SATURNALIA • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Saturnalia

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noun

Saturnalia n. pl.

(Rom. Antiq.) The festival of Saturn, celebrated in December, originally during one day, but afterward during seven days, as a period of unrestrained license and merriment for all classes, extending even to the slaves.

Hence: A period or occasion of general license, in which the passions or vices have riotous indulgence.

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Etymology of 'Saturnalia'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Saturnalia" Quotes from Famous Books

... voices of men, women, and children,—cries and calls of quadrupeds,—each according to its own kind, all mingled together in what might have been taken for some nocturnal saturnalia ...

— The Boy Slaves • Mayne Reid

... cannot end these things. It is not anarchy in the home if the whole family sits up all night on New Year's Eve. It is anarchy in the home if members of the family sit up later and later for months afterwards. It was not anarchy in the Roman villa when, during the Saturnalia, the slaves turned masters or the masters slaves. It was (from the slave-owners' point of view) anarchy if, after the Saturnalia, the slaves continued to behave in a Saturnalian manner; but it is historically evident that they did not. It is not anarchy to have a ...

— Eugenics and Other Evils • G. K. Chesterton

... of Death forever impress all who stand before this magnificent monument; it is found in Thorwaldsen's "Christ;" in Franklin Simmons's "Angel of the Resurrection,"—in such works as those that have a language for the soul, rather than in a "Saturnalia." ...

— Italy, the Magic Land • Lilian Whiting

... Saturnalia or the Feast of Minerva, you will be presented with a sorry cloak, or a worn-out tunic; and a world of ceremony will go to the presentation. The first who gets wind of the great man's intention flies to you with the news of what is in store for you; ...

— Works, V2 • Lucian of Samosata

... which these verses were written, is commonly played at the Saturnalia of the shoemakers on King Crispin's day. Burns sent it to ...

— The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. • Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham

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