festival, a. and n.
(ˈfɛstɪvəl)
Forms: 4 festivale, 5–7 festi-, festyval(l(e, (7 feastival, festifal), 4, 6– festival.
[a. OF. festival, -vel, ad. med.Lat. festīvālis, f. L. festīvus (see festive).]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to a feast, befitting a feast-day.
Now apprehended as the n. used attrib.; hence no longer in predicative use.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 136 Ne no festiual frok. 1483 Cath. Angl. 128/2 Festivalle, celeber. 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. vii. 108/2 How many festiuall hygh dayes to worship saints haue thei made themselues. c 1568 Fulke Answ. Chr. Prot. (1577) 23 Such dayes are festiuall to those Saincts, that [etc.]. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 76 This blessed day, Euer in France shall be kept festiuall. 1659 Hammond On Ps. xxiii. 5 Thou entertainest me with wine and oyle in the most festival manner. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry iii. 112 Sung to the harp by the poets of Provence at festival solemnities. 1847 Grote Greece ii. xlviii. (1862) IV. 216 Knowing no other festival recreation. 1884 Bible (R.V.) Isa. iii. 22 The festival robes and the mantles. |
† 2. Glad, joyful, merry. Obs.
| 1592 R. D. Hypnerotomachia 97 The aierie Teda beloved of the mountains, Celebrated and preserved for the festivall Oreades. 1651 Jer. Taylor Holy Living (1727) 220 Our most festival and freeer joys. c 1686 Roxb. Ball. II. 138 My Festival Fellows was Roisterous Boys. |
B. n.
1. a. A time of festive celebration, a festal day. Also occasionally, a festive celebration, merry-making. Also, to hold festival, keep festival, make festival, proclaim festival. harvest festival: see harvest.
| 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxxi. (1612) 152 There was I, unseene of them, the Festifal to see. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. vi. 26 Her Ashes..shall be at high Festiuals Before the Kings and Queenes of France. 1653 Holcroft Procopius i. 22 Those storms..which happened about that feastival. 1671 Milton Samson 1598 The morning trumpets festival proclam'd Through each high street. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 472 These Holidays or Saints-Days..were in the ancient Church called Festivals. 1801 Southey Thalaba i. xxxviii, Here to repair, and hold high festival. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 30 Of all the old festivals, that of Christmas awakens the..most heartfelt associations. 1822 K. Digby Broadst. Hon. (1846) II. Tancredus 89 St. George..his festival was celebrated as early as the time of Constantine. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds ix. 109 Children always ready to make a festival. |
b. A musical performance or series of performances at recurring periods, mostly of three years, e.g. the Handel Festival, the Birmingham and Norwich Festivals (see Grove Dict. Mus. s.v. Festivals). Also applied to a series of films, theatrical performances, etc.
| 1857 Mrs. Gaskell Let. Aug. (1966) 466 M. & Mme Mohl..come here, after the Worcester Festival. 1864 Chambers's Jrnl. Shaks. Tercentenary No. 2/1 At the present moment, when a grand Tercentenary Festival of the birth of Shakespeare is about to be celebrated at his native place. 1877 G. B. Shaw How to become Mus. Critic (1960) 20 The forthcoming Wagner Festival at the Albert Hall. Ibid. 32 The aims of the Festival-givers necessarily are, firstly, commercial; secondly, phenomenal; and, lastly, artistic. 1909 Englishwoman Apr. 298, I am convinced that there is enough appreciation of Wagner in England to build a modest festival theatre. 1926 Publishers' Weekly 1 May 1474/2 The annual Shakespeare festival at Stratford-on-Avon. 1930 Times Lit. Suppl. 551/3 A festival production of The Pretenders. 1951 [see film festival s.v. film n. 7 c]. 1959 Times 28 Aug. 11/4 The returned festival-goer can..compare his notes with Burney's. 1970 G. Spanier And now it's Sables 133 Every summer in Paris we have an International Theatre Festival. |
† 2. The name given to a book in use before the Reformation, containing an exhortation for every festival-day, and frequently illustrative narratives.
| 1491 [see festial n.] 1508 (title), The Festyuall, or Sermons on Sundays and Holidaies. 1610 A. Cooke Pope Joan in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 77 Or, if..you dare not read the scriptures, read your legends and festivals. |
3. = fair n.1 1 c. U.S.
| 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. 602 Ladies' Festivals where they were importuned to buy by bevies of lovely young ladies. 1944 Greeley (Colo.) Daily Tribune 21 Sept. 3/3 The annual mission festival, conducted by the Zion Evangelical Lutheran church Sunday. |