Santa Claus
English
Alternative forms
- Santa Clause, Santaclaus, Santa Klaus, Santiclaus, Santy Claus (variously obsolete or nonstandard)
Etymology
Borrowed from Dutch Sinterklaas (“Saint Nicholas”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsæn.təˌklɔːz/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈsæn.təˌklɑz/, /ˈsæn.təˌklɔz/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈsæːn.təˌkloːz/
Audio (UK) (file)
Proper noun
Santa Claus (plural Santa Clauses)
- (folklore) A figure said to bring presents to people (especially children) at Christmas time.
- Synonyms: Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Saint Claus, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Santa
- 1773 December 26, New York Gazette, p. 3:
- Last Monday the Anniversary of St. Nicholas, otherwise called St. A Claus, was celebrated at Protestant-Hall.
- 1808 January 25, Salmagundi, p. 407:
- The noted St. Nicholas, vulgarly called Santaclaus—of all the saints in the kalendar the most venerated by true hollanders, and their unsophisticated descendants.
- 1828 November, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, letter to his mother from Italy:
- Here, too, the winter festivals are just commencing; and the toy-shops are full of dolls and gew-gaws for the Bifana, who acts here the same comedy for children that Santiclaus does in America.
- 1937 August, Lawrence Martin, "The Odyssey of a Bogeyman", Esquire, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 39:
- This is one of the developments Karl Marx failed to predict. Had he foreseen it he might have expired in guffaws, rolling in the aisle of the British Museum Library amid the notes for Das Kapital, that bearded Santa Claus of the revolution who slipped the unwanted gift of communism down the world's chimneys.
- 2005, Gerry Bowler, “Santa the Adman”, in Santa Claus: A Biography, McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 142:
- By 1900, department-store Santa Clauses were common – lodged in grottoes, cottages, and workshops or on thrones, they presided over a never-ending stream of children.
- (by extension) An generous source of free gifts or benefits.
- 1978, Henry Grayson, Clemens A. Loew, Changing approaches to the psychotherapies (page 314)
- I then probe as to whether he is waiting for some Santa Claus to make him well, strong, and happy, or whether he is waiting for rigor mortis to deliver him from his earthly troubles.
- 1978, Henry Grayson, Clemens A. Loew, Changing approaches to the psychotherapies (page 314)
- A town in Spencer County, Indiana. Original name: Santa Fe.
- A city in Georgia, United States.
- A ghost town in Arizona.
Derived terms
- Mistress Santa Claus, Mrs Santa Claus, Mrs. Santa Claus
- Santa
- Santa Claus melon
- Santa Paws
Translations
fictional figure
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See also
- Father Frost
- Jesus
- Mrs. Claus
Catalan
Proper noun
Santa Claus m
- Santa Claus
- Synonyms: Pare Nadal, Pare Noel