jolabokaflod

American

[yoh-luh-boh-kuh-flawd, joh-] / ˌyoʊ ləˈboʊ kəˌflɔd, ˌdʒoʊ- /

noun

an Icelandic tradition in which books are given as Christmas presents and opened on December 24, after which the evening is spent reading the books: from a practice begun in 1944, when paper goods were among the most available items in postwar Iceland.

Etymology

Origin of jolabokaflod

First recorded in 2015–20; from Icelandic Jólabókaflóðið; literally, “(the) Christmas book flood,” a tradition in Iceland dating from 1944; from Jól “Christmas” + bók “book” + flóð “flood” + -ið, suffixed neuter article; Yule ( def. ), book ( def. ), flood ( def. )

Example Sentences

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In Iceland, it is called the jolabokaflod, or the “Christmas book flood.”

From New York Times • Dec. 5, 2022

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023