chorus

English Online Dictionary. What means chorus‎? What does chorus mean?

English

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Medieval Latin chorus (“church choir”), Latin chorus (“group of dancers and singers; dance”), from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “group of dancers and singers, choir, chorus; dance accompanied by song; round dance”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to encircle, enclose”) or *ǵʰoros. Doublet of choir and hora.

The plural form chori is from Latin chorī, from Ancient Greek χοροί (khoroí).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• Singular:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːɹəs/
  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔɹəs/
  • (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkoːɹəs/
  • Rhymes: -ɔːɹəs
  • Hyphenation: chor‧us
• Plural (chori):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːɹaɪ/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔɹaɪ/

Noun

chorus (plural choruses or (dated) chorusses or (rare) chori)

1. (Ancient Greece, historical)
   1. A group of singers and dancers in a theatrical performance or religious festival who commented on the main performance in speech or song.
   2. A song performed by the singers of such a group.
2. (by extension, chiefly British, theater, historical) An actor who reads the prologue and epilogue of a play, and sometimes also acts as a commentator or narrator; also, a portion of a play read by this actor.
3. A group of singers performing together; a choir; specifically, such a group singing together in a musical, an opera, etc., as distinct from the soloists; an ensemble.

4. (by extension) A group of people in a performance who recite together.
5. An instance of singing by a group of people.
6. (figuratively)
   1. A group of people, animals, or inanimate objects who make sounds together.
   2. The noise or sound made by such a group.
7. (figuratively)
   1. A group of people who express a unanimous opinion.
   2. The opinion expressed by such a group.
8. (music)
   1. A piece of music, especially one in a larger work such as an opera, written to be sung by a choir in parts (for example, by sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses).
   2. A part of a song which is repeated between verses to emphasize the song's content; a refrain.
   3. The main part of a pop song played after the introduction.
   4. A group of organ pipes or organ stops intended to be played simultaneously; a compound stop; also, the sound made by such pipes or stops.
   5. (often attributively) A feature or setting in electronic music that makes one instrument sound like many.
   6. (Christianity) A simple, often repetitive, song intended to be sung in a group during informal worship.
   7. (jazz) The improvised solo section in a small group performance.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

chorus (third-person singular simple present choruses, present participle chorusing or chorussing, simple past and past participle chorused or chorussed)

1. (transitive)
   1. To sing (a song), express (a sentiment), or recite or say (words) in chorus.

      Synonym: (of two people) duet
   2. To express concurrence with (something said by another person); to echo.
   3. (rare) To provide (a song) with a chorus or refrain.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To sing the chorus or refrain of a song.
      • 1785, James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D, Wednesday, 8th September, 1773, [8]

        Malcolm sung an Erse song, the chorus of which was 'Hatyin foam foam eri', with words of his own. […] the boatmen and Mr M’Queen chorused, and all went well.

   2. To sing, express, or say in, or as if in, unison.
   3. To echo in unison another person's words.
   4. Of animals: to make cries or sounds together.
      • 1998, Italo Calvino, The Path to the Spiders' Nests, translated by Archibald Colquhoun, revised by Martin McLaughlin, Hopewell, NJ: The Ecco Press, 1998, Chapter Two, p. 51,

        The hens are now sleeping in rows on their perches in the coops, and the frogs are out of the water and chorusing away along the bed of the whole torrent, from source to mouth.

Derived terms

• choruser
• out-chorus

Translations

References

Further reading

• ensemble (musical theatre) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Greek chorus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• refrain on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chorus (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Chorus in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• urochs

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin chorus, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós). Doublet of chœur.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kɔ.ʁys/

Noun

chorus m (uncountable)

1. chorus

   Synonym: (more common) chœur

2. (music) refrain of a song
3. (jazz music) improvisation by a soloist for part of all of a theme
4. (sound engineering) an audio effect used on the electric guitar to give the impression that multiple musical instruments are playing at the same time

Usage notes

Used almost exclusively in the phrase faire chorus.

Derived terms

• faire chorus

Further reading

• “chorus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χορός (khorós), a group of actors who recite and sing together.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰo.rus/, [ˈkʰɔrʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈko.rus/, [ˈkɔːrus]

Noun

chorus m (genitive chorī); second declension

1. chorus (all forms); a performance with dancing and singing; a troop or band of dancers and singers; performers

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Related terms

• chorāgium
• chorāgus

Descendants

References

• “chorus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “chorus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• chorus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• chorus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[10], London: Macmillan and Co.
• “chorus”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[11]
• “chorus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “chorus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English chorus. Doublet of coro.

Pronunciation

Noun

chorus m (invariable)

1. (music) chorus (effect produced by mixing a signal with delayed and modulated copies of itself)