unholiday

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ holiday.

Noun

unholiday (plural unholidays)

1. A day or period of time which is not a holiday, but is celebrated as if it were one.
   • 2013, Patricia Spadaro, Honor Yourself: The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving, →ISBN:

     Yet the most touching gifts are often the ones that come as unbirthday or unholiday or unanniverary gifts.

   • 2014, Lorraine Turner, Calico Horses and the Patchwork Trail, →ISBN:

     I guess this unholiday is exactly what we all needed today, she thought as she pulled into the driveway.

   • 2015, Douglas Gilbert, Alice In Wunderkinderland With a Hedgehog, →ISBN:

     It being your unbirthday then you must be invited to boogie at the bank unholiday.

   • 2015, Douglas Evans, Children's Games, page 122:

     Today we declare an unholiday. We'll take a break from all our play.

Adjective

unholiday (comparative more unholiday, superlative most unholiday)

1. Grim or drab; the antithesis of festive.

   Synonyms: lackluster, wan; see also Thesaurus:boring, Thesaurus:dim

   • 1835, Charles Joseph Latrobe, The Rambler In North America Vol. I, page 30:

     An air of gaiety and festal enjoyment, which contrasts singularly with the unholiday appearance of men and things in the interior of the country, reigns on the waters of the bays and rivers in the vicinity of the cities to a surprising degree.

   • 1856, Frederick William Faber, The Blessed Sacrament Or the Works and Ways of God, page 224:

     O that unholiday look of English countenances, how sad it is!

   • 2008, William J. Locke, Simon the Jester, →ISBN:

     But the other day I took it out for reference; and now as I am holiday- making in a certain little backwater of the world, where it is raining in a most unholiday fashion, it occurs to me that, as everything has happened to me which is likely to happen (Heaven knows I want no more excursions and alarums in my life's drama), I may as well bring the narrative up to date.

   • 2010, Rosita G. Fanto, Lady of the Cards, →ISBN:

     Even the unholiday drabness of the homespun dress could not dim the expectation with which she set out soon after daybreak.