The Collaborative International Dictionary
Memorial Day \Me*mo"ri*al Day\
A day, originally May 30, appointed for commemorating, by decorating their graves with flowers, by patriotic exercises, etc., the dead soldiers and sailors who served the Civil War (1861-65) in the United States; Also called Decoration Day. It is a legal holiday in most of the States. In the Southern States, the Confederate Memorial Day is: May 30 in Virginia; April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in North Carolina and South Carolina; the second Friday in May in Tennessee; June 3 in Louisiana. [U. S.]
A day designated for commemoration of all of the war dead of the United States, clebrated on the last Monday in May in most states. It supersedes the original Memorial Day celebrated May 30th.
Decoration Day \Decoration Day\ a day, May 30, originally appointed for decorating with flowers the graves of the Union soldiers and sailors, who fell in the Civil War in the United States; -- now called Memorial Day, and established as the last Monday in May, and designated as a day for commemorating those who died in all wars of the United States. [U. S.]
Memorial \Me*mo"ri*al\, a. [F. m['e]morial, L. memorialis, fr. memoria. See Memory.]
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Serving to preserve remembrance; commemorative; as, a memorial building.
There high in air, memorial of my name, Fix the smooth oar, and bid me live to fame.
--Pope. Contained in memory; as, a memorial possession.
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Mnemonic; assisting the memory.
This succession of Aspirate, Soft, and Hard, may be expressed by the memorial word ASH.
--Skeat.Memorial Day. See Memorial Day in the vocabulary. Also called {Decoration Day}. [U.S.]
Wiktionary
n. (context US dated English) Memorial Day
Wikipedia
Decoration Day is a rock album released by Drive-By Truckers in 2003. The album was recorded mostly live over two weeks at Chase Park Transduction Studios in Athens, Georgia, and was produced by noted producer and former Sugar bassist David Barbe. The album is the Truckers' fifth, including their live album Alabama Ass Whuppin', following the critically acclaimed Southern Rock Opera. The album features a more mellow, stripped down, and reserved sound compared to Southern Rock Opera's heavy hitting southern rock.
Decoration Day is the first album to feature Jason Isbell on guitar; he would record two more albums with the band before leaving to pursue a solo career in 2007.
Decoration Day is a 1990 film based on a novel by John William Corrington of the same title. The made-for-TV movie was directed by Robert Markowitz and filmed on location in Georgia.
Decoration Day is the former name of Memorial Day, a United States holiday.
Decoration Day may also refer to:
- Decoration Day (album), a 2003 album by Drive-By Truckers
- Decoration Day (film), a 1990 American film based on a novel by John William Corrington
- "Decoration Day", the second movement of A Symphony: New England Holidays by American composer Charles Ives
- "Decoration Day" (song), a song by Sonny Boy Williamson I, later performed by John Lee Hooker on the album It Serves You Right to Suffer
Decoration Day is a Canadian holiday that recognizes veterans of Canada's military. The holiday has mostly been eclipsed by the similar Remembrance Day.
Decoration Day began on 2 June 1890. Originally, the celebration served as a form of protest for veterans of the Battle of Ridgeway who felt that their contributions to the protection of Canada during the Fenian Raids were being overlooked by the government. The veterans placed decorations at the Canadian Volunteers Monument near Queen's Park in Toronto on the anniversary of the battle. There were thirty thousand participants in 1891, the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Ridgeway, and up to fifty thousand watched the accompanying parade. This became an annual event, taking place on the weekend nearest the original date and accumulating more participants as further conflicts resulted in a larger body of Canadian veterans. Participants included veterans of the Fenian Raids, the North-West Rebellion, the Second Boer War, and the First World War.
The actions of the Fenian veterans resulted in the British creation of service medals recognizing participants in the pre-First World War Canadian conflicts. Canada provided compensation to veterans of the rebellions, but not the Fenian raids; Ontario did provide some recognition at the provincial level. Commemoration of Decoration Day became less prominent in the early 1900s, although it returned to some prominence when the First World War began. A Ridgeway monument was created in 1916 and made a National Historic Battlefield in 1921. In 1931, the Armistice Remembrance Day Act established 11 November (Remembrance Day) as the official day commemorating military service in Canada. However, some recognition of Decoration Day persists.
Usage examples of "decoration day".
For many a year, on each Decoration Day, a sorrowful woman had come and fastened these flowers there.
The face I saw was the face to a hair and a line and not a day older than the one I had looked at as I tied my cravat before going to Edith that Decoration Day, which, as this man would have me believe, was celebrated one hundred and thirteen years before.
They traveled together to Washington to look at the grave, good stone and on top an iron star with seal and a hole on the top in which to insert the stick for a little flag on Decoration Day.
It was one of the annual holidays of the nation in the latter third of the nineteenth century, being set apart under the name of Decoration Day, for doing honor to the memory of the soldiers of the North who took part in the war for the preservation of the union of the States.
For years now, rain had fallen on schedule every week end, and there had been storms and floods on Decoration Day, July 4th and Labor Day.
Dreamily I reviewed the incidents of Decoration Day, my trip in company with Edith and her parents to Mount Auburn, and my dining with them on our return to the city.