▪ I. song, n.
(sɒŋ)
Forms: α. 1 sanc, 1– (latterly Sc. and north. dial.) sang (4 zang), 4–5 sange. β. 1– song, 3–6 songe (4 zonge), 6–7 songue.
[Common Teut.: OE. sang, sǫng, = OFris. sang, song (WFris. sang, EFris. song, NFris. sōng), MDu. sanc, zanc, etc. (Du. zang), OS. (MLG., LG.) sang, OHG. sanc, sang (G. sang), ON. sǫngr, sǫngv- (Icel. söngur, Norw. song, Sw. sång, Da. sang), Goth. saggws:—OTeut. sangwaz, f. the pret. stem of singwan sing v.1]
1. The act or art of singing; the result or effect of this, vocal music; that which is sung (in general or collective sense); occas., poetry.
See also plain-song.
| α Beowulf 1063 Þær wæs sang & sweᵹ samod ætgædere fore Healfdenes hildewisan. c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxiv. §1 Þa he þa þis leoð asungen hæfde, þa forlet he þone sang. a 1300 Cursor M. 1030 Þar sune es soft and suet sang. 1340 Ayenb. 60 Þe dyeules noriches þet..doþ ham slepe ine hare zenne be hare uayre zang. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 18127 Thei halpe hit in with mochel sang. c 1450 Holland Howlat 943 Thar with dame Natur has to the hevin..Ascendit sone..with solace and sang. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 27 After some dog in Highland sang. |
| β a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1649 Ðær is engla song, eadiᵹra blis. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xv. 25 Miððy..[he] ᵹeneolecde to huse, ᵹeherde huislung & þæt song. c 1205 Lay. 30617 Þer wes blisse & muche song. c 1275 Moral Ode 347 in O.E. Misc., Þer is alre Murehþe mest myd englene songe. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4025 Of song & of mynstrecye Alle men gaf hym þe maystrie. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 464/2 Songe, cantus. Ibid., Songe, of a manne a-lone, monodia. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 b, They shall..here theyr songe & melody. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 214 b, And in the toppe was mervailous swete armony both of song and instrument. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 122/2 He..went about in Mercia to teach song. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 29 Smit with the love of sacred song. Ibid. ix. 25 This Subject for Heroic Song Pleas'd me. 1791 Cowper Judgm. Poets 17 To poets of renown in song, The nymphs referr'd the cause. 1808 Scott Marm. i. Introd. 271 The mightiest chiefs of British song Scorn'd not such legends to prolong. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. I. 30 As eloquence exists before syntax, and song before prosody. 1878 Masque Poets 11 Sing! Sing of what? The world is full of song! |
2. a. A metrical composition adapted for singing,
esp. one in rime and having a regular verse-form;
occas., a poem.
| α c 897 K. ælfred tr. Gregory's Past. C. 409 Ða singað ðone sang ðe nan mon elles singan ne mæᵹ. 971 Blickl. Hom. 45 Þa þe on heofenum syndon, hi þingiaþ for þa þe þyssum sange fylᵹeaþ. a 1200 Vices & Virtues 15 Ða aingles of heuene..sunge ðane derewurðe sang, Gloria in exselsis deo. a 1300 Cursor M. 23 Sanges sere of selcuth rime, Inglis, frankys, and latine. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 250 Herdtow euere slyk a sang er now? c 1400 Destr. Troy 3474 Why fare ye thus now, With..sanges of myrthe. c 1440 York Myst. xx. 43 Of sorowes sere schal be my sang. 1533 Gau Richt Vay 16 Thay that prouokis ony ewil desir..with sangis or wordis or foul takine. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 74 To sing sangs of joy and blythnes. 17.. Ramsay Address to Town Council 6 Sweet Edie's funeral-sang. 1785 Burns 1st Ep. to J. Lapraik iii, There was ae sang, amang the rest, Aboon them a' it pleas'd me best. |
