consort
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: kŏn'sôt
ipa: /ˈkɒnsɔːt/
enpr: kän'sôrt
ipa: /ˈkɑnsɔɹt/
enpr: kənsôt'
ipa: /kənˈsɔːt/
enpr: kənsôrt'
ipa: /kənˈsɔɹt/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
Forms: form: consorts
Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French, ultimately from Latin cōnsors. As “companion or partner”, via Middle English consorte.
Senses: examples: text: Wise, just, moderate, admirably pure of life, the friend of science, of freedom, of peace and all peaceful arts, the Consort of the Queen passes from our troubled sphere to that serene one where justice and peace reign eternal.
ref: 1862 January, [William Makepeace Thackeray], “Roundabout Papers.—No. XVIII. On Letts’s Diary.”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume V, number 25, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], page 128:
glosses: The spouse of a monarch.
examples: text: In the deep and retired channels of Tierra del Fuego, the snow-white gander, invariably accompanied by his darker consort, and standing close by each other on some distant rocky point, is a common feature in the landscape.
ref: 1839, Charles Darwin, chapter XII, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 257:
glosses: A husband, wife, companion or partner.
examples: text: Pygmalion loathing their laſcivious Life, / Abhorr’d all Womankind, but moſt a Wife: / So ſingle choſe to live, and ſhunn’d to wed, / Well pleas’d to want a Conſort of his Bed.
ref: 1717, John Dryden, “Book X. [The Story of Pygmalion, and the Statue.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 343:
glosses: An informal, usually well-publicized sexual companion of a monarch, aristocrat, celebrity, etc.
glosses: A ship accompanying another.
examples: text: That which gives diſtaſt to the Ear in it is a German by-word: and ſuch kind of things Lʳ. according to the humor of thoſe times, purſues with ſome fondneſs: take it ſingly, and it carries an air of levity, I confeſs; but, in conſort with the reſt, you ſee, has a meaning quite different from what this Author would inſinuate.
ref: 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Sheldonian] Theater, →OCLC, page 22:
glosses: Association or partnership.
examples: text: On thother ſide in one conſort there ſate, / Cruell Reuenge, and rancorous Deſpight, / Diſloyall Treaſon, and hart-burning Hate, […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 22, page 277:
text: Lord, place me in thy consort.
ref: 1633, George Herbert, Employment:
glosses: A group or company, especially of musicians playing the same type of instrument.
examples: text: Sith then, it ſeemeth each thing to his powre / Doth vs inuite to make a ſad conſort; / Come let vs ioyne our mournfull ſong with theirs.
ref: 1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “Astrophel. A Pastoral Elegie vpon the Death of the Most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney.”, in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature H2, verso:
text: O may we ſoon again renew that Song, / And keep in tune with Heav’n, till God ere long / To his celeſtial conſort us unite, / To live with him, and ſing in endles morn of light.
ref: 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “At a Solemn Musick”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC, page 23:
glosses: Harmony of sounds; concert, as of musical instruments.
Synonyms: sense: husband, wife, companion, partner
word: spouse
word: companion
word: escort
sense: association, partnership
word: association
sense: association, partnership
word: partnership
sense: group of musicians
word: band
sense: group of musicians
word: group
Derived terms: broken consort
consortism
consortship