carol
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkæɹəl/
ipa: /ˈkɛɹəl/
homophone: carrel
rhymes: -æɹəl
Forms: form: carols
form: caroling
form: carolling
form: caroled
form: caroled
form: carolled
form: carolled
form: carrol
form: carroll
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: You might see the townsmen and the ladies carolling in the squares, squires and serjans and young girls singing; there is no street and no house to be found there that is not adorned with hangings of gold and silk.
ref: 1990, Christopher Page, “Jeunesse and the Courtly Song Repertory”, in The Owl and the Nightingale: Musical Life and Ideas in France 1100–1300, 1st U.S. edition, Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 91:
glosses: To participate in a carol (a round dance accompanied by singing).
examples: text: And when the ſtubborne ſtroke of ſtronger ſtounds, / Has ſomewhat ſlackt the tenor of thy ſtring; / Of loue and luſtihead tho maiſt thou ſing, / And carroll lowde, and leade the Millers rounde, [...]
ref: 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “October. Ægloga Decima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC, folio 41, recto:
text: As the lark with vary'd tune, / Carrols to the evening loud; / Mark the mild reſplendent moon, / Breaking through a parted cloud!
ref: 1766 April, “Day: A Pastoral. From Cunningham’s Poems. [Evening.]”, in The London Magazine. Or, Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer, volume XXXV, London: Printed for R. Baldwin at the Rose, in Pater-noster Row, →OCLC, page 207, column 2:
text: Riſe, ſons of harmony, and hail the morn, / While warbling larks on ruſſet pinions float; / Or ſeek at noon the woodland ſcene remote, / Where the grey linnets carol from the hill.
ref: 1771, James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the First, London: […] E[dward] & C[harles] Dilly, […]; Edinburgh: A[lexander] Kincaid and W[illiam] Creech; and J[ohn] Bell, […], →OCLC, stanza VII, page 4:
text: "Sure enough, it is an easy master I have got," said the Prince to himself, as he walked up and down the room, and carolled and sang, for he thought there was plenty of time to clean out the stable.
ref: 1859, [Peter Christen Asbjørnsen; Jørgen Engebretsen Moe], “The Mastermaid”, in George Webbe Dasent, transl., Popular Tales from the Norse … With an Introductory Essay on the Origin and Diffusion of Popular Tales, 2nd enlarged edition, Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, →OCLC, pages 81–82:
text: Soon Kartar Singh obliged with a song: / "A bird sat high on a banyan tree, / Carolling night and carolling day, / And on the heads of the passers-by …"
ref: 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished in The Malayan Trilogy: Time for a Tiger; The Enemy in the Blanket; Beds in the East (Vintage Burgess), London: Vintage Books, 2000, →ISBN, page 263:
text: 'Yoo-hoo!' he caroled. 'Goody time!'
ref: 1981, Julian May, The Many-colored Land, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN; republished as The Many-coloured Land, London: Tor Books, 2013, →ISBN, page 389:
glosses: To sing in a joyful manner.
examples: text: Christmas morning was welcomed by services in some churches. Everyone in the Bingham house, along with other church members, went carolling at five o'clock in the morning, which culminated in the Christmas message at the church, delivered by the pastor. Everyone's heart was blessed.
ref: 2012, Patrena Dawkins-Anderson, chapter 8, in Chongtu: Conflict, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Red Lead Press, →ISBN, page 48:
text: Gather up the neighbor kids and go caroling around the neighborhood … just for the joy of singing together!
ref: 2014, Christmas at Grandma’s, Columbus, Oh.: Gooseberry Patch, →ISBN, page 80:
glosses: To sing carols; especially to sing Christmas carols in a group.
examples: text: [S]till ſhe [Sabrina, a water nymph] retaines / Her maiden gentleneſſe, and oft at eve / Viſits the heards along the twilight meadows, / Helping all urchin blaſts, and ill lucke ſignes, / That the ſhrewd medling elfe delights to make, / Which ſhe with precious viol'd liquors heales; / For which the ſhepheards at their feſtivalls / Carroll her goodneſſe lowd in ruſticke layes, / And throw ſweet garland wreaths into her ſtreame / Of pancies, pinks, and gaudie daffadills.
ref: 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 29, lines 842–851:
english: Comus
translation: Comus
glosses: To praise or celebrate in song.
examples: text: Now Sol hath ſcap't the Oxes horn, / The Ram, the winds, the ſtormes, and harms; / The loving Twins by Leda born, / Will entertain him in their arms. / And Flora ſmiles to feel thoſe beams / Which whilom were with-drawn ſo long. / The pratling birds, the purling ſtreams / Do carroll forth her wedding ſong.
ref: 1656, T. S., “The Third Month Called May hath xxxj Dayes”, in An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1656. Being First after Leap Year; and from the Creation 5588. … Calculated for the Longitude of 315 gr: and 42 gr: 30 min. of N. Lat: and may Generally Serve for the Most Part of New England, Cambridge, Mass.: Printed by Samuel Green, →OCLC:
text: Why do the Delian Palms incline their Boughs, / Self-mov'd; and hov'ring Swans, their Throats releas'd / From native Silence, carol Sounds harmonious?
ref: 1719, Mat[thew] Prior, “The Second Hymn of Callimachus to Apollo”, in Poems on Several Occasions, Dublin: Printed for J. Hyde in Dame-street, R. Gunne in Caple-street, R. Owen in Skinner-row, and E. Dobson in Castle-street, booksellers, →OCLC, page 222:
text: [...] Ye villagers rejoice; / And ye who cultivate the fertile glebe / Carrol the gladſome ſong. For you the plain / Shall wave with wheaten harveſts; and the gale / From blooming bean-fields ſhall diffuſe perfume.
ref: 1774, William Richardson, “Runny Mead”, in Poems, Chiefly Rural, Glasgow: Printed by Robert & Andrew Foulis, printers to the University, →OCLC, page 64:
glosses: To sing (a song) cheerfully.
Derived terms: caroler
caroller
outcarol
Related terms: wassail