| β c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxxii. 3 Singað him song neowne. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 63 Godes songes beoð alle gode; to þere saule heo senden fode. c 1205 Lay. 7005 He cuðen al þeos songes, & þat gleo of ilcche londe. a 1250 Owl & Night. 722 Vor-þi me singþ in holi chirche, An clerkes ginneþ songes wirche. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 2654 Of ysonde he made a song. 1340 Ayenb. 68 Þe holi gost..makeþ his ychosene zinge ine hare herten þe zuete zonges of heuene. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 2336 in Macro Plays 147, iij mens songys to syngyn lowde. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. xxxi. 464 The harper had songe his songe to the ende. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 238 b, Dyverse Songes beesydes accustomed in churches doe instructe us of the benefyte of Chryst. 1598 Barnfield Pecunia iii, And add some Musique to a merry Songue. 1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibl. 384 Songs being choice succinct pieces gratefull to the eare, helpfull to the memory and delightful to the heart. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 13 My adventrous Song. Ibid. iii. 413 Thy Name Shall be the copious matter of my Song. 1718 Free-thinker No. 69. 100 Much of the same Nature with our Song of ‘Britons strike Home’ &c. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. x. I. 244 On the faith of ancient songs, the uncertain..memorials of barbarians. 1820 Shelley To a Skylark 90 Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. 1878 E. J. Trelawny Records Shelley, etc. ix. 109 Inspiring it towards songs and other poetry. |
b. the Song of Solomon,
Song of Songs, one of the books of the Old Testament.
| 1382 Wyclif Song Sol. (heading), Heer gynneth the booc that is clepid Songus [v.r. Song] of Songis. 1568 Bishop's Bible (headline), The songue of Solomon. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 7 He nameth..the book of Psalmes,..and the Song of Salomon. 1611 Bible Song Sol. i. 1 The song of songs, which is Solomons. Ibid. (heading), Solomons song. 1781 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry III. xxxvi. 317 There were numerous versions of Solomon's Song before the year 1600. 1803 Good (title), Song of Songs: or, Sacred Idyls. Translated from The Original Hebrew. 1856 S. Davidson Bibl. Criticism ii. 19 The song of Deborah exhibits such [dialectal] appearances. So does the Song of Solomon. |
c. Naut. (See
quot.)
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 638 Song, the call of soundings by the leadsman in the channels. |
d. Mus. A musical setting or composition adapted for singing or suggestive of a song.
song without words, an instrumental composition in the style of a song (after Mendelssohn's title ‘Lieder ohne Worte’); also
transf.| 1871 S. Smiles Character viii. 219 Cheerfulness..gives harmony of soul, and is a perpetual song without words. 1875 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms s.v., The second subject of a sonata is sometimes called the ‘Song’. 1883 Grove's Dict. Mus. III. 368/1 The Song, as we know it in his [Schubert's] hands,..set to no simple Volkslieder, but to long complex poems,..—such songs were his and his alone. 1883 R. Prentice Musician ii. 95 The second movement [of a Beethoven sonata] is a veritable Song without Words. 1938 Oxf. Compan. Mus. 885/1 Song without words, a term introduced by Mendelssohn to cover a type of one-movement pianoforte solo, throughout which a well-marked song-like melody progresses, with an accompaniment. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XI. 902/1 She [sc. Fanny Mendelssohn] had herself written some of the Songs Without Words attributed to her brother. |
e. transf. A sound as of singing.
| 1822 Shelley Triumph Life 463 That falling stream's Lethean song. 1877 Daily News 3 Nov. 6 New troops without a military history, who have never heard the song of an enemy's bullets. 1895 J. C. Snaith Mistr. Marvin xii, The song of metal filled the room. |
3. The musical utterance of certain birds.
In
OE. also used of the cry of the sea-gull and eagle.
