celebration can last as long as three days.

2015, Kathleen Tracy, Islamic Culture in the Middle East in Perspective (World Cultures in Perspective), Hockessin, De.: Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 27:

(Islam) The religious celebration at the end of Ramadan, on the first day of the tenth month of the Muslim lunar calendar.


Eid al-Adha

From Arabic عِيد اَلْأَضْحَى (ʕīd al-ʔaḍḥā).

bor

عِيد اَلْأَضْحَى

Arabic عِيد اَلْأَضْحَى (ʕīd al-ʔaḍḥā)

An Islamic festival commemorating the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail to Allah.

عِيد اَلْأَضْحَى

ʕīd al-ʔaḍḥā


Ramadan

/ɹɑːməˈdɑːn/

/ˈɹɑːmədɑːn/

Transliteration of Arabic رَمَضَان (ramaḍān); see there for more.

translit

(Islam) The holy ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during which Muslims fast between the break of dawn until sunset; they also refrain from drinking liquids, smoking and having sexual relations.

Ramadaan

holy ninth month of Islamic lunar calendar

A male given name from Arabic, of Muslim usage.


Hegira

From Medieval Latin hegira, from Arabic هِجْرَة (hijra, “Hijra; emigration”), from the verb هَجَرَ (hajara, “to emigrate; to abandon”). Doublet of Hijra, directly from Arabic.


Hijri

Borrowed from Arabic هِجْرِيّ (hijriyy), nisba adjective of هِجْرَة (hijra, “Hijra”).

(Islam) the Islamic lunar calendar; begins with the migration of Muhammad, 16 July 622 AD; months begin at sunset on the day of visual sighting of the new moon


saum

Borrowed from Arabic صَوْم (ṣawm, “fasting”).

(Islam) fasting; one of the five pillars of Islam


BP

Later diversion of lake drainage between 11,000 and 10,000 BP, due to ice retreat, led to the discharge of Agassiz meltwaters into the western North Atlantic.

2013, Alastair G. Dawson, Ice Age Earth: Late Quaternary Geology and Climate, Routledge, →ISBN, page 107:

(sciences) Initialism of Before Present, conventionally relative to radiocarbon dating in the 1950s.


mistletoe

en-noun

mistletoe (countable and uncountable, plural mistletoes)

From Middle English mistelto, mistilto (“European mistletoe”), from Old English misteltān (“mistletoe”), from mistel (“mistletoe; basil; birdlime”) + tān (“sprig, shoot, twig”), possibly as a calque of Old Norse mistilteinn; equivalent to mistle + tan (“twig”). This was mistaken for the plural of tā (“toe”).
Cognate with Danish mistelten (“mistletoe”), Norwegian misteltein (“mistletoe”), Icelandic mistilteinn (“mistletoe”). Compare also the simplex form West Frisian mistel (“mistletoe”), Dutch mistel (“mistletoe”), German Mistel (“mistletoe”), Swedish mistel (“mistletoe”).

red mistletoe

Peraxilla tetrapetala; Tapinanthus rubromarginatus

Miſtletoe, by phyſicians, &c. called viſcus, grows to the height of about two feet. […] Pliny and moſt naturaliſts relate, that thruſhes being exceedingly fond of the berries of the miſtletoe; they ſwallow them, and caſt them out again on the branches of trees, where they uſe to perch; and by this means give occaſion to a new production of miſtletoe.

1738, E[phraim] Chambers, “MISTLETOE”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […] In Two Volumes, 2nd corrected and amended edition, volumes II (L–Z), London: […] D[aniel] Midwinter [et al.], →OCLC, column 1:

In Martigny I first observed the custom, common throughout many parts of Switzerland, of hanging mistletoes over the house doors; a superstition for which I have not been able to get any reason rendered.

1833 February, Robert Mallet, Jun., “Art. IV. Horticultural Jottanda of a Recent Continental Tour.”, in J[ohn] C[laudius] Loudon, editor, The Gardener’s Magazine, and Register of Rural & Domestic Improvement, volume IX, number 42, London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, […], →OCLC, page 27:

Mistletoes were growing on the Euphorbias; they were much more succulent than when growing on woody shrubs or on trees. […] One of the Mistletoes common in Southern Africa, has small, myrtle-like leaves and red berries; another is leafless, and has stems resembling a Salicornia.

1844, James Backhouse, chapter XXX, in A Narrative of a Visit to the Mauritius and South Africa, London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co., […]; York: John L. Linney, […], →OCLC, page 534:

The brooms caused by Douglas-fir dwarf mistletoe begin as small sprays of twigs radiating from a swollen limb […] but in time they become large, more or less spherical in shape, and often with long, droopy twigs. […] Although the parasite is present throughout each broom, the only visible portions of dwarf mistletoe are the reproductive shoots which are called "aerial shoots."

1985 May, Robert O. Tinnin, Donald M. Knutson, “Types of Dwarf Mistletoe Brooms”, in How to Identify Brooms in Douglas-fir Caused by Dwarf Mistletoe (United States Department of Agriculture Research Note; PNW 426), [Portland, Or.?]: Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 2:

[T]he stickiness [of mistletoe berries] persists through the gut, making it hard to defecate mistletoe seeds with any grace. To deal with this, birds like the silky flycatcher, Phainopepla nitens, that are mistletoe specialists, have evolved a "waggle dance" – also known as butt-wiping behavior – where they clean up by rubbing themselves against twigs. Indeed, the association with bird droppings may even be the origin of the word: Some evidence suggests that "mistletoe" comes from Anglo-Saxon for "dung on a twig."

2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, page 7]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2014-12-23:

(countable, uncountable) Any of numerous hemiparasitic evergreen plants of the order Santalales with white berries that grow in the crowns of apple trees, oaks, and other trees, such as the European mistletoe (Viscum album) and American mistletoe or eastern mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum).

агъо

any of several hemiparasitic evergreen plants of the order Santalales

Miſtletoe! why I know what that is, as we garniſh our Houſe with it every Year, at Chriſtmas.

1782, Benjamin Martin, “Dialogue VI. Reflections on the Wonderful Nature, and Singular Properties of Some Kinds of Plants, Shrubs, and Trees; Exemplified in Missltoe,^([sic]) Sensitive Plant, Bulbous Garlic, Bee-orchis, and Egg-plant.”, in The Young Gentleman and Lady’s Philosophy in a Continued Survey of the Works of Nature and Art; by Way of Dialogue, volumes III, part IV (Containing a General Survey of Vegetation and Vegetables), London: Printed for W. Owen, […]; and the author, […], →OCLC, page 229:

There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars; and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 81–82:

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe / Help to make the season bright / Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow / Will find it hard to sleep tonight

1946 November, Robert Wells, Mel Tormé (lyrics and music), “The Christmas Song”, performed by Nat King Cole:

Rockin' around the Christmas tree / At the Christmas party hop / Mistletoe hung where you can see / Every couple tries to stop

1958, Johnny Marks (lyrics and music), “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree”, in Merry Christmas from Brenda Lee, performed by Brenda Lee:

Mistletoe. The word conjures winter holidays, office parties, stolen kisses, romance. But appreciation of the plant is no modern thing. Kissing under the mistletoe has been happening for at least 200 years. And some 2,000 years ago, the druids in which is now Britain venerated the plant when it grew on an oak. When they found it, they dressed in white, harvested it with a golden sickle, and sacrificed two white bulls.

