carol
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkæɹəl/
ipa: /ˈkɛɹəl/
homophone: carrel
rhymes: -æɹəl
Forms: form: carols
form: carrol
form: carroll
form: carrel
form: carrol
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English carole (“round dance with singing; group of people dancing and singing in a circle; song by carollers, carol; religious poem or song; circular thing; braid, chain (?); stall for study or writing; writing table”), from Old French carole (“round dance with singing”). The further etymology is uncertain; the following possibilities have been suggested:
* From Old Italian carola, or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin choraula, a variant of choraulēs (“flute player accompanying a chorus dance”), from Ancient Greek χοραυλής (khoraulḗs, “one who accompanies a chorus on the flute”), from χορός (khorós, “choir; dance”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to enclose”) or *ǵʰoros) + αὐλός (aulós, “flute”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlos (“tube”)).
* From Latin corōlla (“little crown, coronet; small chaplet, garland, or wreath”), from corōna (“chaplet, garland, wreath”) + -la (diminutive suffix). Corōna is borrowed from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “type of crown; curved object (door handle, tip of a bow, stern of a ship, etc.)”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).
Compare chorus, terpsichorean.
Noun sense 3 (“small closet or enclosure”) may refer to the fact that the item encloses or surrounds the person using it.
The verb is derived from Middle English carolen (“to dance and/or sing in a round dance; to sing for (dancers in a round dance); (figurative) to spend time noisily or unprofitably”), from Old French caroler (“to sing”), from carole (noun) (see above) + -er (a variant of -ier (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs)).
Senses: examples: text: The carol, a combination of dance, music and song performed by a group, has a parallel history [to the mystery plays]. Although it existed earlier as a secular form – the round dance of which St Hugh's biographer was reminded by the shafts at Lincoln – it seems to have been turned to pious uses from about 1350.
ref: 2010, Stephen Medcalf, “On Reading Books from a Half-alien Culture”, in Brian Cummings, Gabriel Josipovici, editors, The Spirit of England: Selected Essays of Stephen Medcalf, Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Legenda, Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge, →ISBN, page 87:
glosses: A round dance accompanied by singing.
examples: text: The humane mortals want their winter heere / No night is now with hymme or carroll bleſt; / Therefore the Moone (the gouerneſſe of floods) / Pale in her anger, waſhes all the aire; / That Rheumaticke diſeaſes do abound.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: Oppos'd to her, on t' other Side, advance / The coſtly Feaſt, the Carol, and the Dance, / Minſtrels, Muſick, Poetry, and Play, / And Balls by Night, and Turnaments by Day.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, book II, pages 42–43:
text: The sunshine struck hot on his fur, soft breezes caressed his heated brow, and after the seclusion of the cellarage he had lived in so long the carol of happy birds fell on his dulled hearing almost like a shout.
ref: 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, “The River Bank”, in The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 2:
glosses: A ballad or song of joy.
examples: text: They sang a Christmas carol.
text: Carolle: f[eminine]. A kind of daunce wherein many daunce together; alſo, a Carroll, or Chriſtmas ſong.
ref: 1632, Randle Cotgrave, Robert Sherwood, “Carolle”, in A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues. Compiled by Randle Cotgrave. Wherevnto is also Annexed a Most Copious Dictionarie, of the English Set before the French. By R[obert] S[herwood,] L[ondoner], London: Printed by Adam Islip, →OCLC:
text: Think on th' eternal home, / The Saviour left for you; / Think on the Lord most holy, come / To dwell with hearts untrue: / So shall ye tread untir'd his pastoral ways, / And in the darkness sing your carol of high praise.
ref: 1827, [John Keble], “Christmas Day”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 29:
text: Foggier yet, and colder! Piercing, searching, biting cold. If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirit's nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose. The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge's keyhole to regale him with a Christmas carol: but at the first sound of— / "God bless you merry gentleman! / May nothing you dismay!" / Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.
ref: 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 16–17:
text: I heard the bells on Christmas Day / Their old, familiar carols play, / And wild and sweet / The words repeat / Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
ref: 1863 December 25, Henry W[adsworth] Longfellow, “Christmas Bells”, in J[ohn] T[ownsend] Trowbridge, Gail Hamilton [pseudonym; Mary Abigail Dodge], Lucy Larcom, editors, Our Young Folks. An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls, volume I, number II, Boston, Mass.: Ticknow and Fields, 124 Tremont Street, published February 1865, →OCLC, page 123:
text: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire / Jack Frost nipping at your nose / Yuletide carols being sung by a choir / And folks dressed up like Eskimos
ref: 1945, “The Christmas Song: Merry Christmas to You: S.A.T.B. with Incidental Soprano Solos and Piano Accompaniment”, Mel Tormé, Bob Wells (lyrics), Mel Tormé (music), New York, N.Y.: E. H. Morris, published 1946, →OCLC:
text: More than two decades after its original release, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" continues to hit new heights. The 1994 carol rises 22–18 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Jan. 2, 2016), scoring its best rank ever on the chart.
ref: 2015 December 21, Gary Trust, “Carey’s 1994 Classic Reaches a New Peak (No. 18) while Continuing atop the Holiday 100 Chart”, in Billboard, archived from the original on 20 Nov 2017:
glosses: A ballad or song of joy.
A (usually traditional) religious or secular song sung at Christmastime.
examples: text: Carol, or Carrel. A little pew, or closet, in a cloister, to sit and read in. They were common in greater monasteries, as Duram, Gloucester, Kirkham in Yorkshire, &c.; and had their name from the carols, or sentences inscribed on the walls about them, which often were couplets in rhyme. [Carola, Low Latin.]
ref: [1822, Edward James Willson, compiler, “Carol, or Carrel”, in A Glossary of Technical Terms, Descriptive of Gothic Architecture: […], 3rd edition, London: […] J[ohn] Taylor, […]; J. Britton, […]; and A[ugustus] Pugin, […], pages 2–3, column 2oclc=939430684:
text: An exquisite south-east door is preserved; it is round-headed, of four orders, with a foliated label. A canopied carol or monk's seat, a Pointed crocketed arch within a square case, is seen beside it, succeeded on the south wall by an arcade of trefoiled arches with toothed mouldings.
ref: 1860, Mackenzie Walcott, “[The Abbeys of Scotland.] Melrose”, in The Minsters and Abbey Ruins of the United Kingdom: Their History, Architecture, Monuments, and Traditions; with Notices of the Larger Parish Churches and Collegiate Chapels, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 257:
topics: architecture
glosses: A small closet or enclosure built against the inner side of a window of a monastery's cloister, to sit in for study.
Derived terms: Carol Green
carol-oke
carol singer
Christmas carol