| a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xiii. 50 Fuᵹelas..stunað eal geador welwinsum sanc. c 1200 Ormin 7931 Wop wass uss bitacnedd wel Þurrh cullfre & turrtle baþe; Forr þeȝȝre sang iss lic wiþþ wop. a 1250 Owl & Night. 221 Þu miht mid þine songe afere Alle þat hereþ þine ibere. c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's T. 201 To the crowe he stert,..And made him blak, and raft him al his song. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iv. iv, The goddes..haue gyuen..to the nyghtyngale fayr & playsaunt songe. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 80 Self willed folke..vse ofte the Cuckowes song. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 13 No bird, but did her shrill notes sweetly sing; No song but did containe a louely dit. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 41 The night-warbling Bird, that now awake Tunes sweetest his love-labor'd song. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Canary-Bird, To make a right choice of this Bird, and to know when he has a good Song. 1773 Phil. Trans. LXIII. 290 What is called the song of the Canary bird. 1816 Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire i. (1818) 31 A very small warbler, the only one that appeared to have any song. 1877 Jefferies Gamekeeper at H. vii. (1890) 169 All the birds whose song makes them valuable. |
4. a. In various
transf. or
fig. uses.
The sense ‘a subject or theme of song’ occurs in several passages of the Wycliffite (see
quot. 1382) and later versions of the Bible.
| Beowulf 787 Þara þe..ᵹehyrdon gryreleoð galan..siᵹe⁓leasne sang. Ibid. 2447. 1382 Wyclif Job xxx. 9 Now forsothe I am turned in to the song of hem. ― Lam. iii. 14. 14.. Sir Beues (M.) 1232 For sone thy songe shall be: welawey! 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 154 At the sowth-west corner Off gonnes he had a song; That anon he left that place. c 1440 Jacob's Well 155 Þe feend makyth his men to synge þe song of helle, þat is ‘allas & welle⁓away’. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark vii. 52 The foresayed songe was songen in vaine to the deafe Phariseis. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 325 Sing this song to others. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 509 Out on ye, Owles, nothing but Songs of Death. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 76 The ordinarie burthen of their song is, that all the world is naught. 1653 Binning Serm. (1845) 597 Many listen to the Song of Justification, but they will not abide to hear out all the Song. 1707 Lockhart Papers (1817) I. 223 He returned it to the clerk..with this despising and contemning remark, ‘Now there's ane end of ane old song’. 1872 A. De Vere Legends St. Patrick 124 Shall I lengthen out my days Toothless,..Some losel's song? |
b. In phrases denoting continuance or change in statements, attitude, etc.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 260 Now schalt thou singe an other song. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 393 b, It is the self same song, that hath now ben songen many Yeres. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 97 It's the same old Song of Stark Love and Kindness, which they have pip'd to each other these many Years. 1786 Burns Earnest Cry & Prayer xv, She'll teach you, wi' a reekan whittle, Anither sang. 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3) s.v., He changed his song; he altered his account or evidence. 1822 Scott Nigel ii, Let me catch ye in Barford's Park,..I could gar some of ye sing another sang. |
c. A fuss or outcry
about something.
| 1843 Cracks about Kirk II. 9 Thae convocation chiels that are makin' sic a sang aboot their sufferings. 1863 Mrs. J. H. Riddell World in Church II. 157 She had foreborne likewise and no one made a song about it. |
d. a song in one's heart, a feeling of joy or pleasure.
| 1930 L. Hart With a Song in my Heart 4 With a song in my heart;—I behold your adorable face. 1946 Hansard Commons 9 Apr. 1807, I will find, and find with a song in my heart, whatever money is necessary to finance useful and practical proposals for developing these areas. 1978 Times 9 Jan. 13/1 Does the lending rate come down? Then every conservative owner-occupier has a song in his heart. |
e. on (full) song, in good form, performing well.
colloq.| 1967 Autocar 27 Dec. 10/1 The close and even spacing of the ratios..make it easy to keep the engine ‘on full song’ during hard driving. 1971 Daily Tel. 21 Aug. 16/1 As the table reveals, most of the leading unit trust managers have at least one fund that is ‘on song’. 1974 Observer 3 Feb. 24/5 Really on song since beating Manchester City in the Cup, Forest won 5–1. 1981 Radio Times 11 Apr. 23/2 If you are on song nothing will break your concentration. |
5. Used to denote a very small or trifling sum, amount, or value, or a thing of little worth or importance. Freq.
an old (also a mere) song.
