fa-la
(fɑːlɑː)
a. Used as a refrain. b. Music. A sort of madrigal or ‘ballet’ in vogue in the 16th and 17th c.
| a. 1595 Morley 1st Bk. Balletts 1, Sit we heere our loues recounting Fa la la la. 1665 Earl of Dorset Poems (1721) 58 To all you Ladies now at Land..With a Fa, la, la, la, la. a 1800 Cowper Poems, To Celia i, No serenade to break her rest..With my fa, la, la. |
| attrib. 1838 J. Struthers Poet. Tales 78 Fifths or thirds And other Crankums set and shown Many Fa la words. |
| b. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 180 Another kind of Ballets, commonlie called fa las. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. 59 Your Madrigals or Fala's of five and six Parts. 1867 Macfarren Harmony ii. 55 Balletts, or Fal-las, of the end of the sixteenth century. |