roundelay
(ˈraʊndəleɪ)
Also 6–7 -laye, 7 -laie; 6 rundelaye, -ley, roundley, 7 roundellay.
[ad. F. rondelet roundlet, f. rondel roundel, with the ending assimilated to lay n.4]
1. A short simple song with a refrain.
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 105, I beseeche you marke my roundelaye. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 37 Menaphon..began, after some melodie, to carroll out this roundelay. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. To Rdr., Shepheards..singing roundelaies, to their gazing flockes. a 1664 K. Philips Poems (1667) 189 At our Feast he gets the Praise, For his enchanting Roundelayes. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. 688 Who, listning, heard him while he search'd the Grove And loudly sung his roundelay of love. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy vii. xliii, The sister of the youth..sung alternately with her brother—'twas a Gascoigne roundelay. 1808 Scott Marm. iii. viii, Now must I venture, as I may, To sing his favourite roundelay. c 1860 Longfellow Whither? v, The water-nymphs that are singing Their roundelays under me. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile 449 The two crews met every evening to smoke, and dance, and sing their quaint roundelays together. |
b. transf. A bird's song or carol.
| 1641 Beedome Poems, Constant Maid lix, The winged birds..Each one by turne did sing his rounde-lay. 1653 Walton Angler iii. 78 The Cuckoe and the Nightingale..with their pleasant roundelayes bid welcome in the Spring. 1813 Scott Rokeby ii. xvi, While linnet, lark, and black⁓bird gay, Sing forth her nuptial roundelay. 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn i. Poet's T. xviii, The whirr Of meadow-lark, and her sweet roundelay. |
† c. The competitive singing of such songs. Obs.
| 1655 Vaughan Silex Scint. (1858) 242 Here many garlands won at roundel-lays Old shepherds hung up in those happy days, From Daphnis. |
2. The music of a song of this type.
| 1593–1600 Breton Daff. & Prim. Wks. (Grosart) I. 16/1 The muses all haue chose a settinge-place To singe and play the sheppherdes rundeley. 1604 ― Passionate Shepherd ibid. 5 While yee tune your pipes to play But an idle Roundelay. 1820 Keats Isabella xxxii, The breath of Winter..plays a roundelay Of death among the bushes and the leaves. |
3. A kind of round dance.
| 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxxi. 135 When as they fel to Rowndelaies,..Not Satires, or the Naiades, were halfe so nimble. a 1633 T. Taylor God's Judgem. i. ii. xxxvi. (1642) 288 They fell a dancing, men and women mixtly together,..a ridiculous roundelay. c 1800 H. K. White Poems (1837) 126 Dance, dance away, the jocund roundelay! 1867 Longfellow tr. Dante, Inf. vii. 24 So here the folk must dance their roundelay. |
† b. A fairy circle or ring. Obs.—1
| a 1635 Corbet Poems (1648) 8 Those Rings and Roundelays Of theirs, which yet remain, Were footed..on many a grassy plain. |