Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun All Saints' Day.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The feast of All Saints; All Saints' day, namely, the 1st of November.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The feast of All Saints, or Allhallows.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic All Saints Day, November 1

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a Christian feast day honoring all the saints; first observed in 835

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for Allhallowmas.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Short for All-hallows' mass ("All-saints' mass"), ultimately continuing Old English ealra hālgena mæsse-dæġ (literally "All Saints' mass day"), equivalent to hallow (“saint”) +‎ -mas.

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Examples

  • Together, the three celebrations -- All Saints 'Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls Day -- were called Hallowmas, and the night before came to be called All-hallows Evening, eventually shortened to "Halloween."

    Kenneth C. Davis: Halloween: A Hidden History 2009

  • The act of dressing up and begging door to door actually extends as far back as the Middle Ages when the poor would go knocking on doors on Hallowmas (November 1st).

    Reyne Haines: Reyne Gauge: The History of Halloween Reyne Haines 2010

  • The act of dressing up and begging door to door actually extends as far back as the Middle Ages when the poor would go knocking on doors on Hallowmas (November 1st).

    Reyne Haines: Reyne Gauge: The History of Halloween Reyne Haines 2010

  • The act of dressing up and begging door to door actually extends as far back as the Middle Ages when the poor would go knocking on doors on Hallowmas (November 1st).

    Reyne Haines: Reyne Gauge: The History of Halloween Reyne Haines 2010

  • The practice of Trick-or-Treating resembles the late medieval practice of "souling," when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas, November 1, receiving food in return for prayers for the dead.

    Barbara Barton Sloane: Fright Night In America And Across the Pond Barbara Barton Sloane 2011

  • If you're desperate for a post Halloween holiday, what better than Hallowmas, the day after Hallowmas?

    Because We Need More Holidays 2009

  • Tonight is Hallowmas, a recently created holiday to stretch the Halloween spirit that much longer.

    super-suzan Diary Entry super-suzan 2006

  • It was called that because it preceded All Saints Day called “All Hallows,” or “All Hallowmas”.

    Lean Left » Blog Archive » Happy Halloween! 2006

  • I also evangelized him in the community, relating the tale of how, every year on Hallowmas Eve, the day when the spiritual most strongly encroaches on the substantial, this mightiest of gourds would rise to revel across the world with the most sincere of his adorers.

    EP Flash: Mount Dragon 2005

  • I also evangelized him in the community, relating the tale of how, every year on Hallowmas Eve, the day when the spiritual most strongly encroaches on the substantial, this mightiest of gourds would rise to revel across the world with the most sincere of his adorers.

    EP025: The Great Old Pumpkin 2005

Comments

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  • In Autumn is death's shadow cast

    On thoughtless lad and callow lass.

    The death lust they show

    Is fervent but faux

    The eve of the feast of Hallowmas.

    November 1, 2016