Word of the Day

: December 25, 2011

tiding

noun TYE-ding

What It Means

: a piece of news -- usually used in plural

tiding in Context

I rushed off to share the good news, excited to be the bearer of glad tidings.

"With Christmas more than a month away, Duane Brusseau is getting a head start on Santa as he makes stops across the nation spreading tidings of good cheer." -- From an article by Shannon Barry in the Milpitas Post (California), November 16, 2011

Did You Know?

"Good tidings we bring to you and your kin," goes a line from the popular 16th-century carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Another carol, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (1833), speaks of "tidings of comfort and joy." Although there is nothing inherent in the meaning or origin of "tiding" that specifically pertains to Christmas (it derives via Middle English from Old English and relates to "betide," meaning "to happen especially by fate"), we most often see the word in contexts pertaining to the Christmas season. The most notable usage, perhaps, occurs in Luke 2:10 of the King James Bible, when the angel delivers the news of the arrival of the Savior: "Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."