Mardi Gras

See also: mardi gras

English

Alternative forms

• mardi gras

Etymology

Borrowed from French mardi gras (literally “fat Tuesday”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːdi ɡɹɑː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹdi ɡɹɑ/, (obsolete) /ˈmɑɹdi ɡɹɔ/^[1]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Proper noun

Mardi Gras

1. The day when traditionally all fat and meat in the house were finished up, before Christians were banned from eating them during Lent, which commenced the following day on Ash Wednesday.

   Synonyms: Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day, Pancake Tuesday

   • 1839, Marguerite Blessington, The idler in Italy, Henry Colburn, page 299:

     Mardi-gras was ushered in with various ceremonies, offering a strange mixture of devotion and profaneness.

   • 1847, John Macgregor, The Progress of America: From the Discovery by Columbus to the Year 1846, Whittaker & Co., page 88:

     Dancing, fiddling, and feasting at Christmas and on Mardi-gras, before Lent, and feasting at or after Easter, are among their amusements or indulgences.

   • 2007, Ace Collins, Stories Behind the Traditions And Stories of Easter, Zondervan, →ISBN, page 113:

     Today's wild Mardi Gras parades are much different than the original, more religious events of the Middle Ages.

2. The last day of a carnival, traditionally the celebration immediately before the start of Lent when joy would be out of place for Christians.
   • 1823, Thomas Tryatall, The Parisian Carnival, read in The New Monthly Magazine, and Literary Journal, Oliver Everett, p. 90,

     "Masks!" exclaimed I; "why, it isn't carnival time, is it?" "To be sure 'tis," replied he, "dis is Mardi gras, de gayest of de gay days. Noting but pleasure, and fun, and hosh-posh."

   • 1825, Thomas Colley Grattan, The Vouée au Blanc read in High-Ways and By-Ways, or, Tales of the Roadside: Picked Up in the French Provinces by a Walking Gentleman: Second Series: Volume III, Henry Colburn, p. 80,

     Every body knows what an important epoch Mardi Gras forms in the annual enjoyments of the French. It is the last day of the carnival gaieties, and that which precedes the gloominess of Lent.

   • 1832, Georgina Alicia L, Chantilly, Vol. III, Edward Bull, p. 214,

     Who could have believed, that saw her on the night of the Mardi Gras amid the revels at the Palace, seemingly joyous and happy as youth and innocence could make her, far excelling in loveliness all the fair dames gathered round her, that envy and hatred, and hot desire of revenge, were all hid beneath that seemingly guileless smile and treacherous abandon?

   • 2006, Kristin G. Congdon, Tina Bucuvalas, Just Above the Water: Florida Folk Art, University Press of Mississippi, →ISBN, page 6:

     As a result, Mardi Gras, the culmination of the Carnival season pre-ceding Lent, is observed in Pensacola.

   • 2007, Ryan ver Berkmoes, Western Europe, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, page 1007:

     The carnival moves through raucous celebrations climaxing on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), and is over on Ash Wednesday.

3. A carnival.
   • 1868, Charles Swett, A Trip to British Honduras, and to San Pedro, Republic of Honduras, Dollar Price, page 70:

     Mardi Gras has been in operation here for the past two weeks, and on Monday last the Trudor sports should have commenced.

   • 2007, Paul Smitz, Berry Blake, Australian Language & Culture, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, page 101:

     SYDNEY GAY & LESBIAN MARDI GRAS Not just a famously spectacular parade and an all-night dance party in Oxford Street, this is a month-long festival in February that also features theatre, art, photography and music in a celebration of gay and lesbian life.

Derived terms

• Mardi Gras Indian

Related terms

• Lundi Gras

Translations

Mardi Gras — see Shrove Tuesday

a carnival

Esperanto: karnavalo (eo)

References

1. Krapp, George Philip (1925) The English Language in America‎, volume II, New York: Century Co. for the Modern Language Association of America, →OCLC, page 45.