(uncountable) A sprig of one such plant used as a Christmas decoration, associated with the custom that a man may kiss any woman standing beneath it.


embolism

The term was coined in 1848 by Rudolf Virchow. From Old French embolisme (“intercalation of days in a calendar to correct errors”), from Late Latin embolismus, from Ancient Greek ἐμβολισμός (embolismós, “intercalary”), from ἐμβάλλω (embállō, “to insert, throw in”).

der

Authorities differ as to the manner in which the Arabs practised embolism: some say, they added a month to every third year; others, that they intercalated seven months in a period of nineteen years ; and others, nine months in twenty-four years.

1844, The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany, volume 2:

The insertion or intercalation of days into the calendar in order to correct the error arising from the difference between the civil year and the solar year.


Thanksgiving

/θæŋksˈɡɪvɪŋ/

/ˈθæŋksɡɪvɪŋ/

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A proprialization from the common noun thanksgiving; by surface analysis, thanks + giving.

It is at present impossible to determine when the General Court will adjourn, none of the great business having as yet been attended to, so as to be completed, but there seems to be a general determination to be at home at Thanksgiving. I hope it will be possible.

1788, Theodore Sedgwick to his wife, 9 November, in The Documentary History of the First Federal Elections 1788–1790, vol. 1, ed. Merrill Jensen and Robert A. Becker, University of Wisconsin Press, 1976, pages 513–514

Across the harsh, salty smells that blew in gusts from the half-uncovered mud-flats of the river, my memory of old Thanksgivings at home called up most rich and tender savors of roast goose till an appetite of huge anticipation began to riot beneath my waistcoat.

1898 November 19, Charles G[eorge] D[ouglas] Roberts, “The Bewitchment of Lieutenant Hanworthy”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 171, number 21, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Curtis Publishing Company, page 321, column 1:

This is church! They spent their Thanksgivings and Christmases with us to bring some normalcy to our lives. They bore the cold winter nights sleeping in tents, showering and bathing whenever and wherever possible. They rolled up their sleeves, gutted houses, cleaned yards, and poured out their hearts; they had compassion on us. By joining forces with the National Guard and city officials, the church and government walked hand and hand with common goals—rebuilding lives and revitalizing our cities.

2010, Sebastian Myladiyil, Blown Together: The Trials and Miracles of Katrina, Mobile, Ala.: Evergreen Press, →ISBN, page 200:

Our Thanksgivings are always nice and quiet. Dad cleans, Mom cooks, and I set the table. We sit down, talk about how grateful we are for good health and family, and eat.

2012, T. R. Burns [pseudonym; Tricia Rayburn], The Bad Apple (Merits of Mischief; 1), New York, N.Y.: Aladdin, →ISBN, page 209:

(Canada, US) Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada, and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.

(Canada, US) The long weekend which includes Thanksgiving Day; Thanksgiving weekend.

Thus Sukkot became the Jewish Thanksgiving.

1999, Sol Scharfstein, Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs: Historical and Contemporary, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., →ISBN, page 39:

The German Thanksgiving Day typically is on the first day of October when samples of the new harvest are displayed in churches.

2006, James R. Dow, German Folklore: A Handbook, Greenwood Publishing Group:

To apply this technique in the context of the Minnesota Korean community, I utilized Korean holiday events such as Korean Thanksgiving Day (called Chusok in Korean) and the Korean New Year Day (called solnal in Korean).

2008, Negotiating Ethnic Identities: A Study of Korean Americans and Adoptees in Minnesota, ProQuest, →ISBN, page 82:

An analogous celebration in other cultures, especially a harvest festival.


Thanksgiving Day

en-noun

Thanksgiving Day (plural Thanksgiving Days)

Advent Sunday

Christian religious day at the end of November

(Canada) A holiday, originally to give thanks to God for the harvest, celebrated annually on the second Monday of October.

(US) A holiday, originally to give thanks to God and to commemorate the feast held by the Pilgrim colonists, celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of November.

(Grenada) A holiday to commemorate the invasion of Grenada by the United States and the overthrowing of the communist People's Revolutionary Government in 1983, celebrated annually on the 25th of October.


leap day

This yere leapt, and the leap day was the morrow after the feast Terminalia.

1600, Livy, translated by Philemon Holland, The Romane Historie of T. Livius of Padua, Book XLV, Section xliv, 1232:

The lunar cycle among the Chaldeans was called the saros and sara, from סהרא, sahara, the moon. This cycle it is said contained two hundred and twenty-three synodical months, or eighteen Julian years, ten days, when the same cycle or period contains five leap days, and eleven days when it contains four leap days, seven hours, forty-eight minutes, and one-fourth; in which time all the corresponding new and full moons and eclipses return again.

1820 July, Thomas Yeates, "Catalogue of Ancient Eclipses" in The Philosophical Magazine and Journal, Vol. LVI, No. 267, OCLC 1641414, p. 18

We observe then, with respect to the Julian cycle of leap-year, that, though we speak of it commonly as the cycle of the leap-year, it is in reality only the cycle of the leap-day. And this distinction is of much importance, especially to the present question. For the cycle of leap-year according to the Julian rule is one of four years, because the cycle of the leap-day in the Julian calendar is one of four also.

1852, Edward Greswell, Fasti Temporis Catholici and Origines Kalendariae, Vol. II, OCLC 457298519, p. 51

According to our current calendar, on what day of the week will January 1 fall in the year 3000? in the year 1,000,000? in the year 10^(1,000,000)? […] In the thousand years from the year 2000 to the year 3000, there are 365,000 days, plus 250 leap days, minus 10 century leap days omitted, plus 3 leap days restored in the years 2000, 2400, and 2800, for a total of 365,243 days, or 57,177 weeks and 4 days. Since January 1 falls on a Saturday in the year 2000, it will fall four days later on a Wednesday in the year 3000.

2000, Frank Morgan, The Math Chat Book, pages 9–10:

According to the new leap rule, leap years are years whose last two digits are divisible by 4. To correct for the slightly shorter length of the solar year, 3 leap years are omitted every 400 years, and to that end, leap days are omitted in the secular years whose unit is not divisible by 4. Accordingly, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but 2000 was one again.

2002, Klaus Mainzer, translated by Josef Eisinger, The Little Book of Time, page 20:

An extra day intercalated into a year, especially the day intercalated into the Julian calendar every fourth year and into the Gregorian calendar every fourth year excepting centuries not divisible by 400, usually reckoned as February 29th.