a. In the
phr. for a(n old) song, for a mere trifle, for little or nothing.
| (a) 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. ii. 9, I know a man that had this tricke of melancholy hold a goodly Mannor for a song. a 1639 W. Whately Prototypes ii. xxvi. (1640) 25 To have so little esteem of the outward means of salvation, as to part with them for a song as we say. 1707 Reflex. upon Ridicule 262 He retrenches the Number of his Servants or their Wages, and would have them serve, as they say, for a Song. 1751 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 395 The whole-length Vandykes went for a song! 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. i. App. 10 You will perceive that we have obtained about 100000 acres for a song. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. xvii, I assure you, the things were going for a song. 1890 Jessopp Trials Co. Parson iv. 173 A brief report was published, and may be purchased now for a song. |
| (b) 1650 H. More Observ. in Enthus. Tri. (1656) 78 Truth is not to be had of God Almighty for an old Song. 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) III. 239 Haply he compounded for an old song. 1705 Phil. Trans. XXIV. 1997 An old Book might be bought for an old Song, (as we say). 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), It was bought for an old song, i.e. very cheap. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. lix, The cost would be a trifle—an ‘old song’, Set to some thousands. 1889 T. A. Trollope What I remember III. 32 They were acquired ‘for an old song’. |
b. In other uses.
| 1798 W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) I. 53 Oh, fly, Sir! or your life's not worth a song! 1854 Marion Harland Alone xxvi, Some care, some responsibility—that is a mere song, though. 1879 Hesba Stretton Needle's Eye II. 208 It was a pretty place once, but now it's hardly worth an old song. |
6. song and dance.
a. A form of entertainment (
spec. a vaudeville act) consisting of singing and dancing. Freq.
attrib. orig. U.S.| [1628 F. Drake World Encompassed 76 They yet continued their song and dance a reasonable time.] 1872 S. Hale Let. 16 Jan. (1918) iii. 78 He did a ‘Song and Dance’, two, in fact. 1872 Chicago Tribune 13 Oct. 5/6 First week of the distinguished song and dance artists. 1895 N.Y. Dramatic News 23 Nov. 13/3 The first double song and dance team was comprised of Wash Norton and Ben Cotton. 1940 Chatelaine Apr. 36/2, I practiced my song-and-dance act for weeks. 1959 R. Longrigg Wrong Number iv. 58 So up she pops from hell or wherever, just the time for a bit of song and dance. 1968 Radio Times 28 Nov. 53/1 The song-and-dance patter comedian. 1977 Time Out 17–23 June 47/2 Pleasant Nilsson-like song 'n' dance numbers. |
b. fig. A rigmarole, an elaborately contrived story or entreaty, a fuss or outcry. Also
attrib. colloq. (
orig. U.S. slang).
Cf. sense 4 c.
| 1895 E. W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 6 Den, 'is whiskers gives me a song an' dance. 1900 B. Matthews Confident To-Morrow 9 And it ain't a song-and-dance I'm giving you either. 1913 Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 292, I don't see how this song and dance helps us any. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xxxii. 375 George, what's this I hear about some song and dance you gave Colonel Snow about not wanting to join the G.C.L.? 1949 Time 5 Sept. 2/3 Labor Leader Preble..was not impressed by ‘the song and dance about [Stefan's] mother and sister being persecuted and murdered’. 1958 ‘E. Dundy’ Dud Avocado iii. vi. 266 If only he hadn't felt obliged to make such a song and dance about it. 1967 ‘S. Woods’ And Shame Devil 118 ‘'Appen tha means well,’ he said, his speech suddenly broadened almost out of all recognition, ‘and 'appen tha's joost making a song and dance.’ 1980 J. Ditton Copley's Hunch ii. ii. 132 The Prime Minister wants to make a song and dance about it. |
7. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., as
songcraft [
cf. OE. sang-,
songcræft],
song-feast, etc.
