🏖️ A vacation 🎉 A public day off 🏖️ To take a vacation

to holiday

2 2.5

Spend time away from work or home for rest and travel

verb
/ˈhɑːləˌdeɪ/

: irse de vacaciones

My father, who was a city accountant and a keen fisherman, used to love to go fishing with the local people in the little place we holidayed in every July.

Examples

I remembered a place in Wales my family used to holiday at.

Older Gods (2023)
We currently have Buzz because Amanda and Nick have gone on holiday for the week.
I am going on holiday in March.
We just, we just go on holiday, Yeah.
But when we go on a holiday, I absolutely hate coach transfers.
So I was on holiday in Switzerland, skiing.
When he came back, he'd become obsessed with an area of countryside we used to holiday at in the summer.

Older Gods (2023)
Today we have the Sideman competing to win a luxury holiday to Dubai.
Philby was chosen partly because he had expressed interest in Spain and had holidayed there with his wife in 1935.

Academic text (2010)
We plan to holiday in France next summer, exploring the beautiful countryside.

Synonyms

to vacation

vsto holiday

36 3.0

To spend time away from home or work to rest and relax

refers specifically to taking time during a set rest or celebration period

to vacay

vsto holiday

Informal

1 9.1

To take time away from work to rest or travel

is the standard neutral term used for planned rest periods

Compounds

holiday season

88 1.0

A busy time at the end of the year when people celebrate, travel, and shop

national holiday

12 1.0

A public day when most shops and government offices close across the whole country

holiday tradition

6 1.8

An activity people do every holiday, often with family or community

summer holiday

5 1.0

A long break in summer when schools are closed

holiday meal

4 1.1

A special food people prepare and eat for a holiday celebration

religious holiday

4 2.2

A day when people of a faith have ceremonies and celebrate

public holiday

3 1.4

A day when offices and shops are closed by law for most people

bank holiday

2 2.3

A public holiday when banks and many shops and offices close

High Holiday

2 6.8

One of the two most important Jewish holy days, Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, that Jews observe seriously

busman's holiday

1 8.4

A time off when you do the same work as your job

legal holiday

Formal

1 1.8

A day that the law says people do not work and offices are closed

half-holiday

1 4.1

A day when people do not work for half the usual time

Hallmark holiday

1 6.9

A holiday companies promote mainly to sell cards and gifts

holiday resort

1 1.9

A place with hotels, pools, and activities where people stay on holiday

holiday ham

1 1.6

A cooked piece of pork people serve at special meals like Christmas or Easter

package holiday

2.7

A holiday sold by a travel company with flights and hotel included

post-holiday slump

5.2

A time when you feel low and lose motivation after a holiday ends

post-holiday slump

Literature

4.2

A drop in shopping and sales after a major holiday season

pre-holiday

3.4

The time just before a holiday when people prepare

pre-holiday

3.1

Happens before a holiday, often when people prepare

How Long

to holiday

2 2.5

to rest

816 1.0

to take a break

496 1.4

Surface Forms

holiday infinitive

holidayed past

holidayed past participle

holidaying present participle

holidays third person singular

Etymology

Holiday as a verb comes from the noun holiday, which originally meant a 'holy day' of rest; a helpful way to remember is that to holiday is to 'take a holiday' or 'take a holy day' — to go away and rest or travel.