noël, n.m., Christmas; Yule-tide; Christmas carol. Les fêtes de —; the Christmas holidays. À la fête de —, à la —; at Christmas. Noël! noël! Hurrah! hurrah!
nœud (neu), n.m., knot; stress, difficulty, intricacy, knotty point; rub; tie, bond, band, bow; knuckle; knob; node (med., bot., astron., lit.). — serré; hard knot. — coulant; noose, slip knot. Un — de diamants; a cluster of diamonds. — d’amour; love-knot. Bois plein de —s; wood full of knots. Voilà le — de l’affaire; there lies the kernel of the matter; there’s the rub. Resserrer les —s de l’amitié; to tighten the bonds of friendship. Le — de la gorge; Adam’s apple. — d’une pièce de théâtre; the knot or plot of a play. —s d’une planète; nodes of a planet. — de bouline; (nav.) bowline-knot. — de bois; (nav.) timber-hitch. Nous filons douze —s par heure; we are making twelve knots an hour. Le — gordien; the Gordian knot.
noguet, n.m., large, flat wicker basket.
noie-chien, n.m., shooting-boat.
noir, -e, adj., black; swarthy; foul, dirty; dark, gloomy; black and blue; dismal, dull, gloomy; base, wicked, foul, heinous; brown (of bread). — comme jais; black as jet. Des yeux —s; black eyes. Blé —; buckwheat. Bêtes —es; black game. Une chambre —e; a dark room. Un temps —; gloomy weather. Il a une humeur —e; he has a fit of the blues. Des idées —es; gloomy ideas. Un — attentat; a foul crime. Bête —e; pet aversion. Rendre —; to blacken. — comme dans un four; dark as pitch.
noir, n.m., black; negro; (agri.) brown-rust. — de fumée; lampblack. — animal; charcoal. — d’ivoire; ivory-black. Teindre en —; to dye black. Porter le —; to be in mourning. En —; in black. Broyer du —; to have the blues.
noirâtre, adj., blackish.
noiraud, -e, adj., dark, swarthy-looking.
noirceur, n.f., blackness; darkness; black spot; heinousness, baseness, atrocity, foulness, treacherous action, foul thing. La —de son crime; the heinousness of his crime. La — de son âme; the baseness of his soul.
noircir, v.a., to black, to blacken, to make black, to stain, to smut; to sully, to traduce, to asperse, to defame. Le soleil noircit le teint; the sun tans the complexion. — la réputation de quelqu’un; to sully any one’s character.