Meaning of "holiday" in the English dictionary

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD HOLIDAY

Old English hāligdæg, literally: holy day.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF HOLIDAY

holiday  [ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF HOLIDAY

Holiday is a verb and can also act as a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb holiday in English.

WHAT DOES HOLIDAY MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Holiday

A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tradition of cultural or religious significance. Holidays may be designated by governments, religious institutions, or other groups or organizations. The degree to which normal activities are reduced by a holiday may depend on local laws, customs, the type of job being held or even personal choices. The concept of holidays has most often originated in connection with religious observances. The intention of a holiday was typically to allow individuals to tend to religious duties associated with important dates on the calendar. In most modern societies, however, holidays serve as much of a recreational function as any other weekend days or activities. In many societies there are important distinctions between holidays designated by governments and holidays designated by religious institutions.

Definition of holiday in the English dictionary

The first definition of holiday in the dictionary is a period in which a break is taken from work or studies for rest, travel, or recreation US and Canadian word: vacation. Other definition of holiday is a day on which work is suspended by law or custom, such as a religious festival, bank holiday, etc related adjective ferial. Holiday is also to spend a holiday.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO HOLIDAY

PRESENT

Present

I holiday

you holiday

he/she/it holidays

we holiday

you holiday

they holiday

Present continuous

I am holidaying

you are holidaying

he/she/it is holidaying

we are holidaying

you are holidaying

they are holidaying

Present perfect

I have holidayed

you have holidayed

he/she/it has holidayed

we have holidayed

you have holidayed

they have holidayed

Present perfect continuous

I have been holidaying

you have been holidaying

he/she/it has been holidaying

we have been holidaying

you have been holidaying

they have been holidaying

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I holidayed

you holidayed

he/she/it holidayed

we holidayed

you holidayed

they holidayed

Past continuous

I was holidaying

you were holidaying

he/she/it was holidaying

we were holidaying

you were holidaying

they were holidaying

Past perfect

I had holidayed

you had holidayed

he/she/it had holidayed

we had holidayed

you had holidayed

they had holidayed

Past perfect continuous

I had been holidaying

you had been holidaying

he/she/it had been holidaying

we had been holidaying

you had been holidaying

they had been holidaying

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will holiday

you will holiday

he/she/it will holiday

we will holiday

you will holiday

they will holiday

Future continuous

I will be holidaying

you will be holidaying

he/she/it will be holidaying

we will be holidaying

you will be holidaying

they will be holidaying

Future perfect

I will have holidayed

you will have holidayed

he/she/it will have holidayed

we will have holidayed

you will have holidayed

they will have holidayed

Future perfect continuous

I will have been holidaying

you will have been holidaying

he/she/it will have been holidaying

we will have been holidaying

you will have been holidaying

they will have been holidaying

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would holiday

you would holiday

he/she/it would holiday

we would holiday

you would holiday

they would holiday

Conditional continuous

I would be holidaying

you would be holidaying

he/she/it would be holidaying

we would be holidaying

you would be holidaying

they would be holidaying

Conditional perfect

I would have holiday

you would have holiday

he/she/it would have holiday

we would have holiday

you would have holiday

they would have holiday

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been holidaying

you would have been holidaying

he/she/it would have been holidaying

we would have been holidaying

you would have been holidaying

they would have been holidaying

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you holiday
we let´s holiday
you holiday

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to holiday

Past participle

holidayed

Present Participle

holidaying

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

SYNONYMS OF «HOLIDAY»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «holiday» and belong to the same grammatical category.

synonyms of holiday

anniversary · bank holiday · break · celebration · feast · festival · festivity · gala · leave · mela · name day · public holiday · recess · red-letter day · saint´s day · schoolie · time off · vacation

TRANSLATION OF HOLIDAY

Find out the translation of holiday to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of holiday from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «holiday» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 假日
• Translator English - Spanish: vacaciones
• English: holiday
• Translator English - Hindi: छुट्टी
• Translator English - Arabic: عُطْلَة
• Translator English - Russian: отдых
• Translator English - Portuguese: férias
• Translator English - Bengali: ছুটির দিন
• Translator English - French: vacances
• Translator English - Malay: Percutian
• Translator English - German: Urlaub
• Translator English - Japanese: 休暇
• Translator English - Korean: 휴일
• Translator English - Javanese: Liburan
• Translator English - Vietnamese: ngày nghỉ
• Translator English - Tamil: விடுமுறை
• Translator English - Marathi: सुट्टी
• Translator English - Turkish: tatil
• Translator English - Italian: vacanza
• Translator English - Polish: urlop
• Translator English - Ukrainian: канікули
• Translator English - Romanian: vacanță
• Translator English - Greek: διακοπές
• Translator English - Afrikaans: vakansie
• Translator English - Swedish: semester
• Translator English - Norwegian: ferie

10 QUOTES WITH «HOLIDAY»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word holiday.

1

Ruzwana Bashir

What you do on travel holiday is what your memories are based on. People want to do cool stuff, and this is what will shape your entire experience.

2

Katharine Lee Bates

A typical Seville shop reaches far along the street front, with many open doors, and a counter running the full length. Here ladies sit in pairs and groups, never singly, to cheapen fans and mantillas, while the smiling salesmen, cigarette in hand, shrug and gesticulate and give back banter for banter as gayly as if it were all a holiday frolic.

3

Margaret Beckett

Some people think that going on a caravan holiday is a slightly more upscale version of camping. Let me assure you, it is much better than that. You know that you will have your creature comforts wherever you are. I never have to pack light, and I can put the kettle on in any location.