Tannenbaum

Borrowed from German Tannenbaum (“fir tree”).

Oh, Tannenbaum, oh, Tannenbaum, how lovely are thy branches.

Local newspapers covered the story of how Santa Claus had helped the Tannenbaum.


vernal equinox

vernal equinox (plural vernal equinoxes)

(astronomy) The moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator while tilting towards the observer, taking place in March in the northern hemisphere and September in the southern hemisphere.


New Year's Eve

The holiday occurring on the last day of the year, celebrated on December 31st in cultures following the Gregorian calendar

watchnight

whereas watch night is the night that begins at sundown on New Year's Eve and ends with sunrise on New Year's Day

not identical to New Year's Eve – New Year's Eve is the entire day before New Year's Day


leap second

1971; derived from the terminology for leap day/leap year.

A second of time added to the year occasionally to compensate for variation in the rate of Earth's rotation relative to the absolute standards of time.

閏秒 /闰秒

a second of time added to the year occasionally to compensate for variation in the rate of Earth's rotation relative to the absolute standards of time


Christmas Day

From Middle English Cristemasse day, from Old English Cristes mæssedæġ (“Christmas Day”, literally “day of Christ's mass”). Now equivalent to Christmas + day.

inh

When Christmas Day falls upon a Saturday (as it did in 1736,) the Collect, Epistle and Gospel for St. Stephen's Day follows of Course, and no Notice is taken of the Sunday after Christmas Day

1737, Thomas Collins, The rubrick of the Church of England, examin'd and consider'd:

The day on which Christmas is celebrated. It is December 25 in the West, and January 7 in some Eastern Orthodox churches.


trick or treat

1987, Kai Hansen, "Halloween", Helloween, Keeper Of The Seven Keys: Part 1.
Meet the others at the store, / Knock on other people's door / Trick or treat they have no choice, / Little ghost's are makin' lotsa noise

A form of a light-hearted request by which children obtain candy on Halloween while wearing themed costumes.

不給糖就搗亂 /不给糖就捣乱

a request for candy tied to an unstated light-hearted threat

(in translated movies, TV series etc.) Süßes oder Saures


Samhain

Invite, but never command, friendly spirits, faeries, or elementals to join you as you wish. In some traditions it is common to invite ancestors to join you, especially during the dark days from Samhain to Imbolg when it is believed that the portal between our dimensions is at its thinnest.

1994, Edain McCoy, “Appendix Three: Outline for Ritual Construction”, in A Witch’s Guide to Faery Folk: How to Work with the Elemental World: […], St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publishers, published 2004 (13th printing), →ISBN, page 354:

A holiday, falling on the night of 31 October to 1 November, celebrated by the ancient Celts and by modern neo-pagans as the beginning of winter and the new year, and a time during which the spirits of the dead could return to the earth.


quinquennial

Borrowed from Latin quīnquenniālis, from quīnquennium (“5-year period”) + -ālis, from quīnquennis (“5-year”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”), from quīnque (“five”) + annus (“year”) + -is (suffix forming compound adjectives).

(historical) Synonym of quinquennalia, the festival and religious ritual held in the 5th year of a Roman emperor's reign.


Veterans Day

The United States national holiday in honor of veterans past and present, observed on November 11th.


Poppy Day

From being the last day on which the commemorative poppy flower is worn.


Remembrance Day

(Commonwealth) November 11th, observed in commemoration of those in the armed forces who died in the line of duty; especially those who died during the two world wars.


Remembrance Sunday

(UK) The Sunday closest to Remembrance Day, which falls on the 11th of November.


Turkey Day

After the turkey, the traditional main course of Thanksgiving dinner, and an occasional motif in Thanksgiving decorations.

Thanksgiving.— This Day will be observed in all the New England States, except Massachusetts, as a day of public Thanksgiving. It will be Turkey-day in this State, this day week.

1835 November 26, Boston Morning Post (1835-11-26):

(US, informal) Thanksgiving; an American holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.


Black Friday

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Black Friday.wav

From black (“bad; ill-omened; marked by disaster”). Friday is an ill-omened day according to ancient superstition, so a Friday that was darkened by another ill-omen (such as being the 13th) or an actual disaster became known as "Black Friday". Philadelphia police applied the term to the day after Thanksgiving because the large number of people out shopping made traffic chaotic. Later, PR efforts purposely invented the incorrect, more positive "etymology" (which is a very popular urban legend and false etymology that was even in Wiktionary from 2008 to 2015) that the name was given because this day is supposedly the first day of the year on which retailers typically posted profits ('in the black') rather than losses ('in the red').

en:any of certain historically bad Fridays

Any Friday literally or figuratively darkened by catastrophe, or the anniversary thereof.

(Internet slang, poker, historical) The conclusion of United States v. Scheinberg in 15 April 2011, after which major online poker sites stopped offering real money play to their United States customers.

Coordinate term: Cyber Monday

en:day after US Thanksgiving, a busy shopping day

(US, Canada, UK, business, retailing) The day after US Thanksgiving Day, generally regarded as the first day of the Christmas season, and the busiest shopping day of the year. Observed in the US, Canada, and more recently to an extent, the UK.

en:busy sales weekend after US Thanksgiving, metonymically

(by extension) The sales period involving heavy price reductions immediately following US Thanksgiving Day, from Friday (the original Black Friday) through Monday (Cyber Monday).


May Day

Labour Day, the first day of May, a worldwide workers' holiday.

Ašxatavorneri hamerašxutʻyan miǰazgayin ōr

Աշխատավորների համերաշխության միջազգային օր

Denʹ meždunaródnoj solidárnosti trudjáščixsja

День междунаро́дной солида́рности трудя́щихся


secret Santa

I could tell Mary was my secret Santa.

The person who buys a present for another in a secret-Santa exchange.


paska

en-noun

paska (countable and uncountable, plural paskas)

From Ukrainian па́ска (páska) and Russian па́ска (páska), borrowing from Ancient Greek πάσκα (páska), phonetic variant of πάσχα (páskha), from Aramaic פסחא (pasḥa), from Hebrew פֶּסַח (pesaḥ). Doublet of Pesach.

(Canada) A traditional Ukrainian egg bread, often decorated, used in Easter traditions.


Christmas present

Christmas present (countable and uncountable, plural Christmas presents)

Children believe that Santa Claus comes down the chimney to bring them Christmas presents.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Christmas, present.


Christmas present

Christmas present (countable and uncountable, plural Christmases present)

Christmas + present (“relating to now, current”). Present is used as a postpositioned adjective. First popularized in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Christmas past becomes Christmas present.

1998 May 15, Janet Colsher Teitsort, Long-Distance Grandma: How to Stay Connected with Grandkids Far Away, Baker, →ISBN, page 145:

Anita had been relieved to unload the burden of her Christmases Past following her Process but she certainly hasn't told Max any of the details of the Christmases present she'd be spending with John.

