Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. A national or regional holiday from work on a specific day, usually for cultural reasons or celebrations.
Wikipedia
A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year.
Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history. For example, Australians celebrate Australia Day.
They vary by country and may vary by year. India leads the list with 21 National Holidays in the year 2015. Cambodia has over 20 days of official public holidays per year. Hong Kong and Egypt have 16 days of holidays per year. The public holidays are generally days of celebration, like the anniversary of a significant historical event, or can be a religious celebration like Christmas. Holidays can land on a specific day of the year, be tied to a certain day of the week in a certain month or follow other calendar systems like the Lunar Calendar.
Solemn ceremonies and children’s festivals take place throughout Turkey on National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, held on April 23 each year. Children take seats in the Turkish Parliament and symbolically govern the country for one day.
French Journée de solidarité envers les personnes âgées (Day of solidarity with the elderly) is a notable exception. This holiday became a mandatory working day although the French Council of State confirmed it remains a holiday.
Usage examples of "public holiday".
Dave and I didnt need to bunk off school: a public holiday had been declared by the Brentford Town Council and the school was closed.
This custom continues today in Mexico and to some extent in strongly Catholic countries, such as France and Spain, and in France, All Saints' Day, 1 November, is a public holiday.
At home, the viewing public of Fogerty, who were enjoying the public holiday, settled down in their armchairs, while an onscreen actress, with the head of a hawk and a nice line in surgically adjusted breasts, extolled the virtues of boil-in-the-bag George.
Indeed, it creates more work because there is always a backlog after a public holiday.
Craig declared a public holiday to mark the occasion of SallyAnne's birth.
Chicken or egg, Carol's Day did develop over the centuries and on many planets into a public holiday - this I learned when I was taken to Tertius.
Cofflin had said that the Town Meeting had voted a public holiday.