Holiday, Billie
Holiday, Billie, 1915–59, American singer, b. Baltimore. Her original name was Eleanora Fagan. She began singing professionally in 1930, and after performing with numerous bands—especially those of Benny
Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Count
Basie, and Artie
Shaw—she embarked in 1940 on a career of solo appearances in nightclubs and theaters. Her highly personal approach to a song, her individual phrasing and intonation, and the often rough but highly emotional quality of her voice soon earned her a supreme position among modern jazz singers. Although she was financially successful, she suffered many personal disasters, complicated by the drug addiction that she could not overcome and that eventually destroyed her career and hastened her death. She was also known as Lady Day.
Bibliography
See her sometimes factually inaccurate autobiography (1956); biographies by D. Clarke (1994) and S. Nicholson (1995), critical biography by J. Szwed (2015); D. Margolick, Strange Fruit (2000).
holiday
holiday [altered from holy day], day set aside for the commemoration of an important event. Holidays are often accompanied by public ceremonies, such as parades and carnivals, and by religious observances; they may also be simply a time for relaxation. Days of commemoration are observed throughout the world, e.g., Bastille Day in France, May Day in Russia, and the New Year in China. National holidays are observed throughout a country and are considered legal if proclaimed by the central government. In the United States the state governments have jurisdiction over the celebration of holidays, except with regard to federal employees and agencies. On legal holidays banks and schools are closed and business transactions are restricted. New Year's Day, Presidents Day (a combined observance of George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays that occurs near the date of Washington's birthday), the Fourth of July (Independence Day), Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day are legal holidays observed by all the states. Abraham Lincoln's birthday, Memorial Day, Election Day, Columbus Day, and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday are legal holidays in most states. Many special occasions are observed by single states or by a group of states, such as Patriots' Day (in Massachusetts and Maine) and the Confederate Memorial Day. In 1971 the U.S. Congress created several three-day weekends for federal employees by proclaiming that certain holidays be observed on Monday regardless of their actual dates. Holidays now celebrated on Monday in most states include Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day. For religious holidays, see
feast. See also
bank holidays.
Bibliography
See E. M. Deems, ed., Holy-days and Holidays (1902, repr. 1968); R. J. Myers, Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays (1972).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™ Copyright © 2022, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Holiday
a day commemorating an outstanding event or traditional date. In the USSR, work is halted at all enterprises, institutions, and organizations on the following holidays: January 1, New Year’s Day; March 8, International Women’s Day; May 1 and 2, International Workers’ Solidarity Day; May 9, Victory Day; November 7 and 8, the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution; and October 7, Constitution Day of the USSR.
On holidays, work is permitted if it cannot be halted for technical production reasons (at enterprises of continuous operations) or if it serves the needs of the population. Repair work and loading or unloading that cannot be postponed are also permitted. Work on a holiday is given double compensation. At the request of an individual who has worked on a holiday, another day off may be offered to him. On the eve of a holiday, the length of the workday is shortened by one hour for both the five-day and six-day workweek schedules, except for those workers for whom a shorter working time has already been established.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
holiday, skip
1. A small area on a painted surface which the brush skipped over, leaving it bare.
2. An area on a built-up roof surface which the mop (used to coat the surface) skipped over, leaving it uncovered by bitumen.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.