Boxing Day
2
3.0
- proper noun
- /ˈbɒksɪŋ deɪ/
- UK
:
Día de San Esteban
- I went back home on Boxing Day and found the others playing with new toys.
- Christmas and Boxing Day
And for, for, for those of you listening at home on the day of upload, it is Boxing Day.
- And for, for, for those of you listening at home on the day of upload, it is Boxing Day.
Examples
-
On Boxing Day, I'll take them mining with me.
-
We're having a thing on Boxing Day.
-
We have Boxing Day off.
-
They've been known to sing on Boxing Day, you know.
-
People report having to mow their lawns on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.
Academic text (2004) -
Cheers to Boxing Day.
-
So we've got Sprouts, bacon for Boxing Day morning if you want to have bacon sarnies.
-
On Boxing Day, she and Christine were in the parlor, packing the last of Agnes's books, when Christine asked about the Gordon twins.
Fiction book (1996) -
In England, the day after Christmas is called Boxing Day.
-
My aunt's birthday is on Christmas Day; her husband's is on Boxing Day.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term 'Boxing Day' is a fixed, culturally specific holiday name whose sense ('the first weekday after Christmas') cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'boxing' (the sport) + 'day'. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would likely infer a day for boxing or sporting events and would not reliably understand the holiday sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
Boxing Day may come from an old practice where employers gave their servants a box of gifts or money on 'the day after Christmas', because the servants had to work on Christmas Day. So the name stuck and today Boxing Day means the public holiday the day after Christmas when people rest, visit family, or go to sales.