Sicilian Vespers

American

noun

a general massacre of the French in Sicily by the local population, begun at the sound of the vesper bell on Easter Monday, 1282.

Sicilian Vespers British

noun

(functioning as singular) a revolt in 1282 against French rule in Sicily, in which the ringing of the vesper bells on Easter Monday served as the signal to massacre and drive out the French

"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

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Sicilian Vespers

The online service debuted on Tuesday with Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi opera' "The Sicilian Vespers", conducted by director Fabio Lusi.

From Reuters ● Feb. 17, 2023

On her first opening night at La Scala, last December, 30-year-old Soprano Callas made a smashing hit in Verdi's Sicilian Vespers.

From Time Magazine Archive

At the age of 28, she opened the Scala season in Sicilian Vespers.

From Time Magazine Archive

But even more than the Sicilian Vespers, it was the unpremeditated, irresistible act of a people sick of being slaves.

From The Liberation of Italy by Martinengo-Cesaresco, Countess Evelyn

It was at the great gathering at Palermo for celebrating the anniversary of the Sicilian Vespers.

From What I Remember, Volume 2 by Trollope, Thomas Adolphus

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