What are tidings?

Famous quotes containing the word tidings:

    “May dawn, as the proverb goes, bring happy tidings coming from her mother night.”
    —Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)

    “God rest you merry, gentlemen,
    Let nothing you dismay,
    For Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
    Was born upon this day,
    To save us all from Satan’s power
    When we were gone astray.
    O tidings of comfort and joy!
    For Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
    Was born on Christmas Day.”
    —Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826–1887)

    “Love is and was my Lord and King,
    And in his presence I attend
    To hear the tidings of my friend,
    Which every hour his couriers bring.”
    —Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)