santo y buenowell and good;hacer su santa voluntadto do as one jolly well pleases;todo el santo díathe whole blessed day;y él con su santa calmaand he as cool as a cucumber
1(Religión)saint
Santo TomásSt Thomas
santo/a patrón/onasanto/a titularpatron saint
2
¿a santo de qué?why on earth?
¿a qué santo?what on earth for?
¡por todos los santos!for pity's sake!
no es santo de mi devociónhe's not my cup of tea (familiar)
alzarse con el santo y la limosnato clear off with the whole lot (familiar)
comerse los santosto be terribly devout
desnudar a un santo para vestir otroto rob Peter to pay Paul
se le fue el santo al cielohe forgot what he was about to say
¡que se te va el santo al cielo!you're miles away!
llegar y besar el santoto pull it off at the first attempt
fue llegar y besar el santoit was as easy as pie
nacer con el santo de espaldasto be born unlucky
poner a algn como un santoto give sb a telling-off (familiar)
quedarse para vestir santosto be left on the shelf
tener el santo de carato have the luck of the devil
tener el santo de espaldasto be cursed with bad luck
3(persona)saint
es un santohe's a saint;estaba hecho un santohe was terribly sweet
1(onomástica)saint's day
mañana es mi santotomorrow is my name day o saint's day
2(en libro)picture
3
santo y seña(Mil)password
4(S. Cone)(Cos)patch;darn
As well as celebrating their birthday, many Spaniards and Latin Americans celebrate their santo or onomástica. This is the day when the saint whose name they have is honoured in the Christian calendar. It used to be relatively common for newborn babies to be named after the saint on whose day they were born. So a boy born on 25 July (Saint James's day) stood a good chance of being christened "Santiago". The tradition may be dying out now that parents are no longer restricted to names from the Christian calendar. In Spain, as with birthdays, the person whose santo it is normally buys the drinks if they go out with friends.