| 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. Introd. 109 A half-effaced inscription, Written with little skill of *song-craft. 1880 W. Watson Prince's Quest (1892) 60 Seeing his charmed songcraft of no might Him to ensnare. |
| 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Music iv. 36 While these..Savages continue in their present unlettered State.., no material Improvements in their *Song-Feasts can arise. |
| 1881 Blackw. Mag. April 517 The bleak solitudes of the *Song⁓land on the Border. |
| 1944 C. Day Lewis Poetry for You vi. 61 The chief thing which poets took over from the *song-lyric and preserved in the new lyrical poetry was..‘singleness of mind’. |
| 1884 Harper's Mag. March 537/2 Two pieces of *song-music. |
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 429/1 Audible sound, which may possess the distinctions of *song-notes (musical sounds). |
| 1845 Browning Lett. (1899) I. 17 These scenes and *song-scraps are such mere escapes of my inner power. |
| 1947 A. Einstein Music in Romantic Era xiv. 187 With Op. 24, the Heine *song-sequence, he [sc. Schumann] began to write lieder. |
| 1930 P. Geddes et al. (title) *Song-sheet and welcomes. 1967 A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in England i. 29 The countless Sorrowful Lamentations of hanged men did not become anchored in tradition..perhaps because the song-sheets bearing these effusions are of late appearance. |
| 1876 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 176 So tiny a trickle of *song-strain. |
| 1845 W. Stevenson Church Scotl. Pulpit I. 84 It is only from the full..heart that a *song-stream of devotion can freely flow. |
| 1884 Jefferies Life of Fields 60 The *song-talk of the finches rises and sinks like the tinkle of a waterfall. |
| 1809 E. Cutler Diary 28 Aug. in J. P. Cutler Life & Times E. Cutler (1890) v. 98 Very soon a man began to sing a hymn in a familiar *song-tune. 1824 Mrs. Cameron Marten & his Scholars viii. 49 John..began presently to whistle a song-tune. 1967 A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in England iii. 139 As feudal society gives way to capitalism..recitative melodies are replaced by song-tunes. |
| 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 273/1 That true *song-warble which we get in the stornelli and rispetti of the Italian peasants. |
b. Objective, as
song-composition, with agent-nouns, as
song-composer,
song-enditer,
song-maker,
song-singer,
song-wright,
song-writer, or with
vbl. ns. and
ppl. adjs., as
song-singing,
song-writing.
| 1947 A. Einstein Music in Romantic Era xiv. 184 There were no Italian *song-composers. Ibid. 191 The procession of musicians who contributed to Romantic *song-composition. |
| 1713 Rowe Jane Shore Prol., Those venerable ancient *Song-Enditers Soar'd many a Pitch above our modern Writers. |
| 1787 Burns Let. to W. Nicol 1 June, It's true, she's as poor 's a *sang-maker. 1892 E. Reeves Homeward Bound 10 The rich..harmonies of later songmakers. |
| 1733 Weekly Reg. 8 Dec., Clerks of kitchens, *song-singers, horse-racers, valets-de-chambre. |
| 1743 Francis tr. Horace, Odes iii. x. 18 Thy Husband, who gives up his Heart for a Ditty To a *Song-singing Wench. 1839 D. Black Hist. Brechin vii. 157 Zealous song-singing ladies. 1848 W. Allingham Diary 26 Sept. (1907) ii. 43 Dine at Peter Kelly's,..much song-singing afterwards. 1888 R. Buchanan Heir of Linne ii, Peasants and fishermen enjoyed his gifts of conversation and song-singing. |
| 1892 Athenæum 23 July 124/3 He places Herrick above Shakspeare as a *song⁓wright. |
| 1821 Mrs. Hemans in H. F. Chorley Mem. (1837) I. 83 This being my first appearance before the public as a *song-writer. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 273/1 His songs illustrate an infirmity which even the Scottish song-writers share with the English. |
