Walpurgisnachtn.
/valˈpʊrɡɪsnaxt/ = Walpurgis n. Also transferred.
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society > leisure > social event > festive occasion > specific festivities > [noun] > festival of powers of darkness
Walpurgisnacht1822
Walpurgis night1823
1822 P. B. Shelley Let. 10 Apr. (1964) II. 407 I have only attempted the scenes omitted in this translation, & would send you that of the Walpurgisnacht.
1898 W. James Let. 9 July (1920) II. 76 The influences of Nature, [etc.]..all fermented within me till it became a regular Walpurgis Nacht.
1909 W. James Pluralistic Universe i. 21 Nature can have little unity for savages. It is a Walpurgis-nacht procession, a checkered play of light and shadow, a medley of impish and elfish friendly and inimical powers.
1947 Partisan Rev. 14 102/2 The Walpurgisnacht which is Hollywood.
1965 Guardian 10 Dec. 6/5 I might still avoid the woods on Walpurgisnacht.
1977 Time 3 Jan. 65/2 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? An admirable revival..verifies that after 14 years this marital Walpurgisnacht has become part of the permanent canon of U.S. drama.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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n.1822