Halloween
pronunciation
How to pronounce Halloween in British English:
UK [ˌhæləʊˈiːn]
How to pronounce Halloween in American English:
US [ˌhæloʊˈiːn]
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- Noun:
- the evening before All Saints' Day; often devoted to pranks played by young people
Word Origin
- Halloween (n.)
- also Hallow-e'en, c. 1745, Scottish shortening of Allhallow-even "Eve of All Saints, last night of October" (1550s), the last night of the year in the old Celtic calendar, where it was Old Year's Night, a night for witches. A pagan holiday given a cursory baptism. See hallow (n.) + even (n.); also see hallows. Hallow-day for "All-Saints'" is from 1590s.
Example
- 1. Halloween accounts for at least two pounds of that .
- 2. Theoretically , halloween 2006 was the worst day of my life .
- 3. The english department is having a halloween party tonight .
- 4. Are your children safe on halloween ?
- 5. On a recent morning , for instance , only two of the top 10 topics on twitter - halloween and macbook - were commercial .