Yuletide

American  

[yool-tahyd] / ˈyulˌtaɪd /

Or yuletide

noun

1. the Christmas season.

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

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Christmas season.

2. of or relating to the season of an ancient Germanic pagan holiday centering around the winter solstice, now sometimes celebrated by neopagans.

Usage

What does yuletide mean? Yuletide is sometimes used as another word for Christmastime—the Christmas season.The word yule can be used as another name for Christmas, the Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It can also be used to mean the same thing as yuletide—the Christmas season.However, yule can also refer to the celebration of the Winter Solstice that’s observed in some Pagan traditions, and yuletide can be applied to the time when this is observed.Regardless of which holiday is being observed, yuletide occurs in late December.When it’s used in reference to Christmas, yuletide is often intended to sound a bit old-timey—yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and all that.Example: I cherish the yuletide memories of my youth, of sitting by the hearth and listening to tales of Christmases gone by.

Etymology

Origin of Yuletide

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; Yule + tide

Example Sentences

This year, she tackles the folk duo the Handsome Family’s “So Much Wine,” a dark but ultimately tender tale of Yuletide overindulgence.

From New York Times

With the holiday season upon us, we offer up again a little unexpected gift from a previous Yuletide column about Hollywood legend and Christmas baby Humphrey Bogart, born Dec. 25, 1899.

From Washington Times

If the right invented the War on Christmas, why are there so many enemies of Yuletide cheer, who range from the mildly obnoxious to the downright hysterical?

From Washington Times

Appropriating the name of those Yuletide party favors so popular in England, he called them his “Christmas crackers,” eventually assembling nearly 40 years’ worth in four handsome volumes.

From Washington Post

"The Christmas Spirit" is a heartwarming homage to Hallmark's Yuletide flicks that implicitly addresses the critiques the channel sustained concerning years of insistently featuring white heterosexual romances at their center.

From Salon