carol

noun

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 from about 1350.”

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.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

3. (specifically)A ballad or song of joy.

   “They sang a Christmas carol.”

   “Carolle: f[eminine]. A kind of daunce wherein many daunce together; alſo, a Carroll, or Chriſtmas ſong.”

   “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.”

   “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!”

4. (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, Low Latin.]”

   “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.”

verb

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.”

2. (intransitive)To sing in a joyful manner.

   “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, [...]”

   “As the lark with vary'd tune, / Carrols to the evening loud; / Mark the mild reſplendent moon, / Breaking through a parted cloud!”

   “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.”

   “"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.”

   “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 …"”

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.”

   “Gather up the neighbor kids and go caroling around the neighborhood … just for the joy of singing together!”

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 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.”

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 wedding ſong.”

   “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?”

   “[...] 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.”

name

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.”

   “Oh! Carol, I am but a fool / Darling, I love you, though you treat me cruel”

   “"Holly, would you mind if I named my little girl 'Holly'? I mean, it's right around Christmas time, and I always think of holly with Christmas. I like the name Carol, too, like Christmas carol. I heard once that the name Carol means 'song of joy'".”

2. 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.”

   “What splendid names for boys there are! There's Carol like a rolling car […]”