Yule

American  

[yool] / yul /

Also yule

noun

1. Christmas, or the Christmas season.

2. an ancient Germanic pagan holiday centering around the winter solstice, now sometimes celebrated by neopagans.

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yule British  

/ juːl /

noun

1. literary (sometimes capital)

   1. Christmas, the Christmas season, or Christmas festivities

   2. ( in combination )

      yuletide

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Usage

What does yule mean? The word yule can be used as another name for Christmas, the Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus.However, yule can also refer to the celebration of the Winter Solstice that’s observed in some Pagan traditions.Like the word Christmas, yule can also be used to refer to the Christmas season—Christmastime. Another word for this is yuletide.When they’re used in reference to Christmas, the terms yule and yuletide are often intended to sound a bit old-timey—yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and all that.Example: I like to spend Yule sitting by the hearth, listening to tales of winters gone by.

Etymology

Origin of Yule

First recorded before 900; Middle English yole, Old English geōl, geol(a) “Christmas day, Christmastide”; cognate with Old Norse jōl, the name of the pagan winter feast lasting 12 days, later applied to Christmas; akin to Gothic jiuleis