yule
UK /juːl/ · US /jul/ proper noun, interjection
Forms Yules
- proper noun Christmastide, the Christmas season, the Twelve Days of Christmas (between December 25ᵗʰ and January 5ᵗʰ).
- proper noun A pagan wintertime holiday celebrated by Germanic peoples, particularly the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon peoples, or a modern reconstruction of this holiday celebrated by neo-pagans.
- proper noun A surname.
- interjection (obsolete) A proclamation of joy at Christmas.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English yol, youle, from Old English ġeōl (“Christmas, Yule”), either cognate with or from Old Norse jól, from Proto-Germanic *jehwlą. Cognate with Gothic 𐌾𐌹𐌿𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍃 (jiuleis); see also Old English ġēola and Old Norse ýlir.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Christmas or Christmastide; the feast of the Nativity of our Savior.
Etymology [OE. yol, ýol, AS. geól; akin to geóla December or January, Icel. jol Yule, Ylir the name of a winter month, Sw. jul Christmas, Dan. juul, Goth. jiuleis November or December. Cf. Jolly.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “yule”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details