| 1772 J. Aikin (title) Essays on *song-writing. 1809 Belfast Monthly Mag. Mar. 164/2, I promise..method in my handling the theory and practice of song⁓writing. 1810 J. Aikin (title), Essays on Song-Writing. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 273 Here, indeed, is the crowning difficulty of song-writing. 1947 A. Einstein Music in Romantic Era iv. 35 The song-writing Berlin purists. |
c. Miscellaneous, as
song-fraught,
song-like,
song-rapt,
song-timed,
song-tuned,
song-wild,
song-worthy adjs.| 1855 Bailey Mystic 32 *Song-fraught wavelets lipped with light. |
| 1861 F. W. Faber Hymn, Nativ. our Lady i, *Songlike breezes ever blowing. |
| 1885 W. B. Yeats in Dublin Univ. Rev. July 137 A wandering *song-rapt bird. |
| c 1873 J. Addis Eliz. Echoes (1879) 94 Circled with Mænads' *song-timed, dance-timed bounds. |
| 1859 Ld. Lytton Wanderer (ed. 2) 205 Take from the wall now, my *song-tuned Lyre. |
| 1937 Blunden Elegy 15 The flight of one small *song-wild lark Finds heaven. |
| 1855 Patmore Angel in Ho. ii. i. Prel. i, More *Song-worthy and heroic things Than..war. |
8. Special combs.:
song-ballet, (
a)
U.S. dial., a ballad; (
b) a theatrical work combining songs and ballet;
song-box, the syrinx of a bird;
song-cycle [
cf. G.
liederzyklus], a series of songs intended to form one musical entity, and having words dealing with related subjects;
song-flight (a) flight of a characteristic pattern made by a bird as it sings, in a territorial display;
song-form Mus., a form used in the composition of songs;
spec. [
tr. G.
liedform] the form of a simple melody with simple accompaniment, or that of a work in three sections of which the third is a repetition of the first;
song-fowl poet. = song-bird 1;
song-grosbeak, one or other species of the American genus
Zamelodia;
song-hit colloq., a song which is a popular success;
song-motet, a simple type of motet;
song-muscle (see
quot.);
song-perch, a place where a bird perches to sing, so as to establish its territory;
song period, the part of the year during which the birds of a species sing;
song-plugger orig. U.S., a person employed to popularize songs,
esp. by performing them repeatedly; hence
song-plugging vbl. n.,
song-plug v. trans.,
song-plugged ppl. a.;
song-post = song-perch above;
song stylist, a singer admired for his or her style;
song-tide, time of divine service;
song-voice, the voice as used in the act of singing.
| 1915 Dialect Notes IV. 190 *Song-ballet, n., a song or ballad. 1938 Sun (Baltimore) 15 June 6/7 Visitors will join the mountaineers to sing their ‘song ballets’. 1962 Auden Dyer's Hand (1963) 484 We have translated..Brecht's text for the song-ballet Die sieben Todsünden with music by Kurt Weill. |
| 1899 J. A. Thomson Sci. Life 187 The bird's song is nothing to the morphologist, except in so far as the anatomy of the syrinx or *song-box is concerned. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 3 May 3/3 Two *song-cycles made up his programme yesterday. 1942 E. Blom Music in England x. 168 Arthur Somervell's settings of poems from Tennyson's ‘Maud’, which have remained among the world's few great song-cycles. 1978 Listener 30 Mar. 412/4 A mature song-cycle by Dallapiccola. |
| 1936 Nicholson & Koch Songs of Wild Birds 9 *Song-flight is an extra means of making the singer temporarily as conspicuous as possible. 1961 A. J. Berger Bird Study vi. 186 Song, song flights, and other special displays serve an orientation function: they attract a female to the male's territory or to a nest site. |
