Fourth of July

plural Fourth of Julys · alternative 4th of July

1. The national holiday of Independence Day in the United States, celebrated (commonly with fireworks) on the fourth day in July to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776.

   Our Fourth of Julys are sounding different, too. Come to one of our barbeques and you might hear “Praise the Lord and Pass the Metamucil” or that ol’ patriotic favorite “Let Eardrums Ring.”

   2005, Martha Bolton, “Season’s Greetings”, in Growing Your Own Turtleneck… and Other Benefits of Aging, Bloomington, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers, →ISBN, page 98

   2 more examples

   And the Ohio State Journal reports that “it was the hottest, quietest, and safest Fourth of July that Columbus ever had. The firecracker, the gun, and the cannon did not appear, and so there was not an injured or mangled boy or dead body anywhere yesterday as a result of powder patriotism. What a happy condition for the city to be in! What a marked difference from other days, after the Fourth. It seems that these ear splitting and soul stabbing Fourth of Julys are ended; and it is well; it is very well.”

   1911 July 16, “A Saner Fourth”, in The Chicago Sunday Tribune, volume LXX, number 29, Chicago, Ill.: The Tribune Company, Metropolitan Section, page 4, column 3

   MARY went in to the frail little mother and told her the news through the cotton wool in both ears. Mrs. Davis had no difficulty hearing, so beautifully penetrating is good news. The relief in her pale little face “choked” Mary. / “My dear! You are an angel, there in that white robe! All you haven’t got is wings! If you knew—if anybody but me could know the tortures Fourth of Julys are to me.[…]”

   1921 July 2, Annie Hamilton Donnell, “Do-As-You-Please Day: A Fourth of July Story”, in The Christian Herald […], volume 44, number 27, New York, N.Y.: Graham Patterson, page 469, column 1

   Synonyms: Fourth, Independence Day

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Fourth, of, July.

   The brightest supernova in your Milky Way galaxy to be visible from Earth was seen and recorded by the Chinese during the Song Dynasty on the 4th of July in A.D. 1054.

   2025, Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Stars, Near & Far”, in Just Visiting This Planet, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century (Science / Astronomy), Blackstone Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 90

1. USA cocktail containing one part grenadine syrup, one part vodka, and one part blue curaçao, reminiscent of the red, white, and blue colors of the United States flag, often poured in layers so that the colors do not mix when the drink is served.