chorus
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɔːɹəs/
ipa: /ˈkɔɹəs/
ipa: /ˈkoːɹəs/
rhymes: -ɔːɹəs
ipa: /ˈkɔːɹaɪ/
ipa: /ˈkɔɹaɪ/
Forms: form: choruses
form: chorusses
form: chorusing
form: chorussing
form: chorused
form: chorused
form: chorussed
form: chorussed
Etymology: The noun is borrowed from Medieval Latin chorus (“church choir”), Latin chorus (“group of dancers and singers; dance”), from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “group of dancers and singers, choir, chorus; dance accompanied by song; round dance”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to encircle, enclose”) or *ǵʰoros. Doublet of choir, chore, and hora.
The plural form chori is from Latin chorī, from Ancient Greek χοροί (khoroí).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: In the middle of the little woody bay, or rather basin, which received the scanty waters of the stream, an armed sloop lay at anchor, and he heard the din of license and carousal on board,—the hasty oath—the hearty laugh—and the boisterous song, chorussed by a score of rough voices, which made the bay re-echo.
ref: 1826, Allan Cunningham, chapter V, in Paul Jones; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, →OCLC, page 125:
text: Shortly afterwards, all England was engaged in chorussing his favourite ditty— […]
ref: 1826, [Walter Scott], chapter XIV, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 362:
text: […] I could not even affect to join in the stereotyped "Oh, thank you!" which was chorused around me.
ref: 1893, Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Jabbering and Jam”, in Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 157:
text: But soon they streamed ashore, fresh-faced young sailormen in small and large parties directed by ship's officers and Russian embassy guides. They drove to London, to Salisbury Cathedral, to Windsor Castle, chorusing sea chanteys and waving at girls.
ref: 1953 June 22, “Great Britain: Two-way Scrutiny”, in Thomas Stanley Matthews, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC:
text: The Cottons chorused grateful acknowledgement.
ref: 1955, Evelyn E. Smith, “Weather Prediction”, in Isaac Asimov, Terry Carr, Martin H[arry] Greenberg, editors, 100 Great Fantasy Short Stories, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published 1984, →ISBN:
text: From Peking to Berlin the rulers of the Communist world dutifully chorused delight at [Nikita] Khrushchev's coup.
ref: 1957 December 15, “Satellites: The Quavering Chorus”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC:
text: Again the women chorussed their approval.
ref: 1981, Wole Soyinka, chapter XIII, in Aké: The Years of Childhood (The Vintage Library of Contemporary World Literature), Aventura Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage, published September 1983, →ISBN, page 194:
text: The evil spirit caught up with him, unwound his trunk that was like a python, wrapped it around Pig and carried him back in triumph to the cave. The devilish host chorused a paean of victory as they swarmed back.
ref: 1982–1984, Wu Cheng’en, “When the Heart Spirit Stays in the Home the Demons Submit; the Mother of Wood Helps Bring Monsters to the Truth”, in W[illiam] J[ohn] F[rancis] Jenner, transl., Journey to the West, volume III, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 178:
text: Elsewhere, within the walls of other charity houses, orphans' voices chorused hymns or recitations from Scripture, […]
ref: 1999, Simon Schama, “Amsterdam Anatomized”, in Rembrandt’s Eyes (A Borzoi Book), New York: N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, part 4 (The Prodigal), section i (The City in Five Senses), page 315:
text: I also remember a Children's Day celebration organised by our local academy where the little Westerners performed a piece called The Just War: […] They jumped right up and, while they were suspended in the air, drove their bayonets into an imaginary enemy's throat, chorusing 'Kill! kill! kill!'
ref: 2009, Dai Sijie, chapter 3, in Adriana Hunter, transl., Once on a Moonless Night (A Borzoi Book), 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 93:
synonyms: word: duet
english: of two people
translation: of two people
glosses: To sing (a song), express (a sentiment), or recite or say (words) in chorus.
examples: text: "Yes," said the king; "Come, Hop-Frog, lend us your assistance. Characters, my fine fellow; we stand in need of characters—all of us—ha! ha! ha!" and as this was seriously meant for a joke, his laugh was chorused by the seven.
ref: 1849 March 17, Edgar Allan Poe, “Hop-Frog”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe: […], volumes II (Poems and Miscellanies), New York, N.Y.: J. S. Redfield, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 458:
glosses: To express concurrence with (something said by another person); to echo.
examples: text: Let ev'ry Song be Choruſt with his Name. / And Muſick pay her Tribute to his Fame.
ref: 1701 January (indicated as 1700), [Daniel Defoe], “Part II”, in The True-Born Englishman. A Satyr, [London: s.n.], →OCLC, page 55:
glosses: To provide (a song) with a chorus or refrain.
examples: 1785, James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D, Wednesday, 8th September, 1773, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6018/pg6018-images.html
Malcolm sung an Erse song, the chorus of which was 'Hatyin foam foam eri', with words of his own. […] the boatmen and Mr M’Queen chorused, and all went well.
glosses: To sing the chorus or refrain of a song.
examples: text: Then they all chorus'd upon me—Such a character as Miſs Harlowe's! cry'd one—A lady of ſo much generoſity and good ſenſe! another— […]
ref: 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXX. Mr. Lovelace, to John Belford, Esq.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VI, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC, page 99:
text: Six State Commissioners of Education gloomily chorused about retrenchments, pay cuts and shut-down schools in Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington, Massachusetts and Maine.
ref: 1933 August 14, “No Slice for Teachers”, in Time:
text: The animals crowded round the van. "Good-bye, Boxer!" they chorused, "good-bye!"
ref: 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter IX, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished as Animal Farm (eBook no. 0100011h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, March 2008:
text: Without an abatement agreement there would have been no chorusing from the government about the great success and triumph that Fontainebleau represented for Britain.
ref: 1985 July 1, George Robertson, Hansard, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2019:
text: Others in the crowded bus, having nothing better to do, took up the cry, and soon many of the higglers were chorusing about the ugliness of the fisherman playing dominoes.
ref: 1986, Anthony Winkler, chapter 2, in The Painted Canoe, University of Chicago Press, page 20:
text: When I asked that question in the House recently, a number of Tel Aviv's little echoes in the Chamber chorused that Israel was a democracy.
ref: 1998 November 25, George Galloway, Hansard:
glosses: To sing, express, or say in, or as if in, unison.
examples: text: Then she shouted: "Viva our Lady of Grace," and the crowd chorused.
ref: 1947 October 20, “Miracle Man”, in Time:
glosses: To echo in unison another person's words.
examples: text: Then the cocks began to crow in the town beneath the hill, and the birds chorused in the fields, and a pale yellow poppy colored the east.
ref: 1987, Tanith Lee, Night's Sorceries, New York: Daw Books, page 122:
text: 1998, Italo Calvino, The Path to the Spiders' Nests, translated by Archibald Colquhoun, revised by Martin McLaughlin, Hopewell, NJ: The Ecco Press, 1998, Chapter Two, p. 51,
The hens are now sleeping in rows on their perches in the coops, and the frogs are out of the water and chorusing away along the bed of the whole torrent, from source to mouth.
glosses: Of animals: to make cries or sounds together.
Derived terms: choruser
out-chorus