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Christmas stocking

Christmas stocking

3 1.0
A large sock that children hang by the fireplace for Santa to fill with small gifts at Christmas
  • noun
  • /ˈkrɪs·məs ˈstɑk·ɪŋ/
translation icon : calcetín de Navidad
  • Every year, we hang a Christmas stocking by the fireplace for Santa Claus to fill with treats.
  • Christmas stockings hung
  • stuffing Christmas stockings
  • filling a Christmas stocking

Examples

  • Uncle Ed's eyes skittered from Mom to Dad to the two limp Christmas stockings, then settled on the carpet, which was littered with crumbs and shreds of wrapping paper.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Lest you forget, these are the "shirt-pocket" size calendars which make great Christmas stocking stuffers.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Is she bringing her own Christmas stocking into our home?

  • This is where Christmas stockings go.

  • My husband put this in my Christmas stocking because he loved the smell so much.

    Blog text (15)
  • But still, sometimes, like when I opened my Christmas stocking and saw what was in it, I wished for a minute that I was her.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • I adore the little Christmas stockings.

    Blog text (6)
  • Sidney, there's gonna be a little something extra in your Christmas stocking.

  • The iPad Mini is perfectly sized to be stuffed in Christmas stockings.

    Blog text (25)
  • On Christmas morning, Nelson had found this same unidentifiable doodad, now elaborately wrapped inside a velvet jewel box in the bottom of his Christmas stocking.

    Fiction book (1995)

Synonyms

stocking
vsChristmas stocking
62 1.0

A thin garment like a long sock that covers the foot and leg

hangs up during winter celebrations to receive small gifts

How Decorative

Christmas stocking
3 1.0
stocking
62 1.0
sock
545 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

Christmas + stocking

The meaning (a stocking associated with the Christmas holiday used for small gifts) is directly derivable from combining 'Christmas' (the holiday) and 'stocking' (a sock-like garment). This straightforward noun-noun composition is a common, literal pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Christmas stocking comes from a simple old custom: children would hang a large stocking by the fireplace and expect a kind stranger later known as Santa to fill it with small treats. That's why a Christmas stocking today is a sock hung at Christmas 'to be filled with small gifts'.