释义 |
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas or Saint Nick S0023000 (sānt)n. Santa Claus.ThesaurusNoun | 1. | Saint Nicholas - a bishop in Asia Minor who is associated with Santa Claus (4th century)Nicholas, St. Nicholas | | 2. | Saint Nicholas - the legendary patron saint of children; an imaginary being who is thought to bring presents to children at ChristmasFather Christmas, Kriss Kringle, Saint Nick, Santa, Santa Claus, St. Nick |
Saint Nicholas
Nicholas, Saint, patron of children and sailors, of Greece, Sicily, and Russia, and of many other places and persons. Little is known of him, but he is traditionally identified as a 4th-century bishop of Myra in Asia Minor. His relics were stolen from Myra in the Middle Ages and taken to Bari, Italy. St. Nicholas is the subject of many legends. He is credited with restoring to life three boys who had been chopped up and pickled in salt by a butcher. Another famous story concerns his giving three bags of gold to the daughters of a poor man and thus saving them from lives of prostitution. Later tradition transformed the bags into three gold balls, which became the symbol of pawnbrokers. In the Netherlands and elsewhere St. Nicholas's feast (Dec. 6) is a children's holiday, appropriate for gifts. The English in colonial New York adopted from the Dutch the now unrecognizable saint, calling him Santa Claus (a contraction of the Dutch Sint Nikolaas). They moved his feast day to the English gift holiday, Christmas. The career and qualities attributed to Santa Claus are all recently acquired. Bibliography See biography by C. W. Jones (1978, repr. 1988). Saint Nicholas
Synonyms for Saint Nicholasnoun a bishop in Asia Minor who is associated with Santa Claus (4th century)Synonymsnoun the legendary patron saint of childrenSynonyms- Father Christmas
- Kriss Kringle
- Saint Nick
- Santa
- Santa Claus
- St. Nick
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