2012 May 3, Stella Duffy, chapter 13, in Wavewalker, Profile Books, →ISBN, section 5:


Christmas carol

Christmas carol (plural Christmas carols)

So also when he was born into the World, the holy Angels came down to sing his Christmas Carol, and at once to proclaim and celebrate his Nativity.

(music) A carol (song or hymn) whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas.

تَرْنِيمة عِيد اَلْمِيلَاد

hymn whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas


Christmas card

“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
 Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

A greeting card that is decorated in a manner that celebrates Christmas.


Christmas ham

Christmas ham (countable and uncountable, plural Christmas hams)

Ham prepared in various other ways in various regions at Christmas, such as stuffed ham in parts of the United States, or ham soaked in fruit juices in the Philippines.


Christmas cake

Christmas cake (countable and uncountable, plural Christmas cakes)

They enjoyed music from a live saxophonist during the journey before visiting Braintree Town Hall for refreshments and Christmas cake.

2021 December 29, “Network News: Music train for dementia sufferers”, in RAIL, number 947, page 19:

A rich fruit cake covered with marzipan and icing, traditionally eaten at Christmas.


Holy Week

The week preceding Easter containing Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday (Spy Wednesday), Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), Holy Friday (Good Friday), and Holy Saturday.

Easter Week

the week following on from Easter Sunday


panettone

panettone (countable and uncountable, plural panettones or panettoni)

Borrowed from Italian panettone, from Lombard panaton, an augmentative of pan (“bread”).

I have long admired panettone, the ultimate raisin bread, the ideal toast and French toast, a great base for poached fruit, and a substitute for bread in bread pudding which redefines the dish. Panettone looks like the back of an Italian Renaissance cathedral […]

1989, The Atlantic, volume 263, page 52:

In this tasty holiday recipe, traditional panettone is stuffed with a creamy filling. This is a traditional Christmas bread recipe from Milano which can now not only be found across Italy, but worldwide.

2005, Anthony Parkinson, Italian Desserts, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 39:

A soft Italian sourdough brioche from Milan, with candied fruit, usually prepared for Christmas as a dessert.


pandoro

/panˈdɔːɹəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian pandoro (literally “golden bread”).

bor

A sweet bread loaf of Veronese origin, in the shape of a star, traditionally eaten at Christmas.

意大利黃金麵包 /意大利黄金面包

Christmas sweet bread loaf in the shape of a star


X-mas

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-X-mas.wav


Kriss Kringle

The practice of hanging up stockings in the chimney corner for Kriss Kringle to fill with toys, pretty books, bon-bons, &c., for good children, is being superseded by that of placing a Christmas Tree on the table to await the annual visit of the worthy Santa Klaus.

1847, “Advertisement”, in Kriss Kringle’s Christmas Tree. A Holiday Present for Boys and Girls, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Grigg & Elliot, →OCLC:

What if that other room, also, had its Christmas tree? What if in every room these evidences of Kriss Kringle’s more enterprising handiwork had already been obtruded?

1878, Leonard Kip, “St. Nicholas and the Gnome”, in Hannibal’s Man and Other Tales. The Argus Christmas Stories, Albany, N.Y.: The Argus Company, printers, →OCLC, chapter III, page 331:

The Dutch of New Netherlands called the good giver of gifts, Kriss Kringle, the Christ Child, and the name came into our family vocabulary through our Dutch ancestor, Great-grandfather Wible.

1937, Emma Hackett Knox, “Holidays”, in The Story of the Old Homestead: (The Smith-Hackett Homestead), [Rahway, N.J.]: Privately printed [by Quinn & Boden Co.], →OCLC, part II (The Owners and the Families that have Lived on the Old Homestead), pages 205–206:


Winterval

(UK) A period of holidays in midwinter, including both secular and religious holidays (i.e. not just the specifically Christian and Western festivals of Christmas and New Year's Day).


Common Era

Originally Vulgar Era. The English phrase "common Era" appears at least as early as 1708, and by 1715 is used synonymously with "Christian Era" and "Vulgar Era".

The second Book is divided into eight Chapters, treats of the origin of the Greek Characters, and changes that happen'd in them, to the fourth Century of the common Era.

1708 January, The History of the Works of the Learned, volume 10, London: Printed for H. Rhodes, retrieved 2011-10-31, page 513:

Some say the World was created 3950 Years before the common Æra of Christ

1715, David Gregory with John Nicholson and John Morphew, The Elements of Astronomy, Physical and Geometrical, volume v. 1 (Astronomy), London: printed for J. Nicholson, and sold by J. Morphew, retrieved 2008-01-05, page 252:

The vulgar Era, or Anno Domini; the fourth year of Jesus Christ, the first of which was but eight days." In its article on General Chronology, the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia stated that "Foremost among these (dating eras) is that which is now adopted by all civilized peoples and known as the Christian, Vulgar or Common Era, in the twentieth century of which we are now living.

1835, Alexander Campbell, Living Oracles:

1796 years before the common era, and 1020 before the first Olympiad.

1770, William Hooper with Jacob Friedrich Bielfeld, The Elements of Universal Eurdition (v. 2), London: G. Scott, printer, for J Robson, bookseller in New-Bond Street, and B. Law in Ave-Mary Lane, retrieved 2007-09-13, page p 105:

(chronology) The secular equivalent of anno Domini and the Christian Era, the internationally recognized method of numbering years on the Gregorian calendar.

но́вата е́ра

на́шей э́ры f (nášej éry) (genitive of на́ша э́ра (náša éra))


Julian calendar

Named after Julius Caesar who introduced the calendar in 46 BCE.

The calendar which was used in the western world before the present-day Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar differed in having all multiple-of-4 years as leap years.


Hanukkah

Originated 1890–95. From Hebrew חנוכה / חֲנֻכָּה (khanuká, “dedication, consecration”) from חָנַךְ (khanákh, “to dedicate, to consecrate”).

חנוכה / חֲנֻכָּה

(Judaism) An eight-day Jewish festival, starting on the 25th day of Kislev, which commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem after the victory of the Maccabees over the Greek Syrians.

followed by Chanukah and Hanukah. Other forms


Advent Sunday

The fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, the start of Advent: 30 November (Saint Andrew's Day) or the nearest Sunday to it.


Saint Andrew's Day

The feast day of Saint Andrew, celebrated on November 30.


bissextile year

en-noun

bissextile year (plural bissextile years)


calends

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-calends.wav

From Middle English calendes, calendas, calendis, kalandes, kalendas, kalendes, kalendez, kalendis, kalendus (also in the singular forms calende, kalend, kalende), from Latin kalendās, accusative plural of kalendae (“first day of a Roman month”), an archaic variant of calandae, from calandus (“which is to be called or announced solemnly”), the future passive participle of calō (“to call, announce solemnly”) (referring to the Roman practice of proclaiming the first days of the lunar month upon seeing the first signs of a new crescent moon), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, cry, summon”). Although the singular form calend (now obsolete, rare) appeared in English (and compare Old English calend, kalendus (“calends; a month”)), no singular form was used in Latin as recurring days of the calendar were always referred to in the plural.
Sense 2 (“a day for settling debts and other accounts”) refers to the Roman practice of fixing the calends as the day for debts to be paid.

nb...

