'Memorial Day' definitions:

Definition of 'Memorial Day'

From: WordNet
noun
Legal holiday in the United States, last Monday in May; commemorates the members of the United States armed forces who were killed in war [syn: Memorial Day, Decoration Day]

Definition of 'Memorial Day'

From: GCIDE
  • Memorial \Me*mo"ri*al\, a. [F. m['e]morial, L. memorialis, fr. memoria. See Memory.] [1913 Webster]
  • 1. Serving to preserve remembrance; commemorative; as, a memorial building. [1913 Webster]
  • There high in air, memorial of my name, Fix the smooth oar, and bid me live to fame. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Contained in memory; as, a memorial possession. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Mnemonic; assisting the memory. [1913 Webster]
  • This succession of Aspirate, Soft, and Hard, may be expressed by the memorial word ASH. --Skeat. [1913 Webster]
  • Memorial Day. See Memorial Day in the vocabulary. Also called {Decoration Day}. [U.S.] [1913 Webster +PJC]

Definition of 'Memorial Day'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Definition of 'Memorial Day'

From: GCIDE
  • Decoration Day \Decoration Day\ a day, May 30, originally appointed for decorating with flowers the graves of the Union soldiers and sailors, who fell in the Civil War in the United States; -- now called Memorial Day, and established as the last Monday in May, and designated as a day for commemorating those who died in all wars of the United States. [U. S.] [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]