Adjacent Words

Song definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SONG, n.
1. In general, that which is sung or uttered with musical modulations of the voice, whether of the human voice or that of a bird.
2. A little poem to be sung, or uttered with musical modulations; a ballad. The songs of a country are characteristic of its manners. Every country has its love songs, its war songs, and its patriotic songs.
3. A hymn; a sacred poem or hymn to be sung either in joy or thanksgiving, as that sung by Moses and the Israelites after escaping the dangers of the Arabian gulf and of Pharaoh; or of lamentation, as that of David over the death of Saul and Jonathan. Songs of joy are represented as constituting a part of heavenly felicity.
4. A lay; a strain; a poem. The bard that first adorn'd our native tongue, tun'd to his British lyre this ancient song.
5. Poetry; poesy; verse. This subject for heroic song pleas'd me.
6. Notes of birds. [See Def. 1.]
7. A mere trifle. The soldier's pay is a song. Old song, a trifle. I do not intend to be thus put off with an old song.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a short musical composition with words; "a successful musical must have at least three good songs" [syn: song, vocal]
2: a distinctive or characteristic sound; "the song of bullets was in the air"; "the song of the wind"; "the wheels sang their song as the train rocketed ahead"
3: the act of singing; "with a shout and a song they marched up to the gates" [syn: song, strain]
4: the characteristic sound produced by a bird; "a bird will not learn its song unless it hears it at an early age" [syn: birdcall, call, birdsong, song]
5: a very small sum; "he bought it for a song"
6: the imperial dynasty of China from 960 to 1279; noted for art and literature and philosophy [syn: Sung, Sung dynasty, Song, Song dynasty]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sang; akin to Old English singan to sing Date: before 12th century 1. the act or art of singing 2. poetical composition 3. a. a short musical composition of words and music b. a collection of such compositions 4. a distinctive or characteristic sound or series of sounds (as of a bird, insect, or whale) 5. a. a melody for a lyric poem or ballad b. a poem easily set to music 6. a. a habitual or characteristic manner b. a violent, abusive, or noisy reaction <put up quite a song> 7. a small amount <sold for a song> • songlike adjective

Britannica Concise

Short and usually simple piece of music for voice, with or without instrumental accompaniment. Folk songs--traditional songs without a known composer transmitted orally rather than in written form--have existed for millennia, but have left few traces in ancient sources. Virtually all known preliterate societies have a repertory of songs. Folk songs often accompany religious ceremonies, dancing, labor, or courting; they may tell stories or express emotions; the music follows obvious conventions and is often repetitive. Songs written by a particular composer and poet generally are more sophisticated and are not attached to activities. In the West, the continuous tradition of secular art songs begins with the troubadours, trouvè res, and minnesingers of the 12th-13th cent. Polyphonic songs, originating in the motet, begin to appear in the 13th cent. The 14th cent. produced a great body of polyphonic songs in the formes fixes. Later the Italian madrigal becomes the most distinguished genre. Notated accompaniments to solo songs appear in the 16th cent. The Romantic movement made the 19th cent. a golden age for the art song, notably the German lied. In the 20th cent. the popular song displaced the more cultivated art song, and popular music is today synonymous with popular song.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a short poem or other set of words set to music or meant to be sung. 2 singing or vocal music (burst into song). 3 a musical composition suggestive of a song. 4 the musical cry of some birds. 5 a short poem in rhymed stanzas. 6 archaic poetry or verse. Phrases and idioms: for a song colloq. very cheaply. on song Brit. colloq. performing exceptionally well. song and dance colloq. a fuss or commotion. song cycle a set of musically linked songs on a romantic theme. Song of Songs (or of Solomon) a poetic Old Testament book traditionally attributed to Solomon. song sparrow a N. American sparrow, Melospiza melodia, with a characteristic musical song. song thrush a thrush, Turdus philomelos, of Europe and W. Asia, with a song partly mimicked from other birds. Derivatives: songless adj. Etymology: OE sang f. Gmc (as SING)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Song Song (?; 115), n. [AS. song, sang, fr. singan to sing; akin to D. zang, G. sang, Icel. s["o]ngr, Goeth. sagws. See Sing.] 1. That which is sung or uttered with musical modulations of the voice, whether of a human being or of a bird, insect, etc. ``That most ethereal of all sounds, the song of crickets.'' --Hawthorne. 2. A lyrical poem adapted to vocal music; a ballad. 3. More generally, any poetical strain; a poem. The bard that first adorned our native tongue Tuned to his British lyre this ancient song. --Dryden. 4. Poetical composition; poetry; verse. This subject for heroic song. --Milton. 5. An object of derision; a laughingstock. And now am I their song. yea, I am their byword. --Job xxx. 9. 6. A trifle. ``The soldier's pay is a song.'' --Silliman. Old song, a trifle; nothing of value. ``I do not intend to be thus put off with an old song.'' --Dr. H. More. Song bird (Zo["o]l.), any singing bird; one of the Oscines. Song sparrow (Zo["o]l.), a very common North American sparrow (Melospiza fasciata, or M. melodia) noted for the sweetness of its song in early spring. Its breast is covered with dusky brown streaks which form a blotch in the center. Song thrush (Zo["o]l.), a common European thrush (Turdus musicus), noted for its melodius song; -- called also mavis, throsite, and thrasher. Syn: Sonnet; ballad; canticle; carol; canzonet; ditty; hymn; descant; lay; strain; poesy; verse.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(songs) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A song is words sung to a tune. ...a voice singing a Spanish song. ...a love song. N-COUNT 2. Song is the art of singing. ...dance, music, mime and song. ...the history of American popular song. 3. A bird's song is the pleasant, musical sounds that it makes. It's been a long time since I heard a blackbird's song in the evening. N-COUNT 4. see also birdsong, song and dance, songbird, swan song 5. If someone bursts into song or breaks into song, they start singing. I feel as if I should break into song. PHRASE: V inflects

