Boxing Day

American  

[bok-sing dey] / ˈbɒk sɪŋ ˌdeɪ /

noun

1. (in the United Kingdom and many other members of the Commonwealth of Nations) the day after Christmas.

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Boxing Day British  

noun

1. the first day (traditionally and strictly, the first weekday) after Christmas, observed as a holiday

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Etymology

Origin of Boxing Day

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Two days later, on Boxing Day, Grace, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was placed in a coma.

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026

Much of Aceh already had to be reconstructed with international assistance after 2004's Boxing Day tsunami, which killed more than 170,000 people in the province alone.

From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026

And so the tradition has continued and on Boxing Day last year, Clarke was hunting for the beads, but she spotted an altogether very different looking fossil amongst the pebbles on the beach.

From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026

Christine Clark, 64, was hunting for fossils during a Boxing Day walk on Holy Island, Northumberland when something caught her eye.

From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026

Perhaps Lady Constance had secretly planned to declare Boxing Day a day off for the servants of Ashton Place.

From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood