easter
n. C / Un. an important Christian holiday in the spring that celebrates the life of Jesus. Many people also celebrate it by giving chocolate eggs or having a special meal with family.
n. a Christian festival and holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In secular contexts, it is associated with spring-themed activities such as egg hunting and gift-giving.
We always have a big family lunch on Easter.
The school will be closed for two weeks during the Easter break so students can spend time with their families.
While the religious significance remains central for many, the modern celebration of Easter has incorporated various folk traditions, including the symbolic use of eggs to represent new life.
The noun is derived from Middle English Ester, from Old English ēastre, seemingly from Ēastre, a proposed Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn whose festival is thought to have been celebrated around the vernal equinox. Further from Proto-West Germanic Austrā, from Proto-Germanic Austrǭ, derived from either Proto-Indo-European h₂ews- (“dawn; east”) or, more semantically plausible, from austrą, auzrą, a metathesized form of wazrą (“spring (season)”), -ǭ, from Proto-Indo-European wósr̥ (“spring”). The English word is cognate with German Low German Oostern (“Easter”), Old High German ōstarūn (modern German Ostern) and is possibly a doublet of east. Despite a modern folk etymology, not related to Ishtar. The verb is derived from the noun.
Usually treated as an uncountable proper noun when referring to the holiday itself; can be countable when referring to a specific year's celebration.