Whitsunday

[ hwit-suhn-dey, -dee, wit-; hwit-suhn-dey, wit- ]

noun

1. the seventh Sunday after Easter, celebrated as a festival in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Whitsunday

/ ˌwɪt-; ˌhwɪtˈsʌndɪ /

noun

1. (in Scotland) May 15, one of the four quarter days

Word History and Origins

Origin of Whitsunday¹

before 1100; Middle English whitsonenday, Old English Hwīta Sunnandæg white Sunday; probably so called because the newly baptized wore white robes on that day

Example Sentences

He threw the Perth bailies into prison, and required them, on pain of death, to pay up 54 of the King's Whitsunday rents.

From Project Gutenberg

Ay, come next Whitsunday, please God, the lords will know who are the real masters.

From Project Gutenberg

A Huguenot minister was discovered on Whitsunday, in an adjoining village, and brought to Cateau.

From Project Gutenberg

On the Sunday following—it was Whitsunday—the resolution was published from the pulpits.

From Project Gutenberg

Then he departed from them and took his two cousins with him, and so they came unto Camelot by the hour of underne on Whitsunday.

From Project Gutenberg