Twelfth-dayn.
The twelfth day after Christmas; the sixth of January, on which the festival of the Epiphany is celebrated; formerly observed as the closing day of the Christmas festivities. (Cf. the twelve days n. at twelve adj. and n. Compounds 1b.)
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society > faith > worship > liturgical year > feast, festival > specific Christian festivals > Epiphany (6 January) > [noun]
Twelfth-dayc1000
Epiphanya1350
twelfth1472
Uphaliday1478
Uphalimass1532
tiffanya1634
apparition1652
c900 tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. iv. xix. 318 Æt Pentecosten & þy twelftan dege ofer Geochol.]
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) ii. 1 (rubric) Ðys sceal on twelftan dæg.
a1100 Anglo-Saxon Chron. ann. 1065 (MS. C.) Eadward..forðferde on twelftan æfen, & hyne man bebyrigde on twelftan dæig.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 11047 Iesu crist wass fullhtnedd. Rihht o þatt daȝȝ..Þatt twellfte daȝȝ iss nemmnedd.
1389 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 117 Ye sonunday next after ye twelft day.
1455 E. Clere in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 108 On þe morow after Tweltheday.
1563 T. Becon Reliques of Rome (rev. ed.) f. 75v The feastful day of the Epiphanye, commonly called Twelfday.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iv. xix. 133 b They do not celebrate the natiuitie of..Christ, but on the twelfth day, vse great feasts and solemnitie.
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors The Armenians blesse the Water on Twelf-day.
1689–90 A. Wood Life Jan. (1894) III. 320 A great flood about Oxon before 12th day.
1725 H. Bourne Antiquitates Vulgares xvii The Twelfth-Day it self is one of the greatest of the Twelve.
1863 R. Chambers Bk. of Days I. 61/1 January 6. This day, called Twelfth-Day..and Epiphany..is a festival of the Church.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
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