Plough Monday

British

noun

the first Monday after Epiphany, which in N and E England used to be celebrated with a procession of ploughmen drawing a plough from house to house

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Originally it was held on the Tuesday following Plough Monday - the first Monday after Twelfth Night.

From BBC • Jan. 13, 2024

A village is due to mark 50 years since it revived the ancient rural tradition of Plough Monday.

From BBC • Jan. 9, 2022

For the first time in 300 years, the British festival of Plough Monday was being celebrated.

From Time Magazine Archive

The following Monday was called Plough Monday, when the labourers used to draw a plough decked with ribbons round the parish, and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with sword-dancing and mumming.

From Old English Sports, Pastimes and Customs by Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)

This piece of ritual has apparently been attracted to Christmas from an early feast of spring, and Plough Monday, when the East Midland plays take place, is just such an early spring feast.

From Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan by Miles, Clement A.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023