The word holiday in English has two meanings. It can mean a period of time when workers do not go to work and students do not go to school, and they relax or travel instead. We also use it to refer to an official day when we do not go to work or school because we celebrate a special occasion.
Holidays can be divided into what can be called bank holiday or public holiday or national holiday (in the USA also called federal holiday), when we normally celebrate some aspect of culture or history, and into religious holiday. New Year’s Day is an example of a public holiday, while Christmas is a religions Christian holiday.
School holidays are the periods during which schools are closed. We can also classify holidays according to the season: spring holiday, summer holiday, autumn holiday and winter holiday. School holidays are also referred to as breaks, vacations and recess.
Let us now look at how the word holiday collocates with other words:
- I’m on holiday next week.
- My boss is going on holiday to France for Christmas.
- Our employees are entitled to three weeks’ paid holiday per year.
- I think I will take the rest of my holiday next year.
- Where are you going for your holiday this summer?
- Are you having a holiday this year?
- When you come back from holiday, give me a call.
- She’s been working so hard that she really deserves a holiday.
- They don’t earn a lot so they cannot afford foreign holidays.
- I think you really need a holiday.
- I haven’t booked my summer holiday
- We spent our holiday decorating the room.
- They got ill and they had to cancel their holiday.
- My mother-in-law is coming to stay in the holidays.
- They closed the centre for the Christmas holidays.
- There is cheap bus and train travel during the holidays.
The upcoming bank holidays in the UK are:
| 26 December | Boxing Day |
| 27 December | Christmas Day (substitute day) |
| 2 January | New Year’s Day (substitute day) |
| 14 April | Good Friday |
| 17 April | Easter Monday |
| 1 May | Early May bank holiday |
| 29 May | Spring bank holiday |
| 28 August | Summer bank holiday |
The upcoming bank holidays in the USA are:
| 25 December | Christmas Day |
| 1 January | New Year’s Day |
| 18 January | Martin Luther King Jr Day |
| 30 May | Memorial Day |
| 4 July | Independence Day |
| 5 September | Labour Day |
| 24 November | Thanksgiving Day |
Autorica je Jasminka Šturlić, prof. engleskog i talijanskog.
