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Glite Dictionary
Allhallows Eve

Allhallows Eve

1 5.5
The evening before All Saints' Day when people wear costumes and children collect sweets
  • noun
  • /ˈɔːlˌhæloʊz iːv/
translation icon : Víspera de Todos los Santos
  • The celebration of All Hallows Eve has become popular around the world.

Examples

  • And a very Happy All-Hallows-Eve to all!

    Blog text (28)

  • The day before All Saints was celebrated as "All Hallows Eve," and the phrase morphed into Hallowe'en or just Halloween.

    Blog text (28)

  • Children dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating on All Hallows Eve.

  • Many people decorate their homes for All Hallows Eve with spooky decorations.

Synonyms

Halloween
vsAllhallows Eve
641 1.0

The evening of October 31 when children wear costumes and go door to door for treats

is broader covering general evening celebrations and pranks by all ages
Hallowe'en
vsAllhallows Eve
  • UK
1 3.2

An evening on October 31 when children wear costumes and ask for candy

is the modern unhyphenated form used for that evening

Surface Forms

Allhallows Eve singular
Allhallows Eves plural
All Hallows Eves plural
All Hallows Eve singular

Morphology

Allhallows + eve

The meaning is transparently composed from 'Allhallows' (All Saints) + 'eve' (the time preceding an event), so a learner who knows those constituents can infer it denotes the evening before All Saints' Day. The construction is cross-linguistically common (e.g. 'víspera', 'veille')—the archaic orthography ('Allhallows') is a minor barrier but does not obscure the compositional meaning.

Etymology

Allhallows Eve comes from old church words: Allhallows means 'all saints' and Eve means 'the evening before'. Long ago people lit bonfires and wore masks on that night to scare or hide from spirits, so today Allhallows Eve, now called Halloween, is a night of costumes and celebrations.