holiday

n. day of celebration; day when one does not work; vacation

The word holiday has related but different meanings in English-speaking countries. A contraction of holy and day, holidays originally represented special religious days. This word has evolved in general usage to mean any special day of rest (as opposed to regular days of rest such as the weekend).In the English-speaking world a holiday can mean a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation (e.g. "I'm going on holiday to Malta next week"), the North American equivalent is "vacation". Many Canadians will use the terms vacation and holiday interchangeably when referring to a trip away from home or time off work. In Australia the term can refer to a vacation or gazetted public holiday, but not to a day of commemoration such as Mothers' Day or Halloween.
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Noun
1. leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure; "we get two weeks of vacation every summer"; "we took a short holiday in Puerto Rico"
(synonym) vacation
(hypernym) leisure, leisure time
(hyponym) half-term
(derivation) vacation
2. a day on which work is suspended by law or custom; "no mail is delivered on federal holidays"; "it's a good thing that New Year's was a holiday because everyone had a hangover"
(hypernym) day
(hyponym) half-holiday
Verb
1. spend or take a vacation
(synonym) vacation
(hypernym) spend, pass
(hyponym) honeymoon
(derivation) vacation

(n.)
A day of exemption from labor; a day of amusement and gayety; a festival day.
  

(n.)
A day fixed by law for suspension of business; a legal holiday.
  

(n.)
A consecrated day; religious anniversary; a day set apart in honor of some person, or in commemoration of some event. See Holyday.
  

(a.)
Of or pertaining to a festival; cheerful; joyous; gay.
  

(a.)
Occurring rarely; adapted for a special occasion.
  

In naval mine warfare, a gap left unintentionally during sweeping or minehunting arising from errors in navigation, station-keeping, dan laying, breakdowns or other causes. 1/11/75

En guerre de mines sur mer, espace accidentellement non couvert au cours d'une opération de dragage ou de chasse aux mines par suite d'erreurs de navigation, de tenue de poste, de balisage, du fait d'avaries ou toute autre raison. 1/11/75