Containing an Account of Their Manners, Customs, Diversions, Religious Rites, Philosophy, Festivals, Oracles, Laws, Arts, Engines of War, Weights, Measures, Money, Medals, Computation and Division of Time, Chronological Terms, Heresies in the Primitive Church, &c. &c.

The feasts of the Israelites were the Sabbath; the first day of each month, called in our translations calends, or new-moon; the three great feasts of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, instituted in memory of the three greatest blessings they received from God, […]

1809, Claude Fleury, “Their Religion”, in Adam Clarke, transl., The Manners of the Ancient Israelites; […], 3rd edition, London: Sold by William Baynes, […]; J[oseph] Butterworth, […]; and T. Blanshard, […], →OCLC, page 147:

חֹדֶשׁ m. […] the new moon, the day of the new moon, the calends of a lunar month which was a festival of the ancient Hebrews, Num[bers] 29:6; 1 Sam[uel] 20:5; 18:24; Ex[odus] 19:1, […]

1846, [Wilhelm] Gesenius, “חֹדֶשׁ”, in translated by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Gesenius’s Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. Translated, with Additions and Corrections from the Author’s Thesaurus and Other Works, London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, […], →OCLC, page CCLXIII, column 1:

(by extension, biblical, Judaism, obsolete) Synonym of Rosh Hodesh (“the Jewish festival of the new moon, which begins the months of the Hebrew calendar”)


April Fools' Day

en-noun

April Fools' Day (plural April Fools' Days)

(Scottish)

The first day in April, when tricks and practical jokes are traditionally played


Lady Day

By Lady Day the Scriptorium was ready to receive the "copying and burrowing" of the host of readers who had been directed by Furnivall for the past twenty years.

1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 173:

25th March, Christian holy day, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.


quarter day

[T]he money was deposited in the hands of the mortgager, who, in the hearing of the lender, laid strong injunctions on his steward to pay the interest punctually at quarter-day.

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

Each of the four days customarily regarded as starting a new quarter year, formerly established as a time for rents and other payments to be due, tenancies to begin and end, and various meetings and assemblies to be held.

사시가절

each of the four days starting a new quarter year


midsummer madness

Why this is very midsummer madness.

c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

"Madness. Midsummer madness," muttered Gulliman.

1959, Isaac Asimov, “All the Troubles of the World”, in Nine Tomorrows: Tales of the Near Future, →OCLC, page 160:

Madness attributable to the heat of summer, or to the midsummer moon.


midsummer moon

The full moon or the lunar month around midsummer.


lunar month

A period from one new moon until the next.

စန္ဒြမာသ

a period from one new moon until the next

A synodic month of approximately 29.53 days, measured from a lunar phase until the return of that same phase.

A sidereal month of approximately 27.32 days, the length of time taken by the moon in its orbit about the Earth to return to the same point as viewed against the background of stars.


lunar phase

(astronomy) Any of the near-monthly cyclically occurring aspects or appearances presented by a moon as seen from its planet (unless otherwise specified, the Moon as seen from Earth).

fase lunar

any one of the aspects presented by the moon

harvest moon

these are recurrent but less frequently than near-monthly


first quarter

(astronomy) The waxing lunar phase, from new moon to half way between new moon and full moon.


last quarter

the waning lunar phase halfway between full moon and new moon.


gibbous moon

A bat, against the gibbous moons,
Danced, implike, with its lone delight;
The glowworm scrawled a golden rune
Upon the dark; and, emerald-strewn,
The firefly hung with lamps the night.

(astronomy) A lunar phase either side of the full moon when the moon's disc as seen from the Earth is larger than a semicircle.


synodic month

the variably cyclic period from one new moon until the next.


lunation

The irregular period from one new moon until the next.

lunacja

the name of term given the irregular period from one new moon until the next


Ascension Day

The fortieth day of Easter, that is the Thursday 39 days after Easter.


Ash Wednesday

From Middle English Aschewednysday, Axwednesdai, from asshe, axe (“ash”) + Wednesdai, Wednysday (“Wednesday”), from the custom of using the blessed ashes of the previous year's palm fronds (cf. Palm Sunday) to mark the heads of the congregation on the day. By surface analysis, ash + Wednesday.

Pope Gregory the Great introduced the sprinkling of ashes... which gave it the name of Ash-Wednesday.

1834, Penny Cyclopaedia, volume II, page 454:

(Christianity) The Wednesday 46 days before Easter in a given year, (Catholicism) traditionally observed as the beginning of Lent and a day of strict abstention from certain foods and pleasures.

Մոխրոտ չորեքշաբթի

the Christian day of penitence 46 days before Easter


yuletide

yuletide (countable and uncountable, plural yuletides)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-yuletide.wav

From Yule (“Germanic Winter Festival”) + -tide (“period around a festival, season”); compare Swedish juletid.

suf

Alternative letter-case form of Yuletide (“Christmas or the Christmas season”).


Christmastide

en-noun

Christmastide (countable and uncountable, plural Christmastides)

From Christmas + -tide (“period around a festival”).


movable feast

The Sementivae was a movable feast in January for the spring sowing with offerings made to Tellus and Ceres, agricultural deities.

2015, James W. Ermatinger, The World of Ancient Rome, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 317:

A day of note, frequently a Christian festival, whose date changes from year to year according to a set of rules.


Martinmas

en-noun

Martinmas (countable and uncountable, plural Martinmases)

St Martin's Day, 11th November. A Scottish quarter day.


Childermas

From Childermas-Day, from Middle English Childermasse day, from childer (“children”) + masse (“mass, religious service”).

compound

(Christianity) A religious service and holiday commemorating the supposed Massacre of the Innocents in Judea around the time of the birth of Christ, typically observed on 28 December in Western Christianity and 29 December in Eastern Christianity; in Spanish and Latin American contexts, the day is frequently filled with light-hearted pranks similar to April Fools' Day.

Onnozele Kinderen

day commemorating the Massacre of the Innocents


intercalate

en-verb

intercalate (third-person singular simple present intercalates, present participle intercalating, simple past and past participle intercalated)

intercalates (present singular third-person)
intercalating (participle present)
intercalated (participle past)
intercalated (past)

Borrowed from Latin intercalātus (perfect passive participle of intercalō (“I proclaim that something has been intercalated, I insert”)), from inter- (“between, among”) + calo (“I call, I proclaim”).

der

perfect passive participle of <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">intercalō</i> (“I proclaim that something has been intercalated, I insert”)

af

'[T]is wonderful where or when we ever got anything of this which we call wisdom, poetry, virtue. We never got it on any dated calendar day. Some heavenly days must have been intercalated somewhere.

