Christmas
Mac Dictionary’s definition:
noun ( pl. -mases )
the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ’s birth, held on December 25.
• the period immediately before and after December 25 : we had guests over Christmas.
exclamation informal
expressing surprise, dismay, or despair.
DERIVATIVES
Christmassy |-məsē| adjective
ORIGIN Old English Crīstes mæsse (see Christ , Mass )
December 25 is not the Christmas day for everyone though. For example, those who are Orthodox (for example, Greek) Christmas for them is January 7.
People have argued that Charles Dickens created Christmas. Well, he didn’t but he did make it the holiday it is now known as. Christmas used to be celebrated as a royal holiday. In other words, it was celebrated by the rich. But then Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol to show the pathetic greed of this and thus made Christmas a holiday for all to celebrate.
Want to learn more?
Check out these websites:
http://www.history.com/topics/christmas
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/xmas/pva63.html
(Source: whychristmas.com)
Tunnel
Mac Dictionary’s definition:
an artificial underground passage, esp. one built through a hill or under a building, road, or river.
• an underground passage dug by a burrowing animal.
• [in sing. ] a passage in a sports stadium by which players enter or leave the field.
verb ( -neled, -neling; Brit. -nelled , -nelling )
1 [ intrans. ] dig or force a passage underground or through something : he tunneled under the fence | ( tunnel one’s way) the insect tunnels its way out of the plant.
2 [ intrans. ] Physics (of a particle) pass through a potential barrier.
PHRASES
light at the end of the tunnel see light 1 .
DERIVATIVES
tunneler noun
ORIGIN late Middle English (in the senses [tunnel net] and [flue of a chimney] ): from Old French tonel, diminutive of tonne ‘cask.’ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the mid 18th cent.
Make sure that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train!
Stigma
According to my friend Mac Dictionary:
a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person :the stigma of mental disorder | to be a nonreader carries a social stigma.
2 ( stigmata) (in Christian tradition) marks corresponding to those left on Jesus’ body by the Crucifixion, said to have been impressed by divine favor on the bodies of St. Francis of Assisi and others.
3 Medicine a visible sign or characteristic of a disease.• a mark or spot on the skin.
4 Botany (in a flower) the part of a pistil that receives the pollen during pollination.ORIGIN late 16th cent. (denoting a mark made by pricking or branding): via Latinfrom Greek stigma ‘a mark made by a pointed instrument, a dot’ ; related to stick.
So, in other words, quit marking me.
Easter
When people think of Easter they think chocolate, candy, and girly colours such as baby blue, pink, and bright yellow. Well, maybe yellow is neutral, who knows. Of course, Easter is also the time where Mr. Jesus Christ was resurrected. Easter is also the time of birth, hence, the resurrection. Animals are born, people are born, lots of things are born, but I guess something is born every day. Soooooo this day is a special day of birth. Well, yes. Some people celebrate Easter late though like next week is Greek Easter. It’s probably Easter for other nationalities but I don’t know them so sorry.
So if you’re having chocolate or having some grand feast or both or just celebrating another day of birth, enjoy Easter my friends because it is only here once a year. By the way, I hear that those Kinder Surprise eggs are really good and you get really large toys. Just thought of putting that out there.
