Noel
[noh-el for 1, 2; noh-uh l, nohl for 3]
- the Christmas season; yuletide.
- (lowercase) a Christmas song or carol.
- a male given name.
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Origin of Noel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for noel
Contemporary Examples
Noel Canning comes out of the dysfunction surrounding appointments to the five-member NLRB.
Grossman recruited Noel Stookey instead, who henceforth went by his middle name Paul.
But the real reason for the outcry to the joke was contained in the article written by Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters.
In the early 2000s, Dutschke joined a Tupelo studio called Kinetic Kick owned by Noel McMichael.
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.
Historical Examples
As I have said, his majesty had only this one cook, and Noel had only one scullion to help him.
The Memoires of Casanova, CompleteJacques 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 TrailEzra Meeker
Noel Ordway had not asked her to marry him—and might never do so.
The Letter of the ContractBasil King
There she had sung the great Noel with her father; and now he was dead and gone.
Put Yourself in His PlaceCharles Reade
The only world for him beyond Noel's Cove was the world of his imagination.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922Lucy Maud Montgomery
Noel
Nol
- (esp in carols) another word for Christmas
- (often not capital) rare a Christmas carol
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for noel
Noel
n.
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."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper