Memorial Day

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The last Monday in May, observed in the United States in commemoration of those members of the armed forces killed in war. Prior to 1971, it had been observed on May 30.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• United States A day, originally May 30, appointed for commemorating, by decorating their graves with flowers, by patriotic exercises, etc., the dead soldiers and sailors who served the Civil War (1861-65) in the United States; Also called Decoration Day. It is a legal holiday in most of the States. In the Southern States, the Confederate Memorial Day is: May 30 in Virginia; April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in North Carolina and South Carolina; the second Friday in May in Tennessee; June 3 in Louisiana.
• A day designated for commemoration of all of the war dead of the United States, clebrated on the last Monday in May in most states. It supersedes the original Memorial Day celebrated May 30th.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• proper noun holiday A United States federal holiday that is observed on the final Monday of May.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun legal holiday in the United States, last Monday in May; commemorates the members of the United States armed forces who were killed in war