Santa Claus
Preserved but no longer current.
A contraction of Santa Niko- laus (i.e. St. Nicolas), the patron saint in Ger- many of children. His feast-day is December 6th, and the vigil is still held in some places, but for the most part his name is now associated with Christmastide. The old custom used to be for someone, on December 5th, to assume the costume of a bishop and distribute small gifts to "good children.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tatoeba sentence #6042711 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Santa Claus” mean?
A contraction of Santa Niko- laus (i.e. St. Nicolas), the patron saint in Ger- many of children. His feast-day is December 6th, and the vigil is still held in some places, but for the most part his name is now associated with Christmastide. The old custom used to be for someone, on December 5th, to assume the costume of a bishop and distribute small gifts to "good children.
Is “Santa Claus” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.