Noel

[noh-el for 1, 2; noh-uh l, nohl for 3]

noun

the Christmas season; yuletide.

(lowercase) a Christmas song or carol.

a male given name.

Origin of Noel

1805–15; < French ≪ Latin nātālis (diēs) birthday; see natal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for noel

Yule, Christmastide, nativity, Christmastime, Yuletide, Xmas, song, chorus, strain, lay, ditty, ballad, madrigal, canticle, canzonet

Examples from the Web for noel

Contemporary Examples of noel

Noel Canning comes out of the dysfunction surrounding appointments to the five-member NLRB.
Deregulators Lost at the Supreme Court When It Comes to Blocking Presidential Appointees
Aziz Haq
June 26, 2014
Grossman recruited Noel Stookey instead, who henceforth went by his middle name Paul.
Fact Vs. Fiction in ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’: The Real Story of Folk is Far Less Dejected Than the Movie
Jimmy So
December 4, 2013
But the real reason for the outcry to the joke was contained in the article written by Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters.
The Tea Party’s War on Comedy
Dean Obeidallah
October 24, 2013
In the early 2000s, Dutschke joined a Tupelo studio called Kinetic Kick owned by Noel McMichael.
Ricin Suspect J. Everett Dutschke Arrested
Winston Ross
April 27, 2013
The rest is filler, which means you have to listen to “The First Noel” and “The Christmas Song” a lot more than you might like.
Christmas Music Sucks (Mostly), but Here’s a Playlist of Holiday Gems
Malcolm Jones
December 7, 2012

Historical Examples of noel

As I have said, his majesty had only this one cook, and Noel had only one scullion to help him.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
This so pleased Noel that he advanced my wages to a dollar and a half a week.
Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail
Ezra Meeker
Noel Ordway had not asked her to marry him—and might never do so.
The Letter of the Contract
Basil King
There she had sung the great Noel with her father; and now he was dead and gone.
Put Yourself in His Place
Charles Reade
The only world for him beyond Noel's Cove was the world of his imagination.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922
Lucy Maud Montgomery

British Dictionary definitions for noel

Noel

Nol

noun

(esp in carols) another word for Christmas

(often not capital) rare a Christmas carol

Word Origin for Noel

C19: from French, from Latin nātālis a birthday; see natal 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for noel

Noel

late 14c., nowel "feast of Christmas," from Old French noel "the Christmas season," variant of nael, from Latin natalis (dies) "birth (day)," in Church Latin in reference to the birthday of Christ, from natus, past participle of nasci "be born" (Old Latin gnasci; see genus). The modern word in English, with the sense "a Christmas carol" (1811) probably is a separate borrowing from French. As a masc. proper name, from Old French, probably literally "of or born on Christmas."