Guy Fawkes Night
- noun
- UK
:
Noche de Guy Fawkes
- Children enjoy sparklers and fireworks during Guy Fawkes Night festivities held across many towns.
Examples
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Every November 5th, families in the UK commemorate Guy Fawkes Night by lighting bonfires and burning effigies.
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This year's Guy Fawkes Night celebration on Monday was awesome, and yesterday the nation felt the excitement of election night.
Blog text (20) -
It was Guy Fawkes Night.
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It ends with Guy Fawkes Night at Lewes. You mustn't worry about Amy being frightened.
Fiction book (1990) -
Following Guy Fawkes Night each year is (as seen on Dead-Logic's Liturgical Calendar) Carl Sagan Day on November 9.
Blog text (20) -
Last month, Andrews had gone to Guy Fawkes Night and watched as fireworks smashed the sky with disquieting closeness, shedding pieces of dazzle onto the wet grass.
Fiction book (1997) -
On Guy Fawkes Night, people gather to watch fireworks and celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot.
Synonyms
1
6.7
A yearly UK event on November 5 when people light bonfires and watch fireworks to remember the Gunpowder Plot
A British celebration on 5 November with fireworks and a bonfire where people burn a model of Guy Fawkes
Surface Forms
Morphology
Guy + Fawkes + night
The phrase names a specific historical and cultural event (the Gunpowder Plot commemoration) tied to the proper name 'Guy Fawkes' and the time word 'night'; the meanings 'fireworks' and 'burning effigies' are not inferable from the constituent words. Because 'Guy' and 'Fawkes' are proper nouns and the event is culturally specific, a B1 learner who only knows the individual words would not be able to derive the MWE's full meaning without prior cultural knowledge.
Etymology
Guy Fawkes Night comes from Guy Fawkes, a man who in 1605 tried to blow up the British parliament. When his plan failed, people lit bonfires and burned a model of him, so today the night is remembered with fireworks and bonfires to mark that 'failed plot'.