1844, Ralph Waldo Emerson, chapter 2, in Essays: Second Series:

At some unknown period, the five days, known to the present time by the names of the five Gathic hymns of Zarathushtra, were intercalated at the end of the twelfth month, to complete the three hundred and sixty-five days of the solar year.

1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 172:

To insert an extra leap day into a calendar in order to maintain synchrony with natural phenomena.


bissextile

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-bissextile.wav

From Latin bisextilis/bissextilis (annus) (“bissextile year”), from bisextus + -ilis, from bis- (“two; twice; doubled”) + sextus (“sixth”) + dies (“day”), from the Julian calendar's original reckoning of its quadrennial intercalary day as a 48-hour February 24, subsequently distinguished as the two separate days of the sixth day before the March calends (sexto Kalendas Martii) and the "doubled sixth day". (February 24 is now normally understood as five days before the first of March, but was called the sixth by the Romans owing to their inclusive counting of dates. See Roman calendar on Wikipedia.)

uder

Synonym of leap year: a year with an intercalary day.


bissextile month

en-noun

bissextile month (plural bissextile months)

A month with an extra day in a leap year.

lună bisectilă

a month with an extra day in a leap year


intercalary

From Latin intercalārius, from intercalāris, from intercalō, from inter (“among”) + calō (“call out, proclaim”).

Describing a time period inserted between others; leap, (as in leap day, leap month, or leap year)

كَبِيس

of a time period, inserted between others


C19 food supply disruptions […] C19 travel restrictions

2020, Derek D. HeadeySophie Goudetet al., Poverty and food insecurity during COVID-19: Telephone survey evidence from mothers in rural and urban Myanmar, page 13:

They are averaging less than 10 deaths with (not from) C19 a day […]

2021 January 28, "16 states where COVID-19 is spreading fastest, slowest: Jan. 28", Beckers Hospital Review

Median follow-up time from C19 diagnosis to last follow-up was 4.8 months […]

2021, Justin Shaya et al., Long-term outcomes of cancer patients infected with COVID-19: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer:

(astronomy) Describing a grouping of stars in the Milky Way galaxy halo that are 2,500 times lower than the sun.


intercalation

intercalation (countable and uncountable, plural intercalations)

From Latin intercalō, from inter (“among”) + calō (“call out, proclaim”).

A period inserted into a calendar as in a leap year.


kalends

My book with Professor [John Ronald Reuel] Tolkien – any book in collaboration with that great but dilatory and unmethodical man – is dated, I fear, to appear on the Greek Kalends!

1950 January 12, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, “Letters: 1950 [To Sister Penelope CSMV (BOD)]”, in Walter Hooper, editor, The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, volumes III (Narnia, Cambridge and Joy 1950–1963), New York, N.Y.: HarperSanFrancisco, HarperCollins, →ISBN, pages 5–6:

The interesting thing about these ceremonies is that they must have originated in a period when the Romans were using true lunar months based on the observation of the crescent moon. The Kalends then would have been the day after the evening on which the crescent had been first sighted, the Nones would have been the first day when the moon was at the first quarter [...] In the calendar of the late Republic the lunar months have disappeared and the days have been fixed into a rigid pattern.

1967, Agnes Kirsopp Michels, “The Pre-Julian Calendar”, in The Calendar of the Roman Republic, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →OCLC, part I (The Calendar of the First Century B.C.), page 21:

[March, May, Quintilis, and October] also have their Nones on the seventh, as Numa [Pompilius] ordained, because Julius [Caesar] changed nothing about them. As for January, Sextilis, and December, they still have their Nones on the fifth, though they began to have thirty-one days after Caesar added two days to each, and it is nineteen days from their Ides to the following Kalends, because in adding the two days Caesar did not want to insert them before either the Nones or the Ides, lest an unprecedented postponement mar religious observance associated with the Nones or Ides themselves, which have a fixed date.

2011, Macrobius, chapter 14, in Robert A. Kaster, transl., Saturnalia (Loeb Classical Library), Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, book I, section 9, page 171:


Burns night

From the name of Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns (1759–1796) + night.

The Upholsterers and females in the employment of Messrs. J. Allan & Sons, met on the Burns' night to tea and supper in Mrs. Sheriff's Hotel, […]

1859, “Aberdeen”, in James Ballantine, editor, Chronicle of the Hundredth Birthday of Robert Burns, Edinburgh, London: A[rchibald] Fullarton & Co., →OCLC, page 145:

With those hectic ‘Burns’ Nights’ when the emphasis, like their own, falls on food and drink and the absence of all things unpleasant—on the absence, in particular, of any hard thinking—they go well enough.

1956, Christina Keith, “The Background of Burns' Thought—Burns' Qualities—Burns and Rousseau—Burns and Homer—Women in Scots Literature and History—Burns as a Poet”, in The Russet Coat: A Critical Study of Burns' Poetry and of Its Background, London: Robert Hale, →OCLC, page 177:

In fact, Burns is the only writer whose birthday is celebrated with a party every year by people all over the globe. It's called Burns Night. Why do people celebrate Burns Night? Because Robert Burns was brilliant. And the stuff he wrote is still brilliant.

2007, Allan Burnett, “Prologue”, in Robert Burns and All That, Edinburgh: Birlinn, →ISBN:

We commemorate the birth of our Scottish National Poet Rabbie Burns on January 25th. Will you two organise the traditional Burns Night Supper? Yes or no? Yes? Splendid. Over to you. Goodbye.

2008, Barry Cryer; Graeme Garden, “Burns Night!”, in The Doings of Hamish and Dougal: You'll Have Had Your Tea?, London: Preface Publishing, Random House; republished London: Preface Publishing, Random House, 2009, paperback edition, page 261

Burns Night is a social occasion, when friends gather to eat haggis (the famous Scottish dish), tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnips) and drink a wee dram (a small drink of spirits) or two to Burns' dear departed ghost. The night is also filled with ritual. The haggis is traditionally brought to the table accompanied by a piper playing traditional tunes on the bagpipes, where Burns' 'An Ode to the Haggis' is read out to much applause.

2009, Jamie Grant, “The Scots”, in CultureShock! Scotland: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (CultureShock!), 4th edition, Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, pages 44–45:

An event held on or around the evening of 25th January in celebration of the Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns (born on that day in 1759), usually involving Scottish foods and recitals of his poetry.

Alexander Nasmyth
Robert Burns
Scottish National Portrait Gallery


Carling Sunday

From the carling peas traditionally eaten on the day, themselves named for Care Sunday.

(British, dated or dialectal) Synonym of Passion Sunday: the fifth Sunday in Lent.


Care Sunday

From Old English caru (“care”) in its sense of “sorrow, trouble, suffering,” used as a calque of Latin passio (“passion”) in its sense of “suffering”, in reference to the Passion of Christ preceding and during Jesus's crucifixion.

(uncommon, archaic) Synonym of Passion Sunday: the fifth Sunday in Lent.


