Christmas (kris'm-), n.
(abbr. Xmas).
(Also ~ - day) festival of Christ's birth, 25th Dec., devoted
esp. to family reunion and merrymaking, & a quarter-day
(Father ~, personification of family festivity); (also ~ - tide)
week or more beginning 25th Dec. (~eve); (attrib.) appropriate to
~, as ~ book, card (of greeting by post), number (of
magazine), present, pudding: II ~ - box (cf. BOXING DAY),
money given at ~ to postman etc. in general acknowledgement of indefinate
or continuous services; ~ - tree, evergreen tree set up in room
in the open & hung with candles, presents etc.; ~ rose, white-flowered
hellebore blooming Dec. - Feb. Hence ~Y2 a.
[late OE Cristes maesse (MASS)] |
