carol

Noun

carol (plural carols)

1. (historical) A round dance accompanied by singing.
   • 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...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...
2. A ballad or song of joy.
   • 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.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]
   • 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.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
   1. (specifically) A (usually traditional) religious or secular song sung at Christmastime.
      • They sang a Christmas carol.
      • Carolle: f[eminine]. A kind of daunce wherein many daunce together; alſo, a Carroll, or Chriſtmas ſong.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...
3. (obsolete) A small closet or enclosure built against the inner side of a window of a monastery's cloister, to sit in for study.
   • 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...[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...
   • 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.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...

Verb

carol (third-person singular simple present carols, present participle (US) caroling or (UK) carolling, simple past and past participle (US) caroled or (UK) carolled)

1. (historical, intransitive) To participate in a carol (a round dance accompanied by singing).
   • 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.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....
2. (intransitive, literary) To sing in a joyful manner.
   • The sun shone, and the birds were caroling.
   • 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, [...]1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “October. Ægloga Decima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC, folio 41, recto
3. (intransitive) To sing carols; especially to sing Christmas carols in a group.
   • 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.2012, Patrena Dawkins-Anderson, chapter 8, in Chongtu: Conflict, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Red Lead Press, →ISBN, page 48
   • Gather up the neighbor kids and go caroling around the neighborhood … just for the joy of singing together!2014, Christmas at Grandma’s, Columbus, Oh.: Gooseberry Patch, →ISBN, page 80
4. (transitive) To praise or celebrate in song.
   • [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...1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey...
5. (transitive) To sing (a song) cheerfully.
   • 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...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...
   • 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?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....

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Carol

IPA/ˈkæ.ɹəl/

Carol (plural Carols)

1. A female given name from the Germanic languages, popular in the middle of the 20th century.
   • Carol is fifteen years old and I'm sixteen. Her name is really Caroline, but she hates it and wants to be called Carol - it's so much prettier.1873, Mary Mapes Dodge, St. Nicholas: A Monthly Magazine for Boys and Girls, page 179
   • Oh! Carol, I am but a fool / Darling, I love you, though you treat me cruel1959, Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, “Oh! Carol”

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Carol

IPA/ˈkæ.ɹəl/

Carol (plural Carols)

1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.
   • This table shows the curious fact that little Prince Carol of Roumania (who is at once the great-grandson and the third cousin of Queen Victoria) has a better hereditary right to the British Throne than Her Majesty.1899, The English Illustrated Magazine, MacMillan and Co., item notes V.21, page 295
   • What splendid names for boys there are!
     There's Carol like a rolling car […]1933, Eleanor Farjeon, Over the Garden Wall: Boys' Names