May Day
8
3.3
- noun
- /meɪ deɪ/
:
Día de Mayo
- May Day is the day that we celebrate the rebirth of everything in nature-- the blossoming trees, the new crops, the sap rising in our own bodies.
- celebrate May Day
- May Day parade
- May Day tribute
Examples
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May 1: Crowds march through downtown on May Day, with participation from many organizations and Occupy Portland affiliated groups.
Blog text (26) -
It's one of our May Day songs.
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Do you celebrate May Day in America?
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On May Day, the signs all over the principal streets were in different languages.
Academic text (2000) -
Watch the activist youth celebrate May Day in San Francisco.
Blog text (31) -
The team organized this year's May Day Party at the Public House/Social in Warehouse Row.
Blog text (18) -
Many countries celebrate May Day with parades and demonstrations to honor workers.
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On May Day, people often gather in parks to enjoy springtime festivities.
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In some cultures, May Day marks the arrival of summer with various traditional celebrations.
Synonyms
7
1.0
The first day of May that many countries celebrate as a spring festival or a workers' holiday
1
3.8
A holiday on 1 May that celebrates spring festivals and workers
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'May Day' is compositionally built from 'May' + 'day', so a B1 learner who knows the words can infer it denotes a day in May or a named holiday. However, the specific cultural senses (a traditional spring festival and/or International Workers' Day) are culturally specific and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so prior exposure or cultural knowledge is needed.
Etymology
The noun May Day comes from old May 1st spring festivals, when people danced around a decorated 'maypole' and put up flowers to welcome summer. Later, workers chose the same date for strikes and protests, so May Day also became a 'workers' holiday', and today it can mean both a spring celebration and a day for workers' rights.