▪ I. nowel1
(nəʊˈɛl)
Also 5 -elle, 5–6, 9 -ell.
[a. OF. noel, nouel (mod.F. noël noel), = Prov. nadal, nadau, Sp. and Pg. natal, It. natale:—L. nātāl-em, acc. sing. of nātālis natal a.]
1. A word shouted or sung as an expression of joy, originally to commemorate the birth of Christ. Now only as retained in old Christmas carols.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 65 Loude crye was þer kest of clerkez & oþer, Nowel nayted o-newe, neuened ful ofte. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 519 Biforn him stont the braun of toskid swyn, And nowel crieth every lusty man. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 13, I pray þe teche me, blessid Seynt sulpice, With þat holy virgyn Prisce, syng nowel. c 1450 in Halliw., Therefore let us alle syng nowelle;..And Cryst save mery Ynglond. c 1500 Three Kings' Sons 192 They cried with a high voice, ‘Nowell!’ clappyng their handes. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cli. 578 The children rynnynge in the stretes cryenge nowell for ioye. |
| 1887 in N. & Q. 7th Ser. III. 168 Nowel! nowel! nowel! Born is a king in Israel. Ibid. 291 The first Nowell the Angel did say Was to three poor shepherds. 1894 Daily News 8 Feb. 5/5 The child..had been taught the well-known Christmas carol entitled ‘The First Nowell’. |
† 2. The feast of Christmas; Christmastide. Obs.
| c 1450 Lovelich Merlin 6870 Ȝe vndirstondyn alle ful wel that now cometh the feste of nowel, jn whiche the goode Lord was bore. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1875) 40 Placinge ther Christemas, a parte of this tyme of Nowell, for all the tyme that Nowell conteynethe. |
▪ II. ˈnowel2
[Variant of newel1.]
† 1. = newel 1. Obs.
| 1365 [see newel1]. 1388–9 in C. Welch Tower Bridge (1894) 71 Twenty great pieces of hard stone from Kent, called noweles. 1416–17 [see newel1]. 1443 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 386 The same Thomas..and John shall..make..xxxij Nowels... And they shal haue..for euery pece of the same Noweles iij. s. 1622 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1848) II. 379 Sex scoir four peice of free aisler stanes..thairof thrie scoir sevin peice long wark for lintellis and nowellis. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 112/2 Nowel, ..the middle Pillar, or Post of a turning-stair. |
2. Founding. (See quots. and cf. niuell.)
| 1864 Webster, Nowel, the core or inner wall of a mold for casting large cylinders. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 481/1 A hollow core of iron or brick.., and around it a layer of loam.., forming the ‘nowel’ or core. |
▪ III. nowel
obs. Sc. form of novel n.