St Patrick's Day
- noun
- /seɪnt ˈpætrɪks deɪ/
:
Día de San Patricio
- St Patrick's Day is a time for feasting and enjoying traditional Irish dishes with family and friends.
Examples
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Every year, we join the festivities for St Patrick's Day by attending the local parade.
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On St Patrick's Day, people wear green and celebrate Irish culture with parades and music.
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After all these years, a perfect St Patrick's Day.
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And so this years St Patrick's Day parade continues on schedule, despite speculation of the parade may have been cancelled due to fear of violence.
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But this has not deterred a record crowd for turning out for New York's St Patrick's Day parade.
Synonyms
4
2.9
A holiday on March 17 when people celebrate Saint Patrick and Irish culture
A holiday on March 17 that celebrates Irish people and culture
Surface Forms
Morphology
St + Patrick's + day
The phrase is fully compositional: 'St Patrick's Day' literally reads as the day associated with (or dedicated to) Saint Patrick, so a learner who knows 'St/saint', the name 'Patrick' and 'day' can infer it marks an observance for that person. Cultural specifics (the date, Irish patron saint, parades) are not derivable from the words, but the core meaning 'a day commemorating Saint Patrick' is transparent and parallels similar holiday naming patterns in other languages.
Etymology
St Patrick's Day may come from a story where Saint Patrick used a small three-leaf plant called the shamrock to explain the idea of three persons in one God. Because of that image, people began to wear the shamrock and green on his day, and today St Patrick's Day is a time to celebrate Irish people and culture with parades and parties.