Judica Sunday

From Latin Judica (“Judge!”), from the first word of the introit of the day's mass, traditionally a Latin translation of Psalm 43.

Thus in 1647, I in all humility accepted this removal, and preached my trial sermon on Judica Sunday, in the presence of the parishioners and commissaries.

1862, Mrs. Malcolm (translator), Gustav Freytag (author), Martin Bötzinger (primary source), Pictures of German Life In the XVᵗʰ, XVIᵗʰ and XVIIᵗʰ Centuries, volume 2, page 115, Chapman and Hall (London)

The diet at Nuremberg was to be held on Invocavit Sunday, 2nd March, and that at the Emperor’s Court on Judica''' Sunday, 3Oth March.

1906, Ludwig Pastor, The History of the Popes: From the Close of the Middle Ages, page 96:

The fifth Sunday is “Judicia.” (Judge. Psalm 43:I.) Judicia Sunday is sometimes also called Black Sunday in contrast with the Sunday before it, and the nearness of the dark sorrows of Passion Week and Good Friday.

1950, “Luther League Review”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Lutheran Church in America:

(Roman Catholicism) Synonym of Passion Sunday: the fifth Sunday in Lent.


Passiontide

"The last two weeks of Lent form the season called Passiontide. During this time all crucifixes and sacred images are veiled in violet. In Masses of the season, the psalm Judica me is not said at the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, and there is no Gloria Patri at the Introit or at the Lavabo".

The period in the Christian calendar from Passion Sunday to Holy Saturday.


-tide

From Middle English -tide, -tyde, from Old English -tīd (in compounds), from tīd (“point or portion of time, due time, period, season; feast-day, canonical hour”); see tide.

Time, period (especially around an event or festival), season; often added to a festival name to indicate the period around that festival or a season beginning or ending with it.


Australia Day

26th January, Australia's National Day in commemoration of the foundation of the first settlement in 1788.


Collop Monday

Collops (“sliced bacon”) and eggs were traditionally eaten on this day.

(England, northern and east Midlands, now chiefly historical) The day before Shrove Tuesday.


tropical year

The time that it takes for the Sun to return to the same position along the ecliptic, as viewed from the Earth, especially, completing a full cycle of seasons.

(in particular) A vernal equinox year; the time between two successive vernal equinoxes.

回歸年 /回归年

small Solar System body
small Solar System body

(by extension) The time it takes for any astronomical object (such as a planet, dwarf planet, small Solar System body, or comet) in direct orbit around a star (such as the Sun) to make one revolution around the star, taking into account orbital precession.


summertime

summertime (countable and uncountable, plural summertimes)

From Middle English somertime, equivalent to summer + time. Compare Dutch zomertijd (“summertime”), German Sommerzeit (“summertime”), Danish sommertiden (“summertime”), Swedish sommartid (“summertime”). Compare summertide.


menorah

menorah (plural menoroth or menorot or menorahs)

menoroth (plural)
menorot (plural)
menorahs (plural)

From Hebrew מְנוֹרָה (m'norá). From the same Proto-Semitic root *nūr- (“fire”) as minaret.

My father brings home a big brass antique menorah, shaped like an archway, heavy, on a pedestal, on a round base.

1992, Merrill Joan Gerber, The Kingdom of Brooklyn, Syracuse University Press, published 2000, →ISBN, pages 76–77:

In America every December my mother had decorated our home with metal Stars of David she hung on strings in the doorways and lit the menorah as we gathered at the table.

1996, Ann Kimmage, An Un-American Childhood, University of Georgia Press, published 1996, →ISBN, pages 49–50:

However, traditional Sefardi families follow the halacha that each household uses only one menorah lit by the head of the household, to represent everyone in unison.

2000, Noam Zion, Barbara Spectre, A Different Light: The Hanukkah Book of Celebration, Devora Publishing, →ISBN, page 237:

A far-right Polish MP has extinguished candles on a menorah lit for Hanukah in Poland’s parliament, disrupting proceedings before a planned vote of confidence in the new government.

2023 December 12, Shaun Walker, “Far-right Polish MP uses fire extinguisher to put out Hanukah candles”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A candelabrum with nine branches, used in Jewish worship on Hanukkah.


Guy Fawkes Night

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(British) The revelry on Guy Fawkes Day (the 5th of November) in commemoration of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, traditionally including the burning of effigies of the pope, Guy Fawkes, and/or the Devil.


The ’80s were fun, at least for me. With great pride, I can now claim to have been the first mainstream critic on the mailing list of SST Records, writing, of their initial Black Flag issue, "This record, a relentless wall of noise that is never less than noisy, sounds unlike anything else I've heard this year."

2004, Neal Pollack, Never Mind the Pollacks: A Rock and Roll Novel, page 205:


On the Alxa Plateau of Inner Mongolia, Gaxun Nur Lake (262 km²) dried in the 1970s and the Sogo Nur Lake in the 1980s.

2008, Robert Jellison, William D. Williams, Brian Timms, Javier Alcocer, Nikolay V. Aladin, “Salt lakes: values, threats and future”, in Nicholas V. C. Polunin, editor, Aquatic Ecosystems: Trends and Global Prospects, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 99, column 2:

Mr. Zhang said a main goal of moving people from Xihaigu was to turn the hills green, with a parallel planting program. More than two million acres have been converted to forest and pasture land, he said, citing the Guyuan area, where forest coverage was 22 percent last year, up from 4 percent in the 1980s.

2016 October 25, Edward Wong, “Resettling China’s ‘Ecological Migrants’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-10-27, World:

The decade beginning in 1980 and ending in 1989.


Prominent in the 1980s and 1990s for the part it played in Postmodernism and then in Deconstruction, in the 2000s AD has leveraged a depth and level of scrutiny not currently offered elsewhere in the design press.

2008, Julieanna Preston, Interior Atmospheres, Academy Press, →ISBN:

When asked about how many planes Epstein owned […] [Maxwell] answered "in the '90s he had one plane and at some point in the 2000s he had two planes," demonstrating a clear understanding of how decades are described.

2021 February 5, Jacob Shamsian, “Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers say an indictment should be thrown out because she wasn't sure what 'sexual activities' meant during a deposition”, in Insider:

The decade that began on January 1, 2000 and ended on December 31, 2009.


solar calendar

A calendar based on the movement of the Earth around the Sun, which defines the year. Dates indicate the position of the Earth during this revolution.

সৌর বর্ষপঞ্জি

a calendar based on the movement of the Earth around the Sun


Saint Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is S. Valentines day, all in the morning betime, / And I a Maid at your Window, to be your Valentine.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 273:

A holiday in remembrance of Saint Valentine, February 14th, celebrated by sending cards or similar tokens of love.

عِيد اَلْحُبّ m (ʕīd al-ḥubb, literally “festival of love”)

день влюблённых m (denʹ vljubljónnyx, literally “lovers' day”)


Valentine's Day

en-proper noun

Valentine's Day (plural Valentine's Days)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Valentine's Day.wav

On the long time line of the so-human search for a profound and lasting happiness, many of us will still have our romances. Of the senses and the mind. We will have our spring dances, our candlelight dinners, our Valentine’s Days, our ear when we need to talk, our moonlit hand-holdings, our horizon gazings. our car rides in sensual silence.