| 1884 R. Prentice Musician: Grade 3 4 The simplest *song-form is constructed on two or three sentences only. 1902 H. C. Banister Mus. Anal. i. 2 There is a term now in vogue to designate the simplest of all plans or forms: ‘Song-Form’ or ‘Aria-Form’. 1946 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (1949) v. 109 The blues are essentially a song form. 1954 Grove's Dict. Mus. (ed. 5) VII. 962/2 The term ‘song form,’ derived from the German, has unfortunately been used by different writers with different significations. The vagueness which results and the fact that the term is not happily chosen gives rise to doubts whether it had not better be entirely abandoned. |
| 1877 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 71 Not that the sweet-fowl, *song-fowl, needs no rest. |
| 1839 Audubon Syn. Birds N. Amer. 132 Coccoborus, *Song-Grosbeak. Coccoborus cæruleus, Blue Song-Grosbeak. 1884 Coues N. Amer. Birds 389 Zamelodia ludoviciana, Rose-breasted Song Grosbeak. Zamelodia melanocephala, Black-headed Song Grosbeak. |
| 1914 ‘High Jinks, Jr.’ Choice Slang 18 *Song hit, a popular song. 1918 [see hit n. 4]. 1959 ‘F. Newton’ Jazz Scene 9 Pop, pop music, popular entertainment music as typified by the ‘song-hit’. |
| 1942 H. Hewitt Harmonice Musices Odhecaton vi. 69 A few ‘*song-motets’ find a place in the Odhecaton. 1974 Early Music Oct. 219 Some of his [sc. Dufay's] most elegant Latin compositions..are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and their treble-dominated texture and lyrical charm—they resemble chansons in many ways—explain why they are called song-motets. |
| 1885 Newton in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 29 [As] by the action of the syringeal muscles..the sounds uttered by the Bird are modified, they are properly called the *Song-muscles. |
| 1934 British Birds XXVIII. 15 If a male is on his *song perch when his hen quits her eggs, he usually follows her..to her feeding ground. 1975 I. Rowley Bird Life v. 61 The kookaburra defends a large area, but in particular a number of song perches. |
| 1908 British Birds I. 367 In the middle of the *song-period all the individuals of a species found in any locality sing every day. 1961 A. J. Berger Bird Study vi. 171 Many species have a short song period (post-breeding) after the molt has been completed. |
| 1927 Daily Express 22 Sept. 9/3 ‘Clap Yo' Hands’ must have been *song-plugged for ten minutes right off... ‘Do-Do-Do’ is another song-plugged number. |
| 1923 N.Y. Times 7 Oct. ix. 2/1 *Song plugger, a retiring representative of a song publisher planted in the audience to call for songs, whistle refrains and applaud. 1927 Melody Maker May 437/1 Song pluggers are..vocalists lent by the music publishers to the dance bands just for the nights on which these bands are due to broadcast, and, of course, sing only their employer's numbers. 1976 R. Sanders in D. Villiers Next Year in Jerusalem 208 Gershwin..embarked upon his musical career at sixteen as a Tin Pan Alley song plugger and composer. |
| 1927 Melody Maker May 433 (heading), *Song-plugging thro' the ages. 1972 P. Black Biggest Aspidistra i. iii. 29 The song-plugging wave did not recede until 1948, when the BBC and the publishers managed to draw up an agreement. |
| 1938 British Birds XXXI. 320 The habitat was on open grassy ground with stones and sallow bushes as ‘*song posts’. 1938 Sun (Baltimore) 15 June 6/7 Special guests will be..Miss Florence Clark, of Detroit, noted *song stylist. 1973 Black Panther 24 Mar. 7/1 Elaine Brown, community activist..is also a musician, composer, lyricist and song stylist. |
| 1853 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ii. 14 If wayfaring..had hindered him from being with his brethren at public *song-tide in the house of God. |
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 431/2 The glottis must be disciplined.., and proceed gradually from the *song-voice to that of speech. |
▪ II. song obs. pa. tense and
pple. of
sing v.
1