4

Tobin Bell

Halloween is fun, but it wasn't always my favorite holiday. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

5

Honor Blackman

My father was in the civil service. I can remember standing in a bus shelter in the pouring rain, and that we were allowed candy floss at the end of the holiday if we had behaved.

6

Alain de Botton

It's very hard to respect people on holiday - everybody looks so silly at the beach, it makes you hate humanity - but when you see people at their work they elicit respect, whether it's a mechanic, a stonemason or an accountant.

7

Hamish Bowles

My mother is the sort of woman who not only can raise a chicken and roast it to moist perfection but, as she proved to my openmouthed sister and me on a family holiday to Morocco when we were very young, can barter for one in a market, kill it, pluck it, and then cook it to perfection.

8

Danny Boyle

I grew up in a city, I'm a city person - I go on holiday and I'm bored.

9

Hilarie Burton

There's something about a holiday that isn't all about how much money you spend.

10

Kurt Busch

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I took time to reflect on what is most important to me and realized I need to find a way to put the fun back into racing.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «HOLIDAY»

Discover the use of holiday in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to holiday and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

Holiday

Holiday is a book of poems chiseled into both public and private calendar markers, where the unfinished self seeks, desperately and defiantly, resolution through either completion or negation.

Susan Hahn, 2001

Holiday

The events of this novel take place on a single day in the southern town of Nazareth, a day so punishingly hot that Virginia Hade gives her father's black workers a holiday from work at the request of the black overseer, John Cloud.

Waldo David Frank, 2003

Holiday

This is an extremely subtle story, a consummate portrait of English provincial life told with all Stanley Middleton's artistry and depth of feeling. It was joint winner of the Booker Prize in 1974.

Stanley Middleton, 2010

A Holiday of Love

The tales in this magnificent collection celebrate the holidays in 19th-century New York City and features stories by Judith McNaught, Jude Devereaux, Jill Barnett, and Arnette Lamb. Reissue.

Jude Deveraux, Judith McNaught, Arnette Lamb, 2005

Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

Because I’m tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I’m going to explain exactly how the media really works.

Ryan Holiday, 2012

Busman's Holiday: (three-act Play)

"Provocative drama about a young and idealistic newspaperman who tried to buck the Marcos-controlled media and is brutally murdered".

Jessie B. Garcia, 1991

Palm Springs Holiday

This is the story of Palm Springs in its golden years, a city that had it all, including marvelous midcentury Modern architecture, fabulous fly-in hotels, and a swinging nightlife.

Peter Moruzzi, 2009

Holiday Graph Art

This graph art activity book is a compilation of holiday pictures which are designed to fit graph paper squares. The child colors in the squares on graph paper according to the direction sheet, and a mystery picture appears.

Erling Freeberg, 1987

Billie Holiday: A Biography

Presents a biography of the African American woman who, despite a turbulent life, became one of the most famous singers in the history of jazz.

Meg Greene, 2007

On Holiday: A History of Vacationing

Beginning his cultural journey among some 18th-century pioneers of tourism, Lofgren takes us on a tour of the Western holiday world and shows how two centuries of "learning to be a tourist" have shaped our own ways of vacationing.

Orvar Löfgren, 2002

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «HOLIDAY»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term holiday is used in the context of the following news items.

Women find holiday planning and travel more stressful than male …

Revealed: Women find holiday planning and travel to be far more stressful than their male partners (and why it's all down to a perceived lack of ... «Daily Mail, Jul 15»

Holiday complaints: what to do when travel goes wrong - Telegraph

I also assume that you don't need any help in having a good time. It's when things go wrong that they risk ruining your holiday. So here is our ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Jul 15»

'I doubted my Turkish holiday romance would last but even incurable …

Kelly O'Neil had read all the stories in magazines – heartbroken British women who'd gone on holiday, fallen in love with a local only for it to ... «Mirror.co.uk, Jul 15»

Amazon Prime Day: The Logic Behind A Retailer's Made-Up Holiday …

Amazon is not the first to try launching its own shopping holiday. Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba manufactured its own event in 2009 ... «Forbes, Jul 15»

Feeling the heat, Iraq declares Thursday a holiday - Al Arabiya News

The announcement effectively brings forward a public holiday at the end of Ramadan. The Eid al-Fitr holiday is due to start by Saturday, and ... «Al-Arabiya, Jul 15»

Louise Redknapp shares holiday picture from Palma with Jamie and …

Louise, 40, and the boys showed off their holiday glow by Day 4 when they huddled in for a cute group shot after dinner in one Balearic Islands ... «Daily Mail, Jul 15»

Welcome To Marketing Land's Holiday Retailer, 2015 Edition!

Marketing Land reporters and expert contributors will once again help e-commerce marketers make the absolute most of the crucial holiday ... «Marketing Land, Jul 15»

How to Be an MP is UK politicians' top holiday reading - The Guardian

Advising on everything from “how to sympathise” with constituents to “how to stay married”, Paul Flynn's practical guide, How to Be an MP, ... «The Guardian, Jul 15»

Looking for holiday romance? Head to Seattle for the best-looking …

The best things to do on holiday (and there isn't a sunbed in sight) · Is THIS the world's best hotel? ... Save up to 85% on phone calls on holiday ... «Daily Mail, Jul 15»

State parks draw record holiday weekend crowds - Kare 11

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota state parks drew record crowds on the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and park officials say there are still ... «KARE, Jul 15»