2. Occurring rarely; adapted for a special occasion.
Courage is but a holiday kind of virtue, to be
seldom exercised. --Dryden.
2. A day of exemption from labor; a day of amusement and
gayety; a festival day.
And young and old come forth to play On a sunshine
holiday. --Milton.
3. (Law) A day fixed by law for suspension of business; a
legal holiday.
Note: In the United States legal holidays, so called, are
determined by law, commonly by the statutes of the
several States. The holidays most generally observed
are: the 22d day of February (Washington's birthday),
the 30th day of May (Memorial day), the 4th day of July
(Independence day), the 25th day of December (Christmas
day). In most of the States the 1st day of January is a
holiday. When any of these days falls on Sunday,
usually the Monday following is observed as the
holiday. In many of the States a day in the spring (as
Good Friday, or the first Thursday in April), and a day
in the fall (as the last Thursday in November) are now
regularly appointed by Executive proclamation to be
observed, the former as a day of fasting and prayer,
the latter as a day of thanksgiving and are kept as
holidays. In England, the days of the greater church
feasts (designated in the calendar by a red letter, and
commonly called red-letter days) are observed as
general holidays. Bank holidays are those on which, by
act of Parliament, banks may suspend business. Although
Sunday is a holiday in the sense of a day when business
is legally suspended, it is not usually included in the
general term, the phrase ``Sundays and holidays'' being
more common.
{The holidays}, any fixed or usual period for relaxation or
festivity; especially, Christmas and New Year's day with
the intervening time.