Christmas holly
- noun
- /ˈkrɪs·məs ˈhɑː·li/
- US
:
acebo de Navidad
- The Christmas holly adorned the front door, welcoming guests with its bright red berries and glossy green leaves.
Examples
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It had Christmas holly and lights in it, and everyone at the thrift was oohing and ahhing over it, even though I thought it looked particularly hideous with that stuff in it.
Blog text (27) -
I think it's time for the Christmas Holly.
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We decorated the table with festive Christmas holly, creating a cheerful atmosphere for the holiday dinner.
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On Christmas morning, children loved to see the holly hanging above the fireplace, a symbol of the holiday spirit.
Synonyms
15
2.0
A tree or bush with shiny green prickly leaves and red berries
A tree with shiny prickly leaves and bright red berries used for Christmas decoration
An evergreen shrub with spiny leaves and red berries
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning—a holly plant associated with or used at Christmas—is directly and transparently derived from combining 'Christmas' (the holiday) with 'holly' (the evergreen plant). There is no idiomatic shift or metaphorical extension, and the cultural association is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the phrase.
Etymology
Christmas holly comes from an old custom where people brought green, spiky branches of holly into their homes in winter to show life and to keep away bad spirits. Because the bright red berries and dark leaves looked festive, Christmas holly became the plant people use to 'decorate' at Christmas.