Holiday

adj. (old).—Unskilled; indifferent; careless.

  1785.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. HOLIDAY. A HOLIDAY BOWLER; a bad bowler.

  BLIND MAN’S HOLIDAY. See ante.

  TO HAVE A HOLIDAY AT PECKHAM, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To go dinnerless. ALL HOLIDAY AT PECKHAM = no work and nothing to eat. [A play upon words.] See PECKISH.

  1811.  GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum. ALL HOLIDAY AT PECKHAM … signifying that it is all over with the business or person spoken of or alluded to.

  1848.  FORSTER, The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. vi., p. 55 (5th ed.). ‘Oh, that is ALL A HOLIDAY AT PECKHAM,’ said an old friend very innocently one day.

  TO TAKE A HOLIDAY, verb, phr. (common).—To be dismissed; to get the BAG (q.v.) or SACK (q.v.).

  GONE FOR A HOLIDAY, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Said of a flaw, lapse, or imperfection of any kind (as dropped stitches, lost buttons, slurred painting, and so forth). See also quots.

  1785.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. HOLIDAY. … a holiday is any part of a ship’s bottom, left uncovered in [painting] it.

  1883.  W. C. RUSSELL, Sailors’ Language, p. 69, s.v. HOLIDAYS. Places left untarred on shrouds, backstays, etc., during the operation of tarring them.