revel

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English revelen,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} borrowed from Old French reveler (“to rebel; to be disorderly, make merry”),^{[2][4][7][8][5][3]} from Latin rebellō (“to rebel, make war again”),^{[2][4][7][6][8]} with a popular sound development; in Anglo-Norman it also had the form revelir.^[7] Barnhart calls it a doublet of rebel.^[3] In Old French the verb meant "to rebel, revolt" from about 1100 and "to make merry" from the late 12th century.^[7] The noun is inherited from Middle English revel,^[6][9] borrowed from Old French revel (“noisy merriment; rebellion, uproar”), a derivative of the Old French verb;^[7][2][9][3] Klein calls it a back-formation.^[5] The OED compares Old Occitan revel.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An occasion of noisy merrymaking: before 1375, in William of Palerne.^[7][3] Barnhart finds the word as a surname in 1201,^[3] Etymonline about 1200.^[2] The verb, to make merry, is first quoted by the OED from about 1390,^[7] the date Barnhart also gives;^[3] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline quotes the OED's summary of the sense development in Old French: rebellion, then tumult and disturbance, then noisy mirth.^[2] English took over the festive sense, while "disturbance, rioting" (1462) stayed rare and later northern.^[7] At court, revels were organized entertainments with dances, masques and pageants, led from 1510 by a person appointed for them and, after 1551, by the Office of the Revels.^[7][6] From 1478 a revel was also a parish feast or wake,^[7][6] and in Wright's time it was still so called in Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, held on the day of the saint to whom the parish church was dedicated.^[10] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as a feast with loose and noisy jollity.^[11] The verb's figurative sense, to take great delight in something, is quoted by the OED from 1592, in Greene's Repentance;^[7] Barnhart and Etymonline date it only to 1754, in Gray's Progress of Poesy.^[3][2]

Timeline

• before 1375 – noun, an occasion of noisy merrymaking.^[7][3]
• c. 1390 – verb, to make merry, take part in festivities.^[7][3] Etymonline dates the verb to the early 14th century.^[2]
• c. 1400 – noun, noisy merrymaking, revelry.^[7]
• 1462 – disturbance, rioting (rare).^[7]
• 1478 – a parish feast, a wake.^[7]
• 1510 – a person appointed to organize revels.^[7]
• 1551 – the Revels, the royal Office of the Revels.^[7]
• 1592 – to take great delight in something.^[7] Barnhart and Etymonline date this sense to 1754.^[3][2]
• 1605 – to spend time in revelry.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take great delight or satisfaction in something: She revelled in her newfound freedom.^[12][6][7]
2. To take part in noisy festivities; to make merry.^[12][6][7]

Noun

1. An occasion of noisy merrymaking, often in the plural.^[12][6][7]
2. Revelry; noisy, unrestrained enjoyment.^[12][6][7]
3. revels: the dances, games and masques provided at a festivity.^[6][7]
4. (dialect, historical) A parish festival or wake.^[6][7][10]

Word family

• reveller
• revelment
• revelry

Related words

• rebel
• rebellion

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster also records an obsolete verb revel, to draw back, from Latin revellō (“to pull back”).^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins