Roman holiday

Roman holiday Word Origin noun

1. a public spectacle or controversy marked by barbarism, vindictiveness, or scandal.
2. pleasure or advantage gained from the discomfort or suffering of others.

Origin of Roman holiday First recorded in 1885–90 Related Words for roman holiday duel British Dictionary definitions for roman holiday Roman holiday noun

1. entertainment or pleasure that depends on the suffering of others

Word Origin for Roman holiday C19: from Byron’s poem Childe Harold (IV, 141) Word Origin and History for roman holiday Roman holiday n.

“occasion on which entertainment or profit is derived from injury or death,” 1860, originally in reference to holidays for gladiatorial combat; the expression seems to be entirely traceable to an oft-quoted passage on a dying barbarian gladiator from the fourth canto (1818) of Byron’s “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”:

But where his rude hut by the Danube lay
There were his young barbarians all at play,
There was their Dacian mother. He, their sire,
Butcher’d to make a Roman holiday!