- Decoration Day
- Memorial Day Me*mo"ri*al Day
1. A day, originally May 30, appointed for commemorating, by
decorating their graves with flowers, by patriotic
exercises, etc., the dead soldiers and sailors who served
the Civil War (1861-65) in the United States; Also called
{Decoration Day}. It is a legal holiday in most of the
States. In the Southern States, the Confederate Memorial
Day is: May 30 in Virginia; April 26 in Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in North Carolina and
South Carolina; the second Friday in May in Tennessee;
June 3 in Louisiana. [U. S.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. A day designated for commemoration of all of the war dead of the United States, clebrated on the last Monday in May in most states. It supersedes the original Memorial Day celebrated May 30th. [PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.