to cancel Christmas
1
8.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
arruinar la Navidad
- Reggie can't cancel Christmas.
Examples
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I'm, therefore, forced to take drastic measures and cancel Christmas unless this so-called Richie Rich is brought to justice.
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I say we cancel Christmas.
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I refuse to work for anyone that would cancel Christmas.
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And if you think I can't cancel Christmas, you're wrong.
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If we don't get enough donations, we might have to cancel Christmas for the children this year.
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She felt that their argument had really canceled Christmas for the whole family, dampening the festive spirit.
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When the storm hit, it seemed like the community center would cancel Christmas celebrations altogether.
Synonyms
Antonyms
How Spoiled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to ruin or put an end to the holiday/celebration' is directly derivable from combining 'cancel' (to render null or end) with 'Christmas' (the holiday), since cancelling an event normally means stopping the celebration. Although it can be used figuratively to mean 'spoil the spirit,' the verb+holiday composition is a standard, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Cancel Christmas comes from the simple image of someone crossing out Christmas on a calendar or saying the holiday is 'off'. If you cancel a plan you stop it, so cancel Christmas means 'to ruin' or 'to put an end to the joy and plans of the holiday'.