放假的時間（核心）
這一群最接近核心：把焦點放在「不用工作的這段自由時間」本身——可能是一般的休息日，也可能是法律規定全國一起放的那種日子。
time off work/school · noun · A1
A time when you do not have to go to work or school and can rest.
假期
核心畫面
Picture a day lifted out of the ordinary working week — a day when you simply do not have to go to work or school, and the time is yours to rest. Everything else the word does is a version of that one idea: free time set aside from work. Sometimes it is one such day, sometimes a whole stretch of them, sometimes a trip you take in that free time.
可以想成從平常上班上學的日子裡，被特別「抽出來」的一天——這一天你就是不用去工作、不用去上學，時間是你自己的，可以好…更多收起
可以想成從平常上班上學的日子裡，被特別「抽出來」的一天——這一天你就是不用去工作、不用去上學，時間是你自己的，可以好好休息。holiday 其他所有用法，都是這個畫面的不同版本：一段從工作裡空出來、留給自己的自由時間。有時是這樣的一天，有時是一整段這樣的日子，有時是你在這段時間裡出去玩的那趟旅行。From the word’s history
Holiday comes from Old English hāligdæg, literally 'holy day' (hālig 'holy' + dæg 'day') — a religious feast day on which people did not work. Because people stayed home and rested on these holy days, the word drifted from 'sacred day' to today's everyday meaning of 'a day off, free time away from work', which is exactly the modern core.
holiday 來自古英語 hāligdæg，字面就是「holy day（神聖的日子）」：hālig（神聖的）＋ dæg（日子）——本來指宗教節日，那天大家不工作。正因為這些「聖日」大家都待在家裡休息，這個字慢慢從「神聖的日子」漂移成今天日常的意思「不用工作、放假的自由時間」，這正好就是現在的核心。
Etymonline, 'holiday' (etymonline.com/word/holiday); Old English hāligdæg = hālig 'holy' + dæg 'day'.
Three branches
趁假期出去玩（旅行）
核心比較像「放假的時間」，這一支把重點從『時間』移到『你拿這段時間去做的事』——通常是離開家、到別的地方去玩、去休息。在英式英語裡，go on holiday 多半就指這種度假旅行。
vacation trip · noun · A1
A time when you travel to another place for fun and rest.
度假旅行
一段特定的假期季節（地區用法）
同樣是「放假的時間」，但縮小到某地、某段約定俗成的假期：不同地方的人說 the holidays，心裡想的是不同的那一段。核心沒變，只是被地方習慣框定到一年中的特定時節。
the holiday season (us) · noun · A1
In American English, the time between Thanksgiving and New Year.
年末假期季
原始詞典資料12 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Holidayname
- 1
A surname.
- 2
The holiday season or Christmas season, especially when paired with a year.
- Holiday 2014
- 3
A census-designated place in Pasco County, Florida, United States, named after Holiday Drive, a road.
- 4
A community in the township of Zorra, Oxford County, Ontario, Canada.
holidaynoun/ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ/
- 1
A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed.
- Near-synonyms: holy day, feast day, festival (feast day sense)
- Today is a Wiccan holiday!
- 2
A day declared free from work by the state or government.
- 3
A period of one or more days taken off work for leisure and often travel; often plural.
- How much holiday are you allowed?
- No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or[…]. And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
- 4
A period during which pupils do not attend their school; often plural; rarely used for students at university (usually: vacation).
- I want to take a French course this summer holiday.
- 5
businessfinanceA period during which, by agreement, the usual payments are not made.
- a mortgage payment holiday
- 6
A gap in coverage, e.g. of paint on a surface, or sonar imagery.
holidayverb/ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ/
- 1
To take a period of time away from work or study.
- 2
To spend a period of time in recreational travel.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。