Dictionary

red letter day en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

An allusion to the practice, dating to classical antiquity, of marking important days in red on calendars.

Meanings

1. A day marked in red on calendars; a church feast day.
   • The only red-letter day occurring in July, is the twenty-fifth, called St James's Day. 1825, Christian Gleaner and Domestic Magazine, Volume 2, page 161:
   • But the monsters who interrupt men in the middle of a sentence are to be found everywhere; and they are always practising. Red-letter days or black-letter days, festival or fast, makes no difference to them. 1893, Thomas De Quincey, “Conversation and Coleridge”, in Alexander H. Japp, editor, The Posthumous Works of Thomas De Quincey, volume II, London: William Heinemann:
2. (idiomatic) A particularly significant day; a day of personal or sectarian celebration.
   • We saw losses for days in a row, but Black Tuesday was the worst red letter day of them all.
   • 2010, Eric Braun, Doris Day, Hachette, Revised and updated edition, unnumbered page, That was, indeed, a red-letter day in my filmgoing life, and a red-letter day in my literary life was when I was asked to write a new biography of Doris Day.
   • So I assume that we all have some red letter days that are precious to our memories—maybe a first date, a wedding, a gift, a word of encouragement, a vacation, a graduation or a trip to an interesting place. I had one of those red letter days when I was a young boy, perhaps five or six years old. 2007, Clyde Wilton, Wilton's Wit, iUniverse, page 3:
   • Monday was a red letter day for her. She accomplished a lot and had fun doing it.
   • "In the meantime, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre at Chicago was a red-letter day in the gangster wars." 1975, John Ankenbruck, Twentieth Century History of Fort Wayne, page 286:

Forms

Coordinates

black letter day

Relateds

Scarlet Day

Synonyms

day of days · red letter date

Translations (12)

sv röd dag (day of special significance) · cmn 大日子 (day of special significance) · ru па́мятный день (day of special significance) · ca diada (day of special significance) · cmn 里程碑 (day of special significance) · ru пра́здник (day of special significance) · hu piros betűs ünnep (day of special significance) · fi merkkipäivä (day of special significance) · nn merkedag (day of special significance) · hu piros betűs nap (day of special significance) · pl pamiętny dzień (day of special significance) · nb merkedag (day of special significance)