kermis
Americannoun
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(in the Low Countries) a local, annual outdoor fair or festival.
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a similar entertainment, usually for charitable purposes.
noun
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(formerly, esp in Holland and Northern Germany) an annual country festival or carnival
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a similar event, esp one held to collect money for charity
Etymology
Origin of kermis
1570–80; < Dutch, earlier ker ( c ) misse ( kerc church + misse Mass ); originally a fair at the dedication of a church
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He liked the roaring dynamism of the El, and in Election Night, 1907, he combined it with a flushed, disorderly crowd in a sort of modern kermis.
From Time Magazine Archive
The working people reckon their good times from one St. Bridget's kermis to the next.
From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 06 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English. in Twenty Volumes by Francke, Kuno
The lad takes his girl about everywhere; they go to the kermis, skate, and amuse themselves, and no one troubles or inquires about them.
From A Wanderer in Holland by Marshall, Herbert, R. W .S.
Flushing does little to amuse its visitors after the sun has left the sea; and we were very glad of the excuse offered by the Middelburg kermis to return to our inland city each afternoon.
From A Wanderer in Holland by Marshall, Herbert, R. W .S.
The whole transaction is but an affair of battered kermis, intrinsically not worth a moment's consideration; but it serves its purpose of affording an interesting insight into the character of my escort.
From Around the World on a Bicycle - Volume II From Teheran To Yokohama by Stevens, Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