1994, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Stewart, Sweet Swing Blues on the Road, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 90:

Valentine’s Day is a time for love and affection. I do not know anyone who wants to spend Valentine’s Day alone. I love to spend my Valentine’s Days with the person I am dating or my family. I love buying and giving gifts during this holiday but the most important thing is being with the people I care about and love. [F, Diary]

2006, Cornelia Pechmann, Linda L. Price, editors, ACR in San Antonio 2005 (Advances in Consumer Research; XXXIII), Association for Consumer Research, →ISBN, page 361, column 1:

The idea of matching outfits suddenly seems like a great way to show our compatibility, so we eat breakfast in heart-covered pajamas, but this willingness to embarrass ourselves for amour is what makes our Valentine’s Days truly romantic.

2013, Mike Bender, Doug Chernack, “Valentine’s Day”, in Awkward Family Holiday Photos, New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 13:

Saint Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day


Flag Day

A day commemorating the adoption of a national flag.

(Australia) September 3, for the first flying of the Australian flag in 1901, Australian National Flag Day.

Australian National Flag Day
Australian National Flag Day

(Canada) February 15, for the inauguration of the Canadian flag in 1965, National Flag of Canada Day.

National Flag of Canada Day
National Flag of Canada Day

(US) June 14, for the adoption of the US flag in 1777.


Yuletide

en-noun

Yuletide (countable and uncountable, plural Yuletides)

Though attested late (c. 1475), probably dates back to Old English *ġēoltīd (literally “Christmas season”). See there for more; equivalent to Yule + -tide.

inh

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, / Fa la la la la la la la la! / 'Tis the season to be jolly, / Fa la la la la la la la la! / Don we now our gay apparel, / Fa la la la la la la la la! / Troll the ancient yuletide carol, / Fa la la la la la la la la!

1862, modified from Thomas Oliphant's original, “Deck the Halls”, in Jerry Snyder’s Easy Chord Christmas Guitar Book, Miami Beach, Fla.: Hansen House, published [19—?], →OCLC, page 17:

What did the first locked drawer contain? […] a Yuletide card, bearing on it a pictorial representation of a parasitic plant, the legend Mizpah, the date Xmas 1892, the name of the senders: from Mr and Mrs M. Comerford, the versicle: May this Yuletide bring to thee, Joy and peace and welcome glee: […]

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 17: Ithaca]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 673:

It's Christmas at ground zero / Just seconds left to go / I'll duck and cover / With my Yuletide lover / Underneath the mistletoe

1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics and music), “Christmas at Ground Zero”, in Polka Party!:

(dated) The period around Christmas; the Christmas season, Christmastime; specifically, Christmas itself.


Yule log

A large log traditionally burned on Christmas Eve.


Hallowmas

Short for All-hallows' mass (“All-saints' mass”), ultimately continuing Old English ealra hālgena mæsse (literally “All Saints' mass”), equivalent to hallow (“saint”) + -mas.

Pompey: And, I beseech you look into Master Froth here, / sir; a man of fourscore pound a year, whose father died / at Hallowmas. Was't not at Hallowmas, Master Froth?

c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, act 2, scene 1:


dreidel

Borrowed from Yiddish דריידל (dreydl, “dreidel; spinning top”), probably a blend of דרייען (dreyen, “to spin; to turn; to twist”) + טרענדל (trendl, “(dated) dreidel; spinning top”). דרייען (dreyen) is derived from Middle High German dræn, from Old High German drāen (“to turn; to twist”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrāan, from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną (“to turn; to twist”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to turn; to rub; to drill, pierce”); and טרענדל (trendl) is derived from Middle High German trendel (“spinning top”), from Proto-Germanic *trandijaną (“to revolve, spin”).

der

I have a little dreidel. I made it out of clay. / And when it's dry and ready, then dreidel I shall play. / Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay. / Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, then dreidel I shall play.

1927, “I Have a Little Dreidel”, Samuel S. Grossman (lyrics), Samuel Eliezer Goldfarb or Mikhl Gelbart (music):

The dreidel is a spinning toy, painstakingly fashioned out of plastic polymer by Jewish craftsmen in Vietnam. Used for tabletop gambling games during Hanukkah, the dreidel often ends up on the floor and sometimes in the dog's small intestine.

2005 December 23, Jonathan Safran Foer, “A Beginner's Guide to Hanukkah”, in The New York Times:

Students from the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah School danced in dreidel costumes at a menorah lighting in Detroit on Thursday.

2023 December 7, Jacey Fortin, “For Some, the Symbols of Hanukkah Bring Extra Concern This Year”, in The New York Times, image caption:

A four-sided spinning top, inscribed with the four Hebrew letters נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hey), and ש (shin) (or פ (pey)) on each side, often used to play a traditional game during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.


the 1400s or 15th century; the quattrocento


Lammastide

(Christianity) The religious festival of Lammas.


harvest festival

en-noun

harvest festival (plural harvest festivals)

Harvest Festival
Harvest Festival#English

Alternative letter-case form of Harvest Festival, a British harvest festival.


Harvest Festival

Harvest Festival (plural Harvest Festivals)

(UK) church festival celebrating the harvest, held at the end of September or the beginning of October


Sukkot

he-m

סוכות / סֻכּוֹת (sukót)

(Judaism) An ancient biblical / Israelite / Jewish festival lasting seven days, celebrating the autumn harvest and commemorating the passage through the wilderness: observed from the 15th day to the 21st day of the month of Tishrei (Tishri).


Septuagesima

From Latin septuagesima dies (“70th day”).

(Christianity) A Sunday in the Christian calendar nine weeks before Easter Sunday.


Sexagesima

from Latin sexagesima dies, from the feminine of sexagesimus '60th' + dies 'day'

(Christianity) In the Christian calendar the Sunday two weeks before Lent, eight before Easter Sunday.


Quinquagesima

From Medieval Latin quinquagesima dies (“50th day”).

bor

(Christianity) A moveable feast in the Christian calendar on the Sunday 49 days before Easter Sunday (50 days counting inclusively).


happy holidays

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In the United States people say Happy Holidays to include all people on the earth: the Jewish people Celebrating Hanukah, Africans celebrating Kwanza, Middle Eastern people celebrating Eid, Christians celebrating Christmas, […]

2009, Ruben Santos Claveria, Holiday Songs and Kisses: Christmas Songs And other Poems:

Madeleine Mayfair, What Should I Write? 101 Holiday Wishes for Greeting Cards
Season's greetings and happy holidays!

(Canada, US, Philippines) A greeting used during the Christmas and winter holiday season to recognize the celebration of many holidays, sometimes starting with Thanksgiving and including Hanukkah, the winter solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Day.