carol

carol, broadly, a song, characteristically of religious joy, associated with a given season, especially Christmas.. More strictly, a carol can be defined as a late medieval English song on any subject, in which uniform stanzas, or verses (V), alternate with a refrain, or burden (B), in the pattern B, V₁, B, V₂ . . . B. The medieval words carol and carole (French and Anglo-Norman) might mean a popular dance song with pagan associations, a...