Twelfth-day
Forms: see twelfth and day.
The twelfth day after Christmas; the sixth of January, on which the festival of the Epiphany is celebrated; formerly observed as the closing day of the Christmas festivities. (Cf. the twelve days s.v. twelve adj. 1 c.)
| [c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. xix. 318 æt Pentecosten & þy twelftan deᵹe ofer Ᵹeochol.] c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ii. 1 rubric, Ðys sceal on twelftan dæᵹ. a 1100 [see Twelfth-even]. c 1200 Ormin 11047 Jesu Crist wass fullhtnedd Rihht o þatt daȝȝ..Þatt twellfte daȝȝ iss nemmnedd. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 117 Ye sonunday next after ye twelft day. 1455 E. Clere in Paston Lett. I. 315 On the morow after Tweltheday. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 75 b, The feastful day of the Epiphanye commonly called Twelf-day. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xix. 133 b, They do not celebrate the natiuitie of..Christ, but on the twelfth day, vse great feasts and solemnitie. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 211 margin, The Armenians blesse the Water on Twelf-day. 1689–90 Wood Life Jan. (O.H.S.) III. 320 A great flood about Oxon before 12{supt}{suph} day. 1725 H. Bourne Antiq. Vulg. xvii, The Twelfth-Day it self is one of the greatest of the Twelve. 1863 Chambers' Bk. Days I. 61/1 January 6. This day, called Twelfth-day..and Epiphany..is a festival of the Church. |
| attrib. 1913 19th Cent. Aug. 320 He had promised the children a twelfth-day cake. |