The Collaborative International Dictionary
Derby \Der"by\ (?; usually ? in Eng.; 85), n.
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A race for three-old horses, run annually at Epsom (near London), for the Derby stakes. It was instituted by the 12th Earl of Derby, in 1780.
Derby Day, the day of the annual race for the Derby stakes, -- Wednesday of the week before Whitsuntide.
A stiff felt hat with a dome-shaped crown.
Wikipedia
Derby day generally refers to any sporting event featuring a pair of sports teams engaged in a rivalry. (The term originated from association football, for the day when a certain local derby takes place.)
Derby Day specifically may refer to:
- Epsom Derby, at Epsom Downs Racecourse, England
- Victoria Derby, during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, Australia
- Kentucky Derby, United States
- New Zealand Derby
- Derby Day (light opera), a 1931 light opera
- Derby Day (1923 film), Our Gang short
- Derby Day (1952 film), a British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox
- The Derby Day, an 1858 painting by William Powell Frith
Derby Day is a 1932 three-act light opera, with music composed by Alfred Reynolds to a libretto by A. P. Herbert. Herbert wrote his text between March and May 1931, whilst on a trip to Australia, during the first run of his successful Tantivy Towers.
One contemporary review described the work as "mainly a Cockney opera", and praised the work as "topical in the best sense" and said of the music:
I do not know if Mr. Reynolds is himself a Cockney, but I do know that his Cockney music, particularly in the coster scenes, is the best that has ever been written.
In particular, the song for the tipster, "'Oo wants a winner for the big race tomorrer?", has been singled out for particular praise as a musical expression of the Cockney.
Derby Day is a 1952 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Googie Withers, John McCallum and Alfie Bass. An ensemble piece, it portrays several characters on their way to the Derby Day races at Epsom Downs Racecourse. It was an attempt to revive the success that Neagle and Wilding had previously had opposite each other, but it failed in this regard. In an effort to promote the film Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby. In the United States it was released as Four against Fate.
While making the film Wilding began dating Elizabeth Taylor, who was in London filming Ivanhoe, and later became her second husband.
Usage examples of "derby day".
But now, a dozen years later, I wouldn't have recognized him anywhere but here, where I should have expected to find him, in the Paddock bar on Derby Day.
It was the first Saturday in May -- Derby Day in Louisville -- and I'd been harassing Jimmy King since early morning about getting us back to Atlanta in time to watch the race on TV.
The nearer he came to the race the more he wished it was an ordinary Derby day like any other.
Surely there were better ways to pursue the mystery of Derby Day, than hunting pimps with some bureaucratic crony of Oliphant's.
And if the Sport of Kings was patronized by just birds that admires equine charms, you could park the Derby Day crowd in a phone booth.
He sped past the coat-cluttered corridor which led to it, past the polished jockey scales opposite the famous painting of the Derby Day Outing.