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(shir, shirah): Besides the great collection of sacred songs contained in the Psalter, as well as the lyric outbursts, marked by strong religious feeling, on great national occasions, it is natural to believe, and we have evidence to show, that the Hebrews possessed a large number of popular songs of a secular kind. So of Songs (which see) of itself proves this. Probably the very oldest song or fragment of song in the Old Testament is that "To the well" (Nu 21:17). W. R. Smith (Religions of the Semites, 167) regards this invocation of the waters to rise as in its origin hardly a mere poetic figure. He compares what Cazwini 1, 189, records of the well of Ilabistan: "When the water failed, a feast was held at its source with music and dancing, to induce it to flow again." If, however, the song had its origin in an early form of religious belief, it must have been secularized later.

But it is in the headings of the Psalms that we find the most numerous traces of the popular songs of the Hebrews. Here there are a number of words and phrases which are now believed to be the names or initial words of such lyrics. In the King James Version they are prefaced with the prep. "on," in the Revised Version (British and American) with "set to," i.e. "to the tune of." We give a list:

(1) Aijeleth Shahar the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) Aijeleth hash-shahar, 'ayyeleth ha-shachar. The title means (Revised Version, margin) "The hind of the morning," but whether the original song so named was a hunting song or a morning serenade it is useless to conjecture. See HIND OF THE MORNING.

(2) Al-taschith (the King James Version), Al-tashheth (Revised Version), 'al-tashcheth, i.e. "Destroy not," Psalms 57-59; 75, is apparently quoted in Isa 65:8, and in that case must refer to a vintage song.

(3) Jonah elem rehokim or Yonath'elem rechoqim (Ps 56), the Revised Version margin "The silent dove of them that are afar off," or--with a slightly different reading--"The dove of the distant terebinths."

(4) Machalath (Ps 53) and Machalath le`annoth (Ps 88). Machalath may mean "sickness," and be the first word of a song. It might mean, on the other hand, a minor mode or rhythm. It has also been held to designate a musical instrument.

(5) Muthlabben (Ps 9) has given rise to many conjectures. Literally, it may mean "Die for the son," or "Death of the son." An ancient tradition referred the words to Goliath (death at the hand of the son [?]), and they have been applied to the fate of Absalom. Such guesses need only be quoted to show their worthlessness.

(6) Lastly, we have Shoshannim = "Lilies" (Psalms 45; 69), Shushan `Edhuth = "The lily of testimony" (Ps 60); and Shoshannim `Edhuth = "Lilies, a testimony" (Ps 80), probably to be explained like the others.

The music to which these songs were sung is irretrievably lost, but it was, no doubt, very similar in character to that of the Arabs at the present day. While the music of the temple was probably much more elaborate, and of wider range, both in notes and expression of feeling, the popular song was almost certainly limited in compass to a very few notes repeated over and over in long recitations or ballads. This is characteristic of the performances of Arab minstrels of today. The melodies are plaintive, in spite of the majority of them being in major keys, owing to the 7th being flattened, as in genuine Scottish music. Arabic music, further, is marked by great variety and emphasis of rhythm, the various kinds of which have special names.

See SPIRITUAL SONGS.

James Millar

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Ballad, ditty, canticle, carol, canzonet, sonnet, lay. 2. Descant, melody, lay. 3. Lay, strain, poem, hymn, psalm, anthem. 4. Poetry, poesy, verse, numbers. 5. Trifle, small sum.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

He changed his song; he altered his account or evidence. It was bought for an old song, i.e. very cheap. His morning and his evening song do not agree; he tells a different story.

Moby Thesaurus

Brautlied, Christmas carol, English sonnet, Horatian ode, Italian sonnet, Kunstlied, Liebeslied, Petrarchan sonnet, Pindaric ode, Sapphic ode, Shakespearean sonnet, Volkslied, ado, air, alba, anacreontic, anthem, aria, art song, aubade, balada, ballad, ballade, ballata, barcarole, bel canto, blues, blues song, boat song, bother, bravura, bridal hymn, brindisi, bucolic, calypso, canso, canticle, canto, cantus, canzone, canzonet, canzonetta, carol, cavatina, chanson, chant, chantey, cheaply, choral singing, clerihew, coloratura, commotion, croon, croon song, crooning, cry, descant, dirge, dithyramb, ditty, drinking song, eclogue, elegy, epic, epigram, epithalamium, epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, evasion, flap, folk singing, folk song, for a song, fuss, georgic, ghazel, haiku, hum, humming, hymeneal, hymn, idyll, inexpensively, intonation, jingle, lay, lied, lilt, limerick, line, love song, love-lilt, lyric, lyricism, madrigal, matin, measure, melodia, melodic line, melody, minstrel song, minstrelsy, monody, musical thought, narrative poem, national anthem, note, number, nursery rhyme, ode, operatic singing, palinode, pastoral, pastoral elegy, pastorela, pastourelle, performance, piece, poem, poesy, poetry, prevarication, prothalamium, refrain, rhyme, rondeau, rondel, roundel, roundelay, satire, scat, scat singing, serena, serenade, serenata, sestina, singing, sloka, sol-fa, sol-fa exercise, solfeggio, solmization, solo, solo part, sonnet, sonnet sequence, soprano part, strain, tale, tanka, tenso, tenzone, the supreme fiction, theme song, threnody, to-do, tonic sol-fa, torch song, treble, triolet, troubadour poem, tune, verse, verselet, versicle, villanelle, virelay, vocal music, vocalization, war song, warbling, wedding song, yodel, yodeling