Martinmas noun. ['mɑ:tɪnmǝs] ME.
[from St Martin (see sense 1) + MASS noun¹.]
1. (The date, 11 November, of) the feast of St Martin, 4th-cent. Bishop of Tours and patron saint of France, formerly the usual time in England for hiring servants and slaughtering cattle to be salted for the winter and still one of the Scottish quarter days. ME.

2. A person one despises. rare (Shakes.). Only in L16.

Comb.:
Martinmas beef, Martinmas flesh, Martinmas meat the meat of an ox salted at Martinmas.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