chorus
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: Christianity
entertainment
lifestyle
music
theater
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”); The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of choir, chore, and hora.
Inflected forms:
form: choruses
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: chorusses
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
plural
form: chori
pos: noun
tags: plural
rare
form: choruses
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: chorusses
pos: verb
tags: present
rare
singular
third-person
form: chorusing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: chorussing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
rare
form: chorused
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: chorused
pos: verb
tags: past
form: chorussed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
rare
form: chorussed
pos: verb
tags: past
rare
Senses:
gloss: A group of singers and dancers in a theatrical performance or religious festival who commented on the main performance in speech or song.
pos: noun
tags: historical
examples: [W]ee would that the voice and dialect of the propheteſſe Pythia, reſembling the ſpeech of a Chorus in a tragedie from a ſcaffold, ſhould pronounce her anſwers not in ſimple, plaine, and triviall termes, without any grace to ſet them out, but with Poeticall magnificence of high and ſtately verſes, diſguiſed as it were with metaphors and figurative phraſes, yea, and that which more is, with ſound of flute and hautboies: […]
gloss: A song performed by the singers of such a group.
pos: noun
tags: historical
examples: And the Apocalyps of Saint Iohn is the majeſtick image of a high and ſtately Tragedy, ſhutting up and intermingling her ſolemn Scenes and Acts with a ſevenfold Chorus of halleluja's and harping ſymphonies: […]
gloss: An actor who reads the prologue and epilogue of a play, and sometimes also acts as a commentator or narrator; also, a portion of a play read by this actor.
pos: noun
tags: UK
broadly
historical
examples: Enter Chorus. / Cut is the branch that might haue growne ful ſtraight, / And burned is Apolloes Laurel bough, / That ſometime grew within this learned man: […]
Ya're as good as a Chorus my lord.
Palinode. / Amo[rphus]. From ſpaniſh ſhrugs, french faces, ſmirks, irps, and all affected humours: / Chorvs. Good Mercvry defend vs.
Enter Time, the Chorus. [stage direction]
gloss: A group of singers performing together; a choir; specifically, such a group singing together in a musical, an opera, etc., as distinct from the soloists; an ensemble.
pos: noun
examples: The performance of the chorus was awe-inspiring and exhilarating.
They are shadowed by a robed chorus of Beckettian sages--Homer (Joseph Grimm), Hesiod (Gary Kelley), Herodotos (Daniel Parker) and Thucydides (Michael Rivkin)--given to Joseph Campbell-like pronouncements on the power of myth.
But the rise of multiracialism is not all Kumbaya choruses and “postracial” identity. The N.A.A.C.P. criticized the census change, fearing that since so few in the black community are of fully African descent, mass attrition to a mixed-race option could threaten political clout and Federal financing.
gloss: A group of people in a performance who recite together.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
gloss: An instance of singing by a group of people.
pos: noun
examples: But once out of sight of those fearful precincts, the psalm was forgotten, and again broke, loud, clear, and silvery, the joyous chorus.
gloss: A group of people, animals, or inanimate objects who make sounds together.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: a chorus of crickets    a chorus of whiners
More than just an appliance, the air conditioner is a memento mori. […] As summer proceeds, listen to the chorus of machines humming in the windows, outside the houses, atop the office buildings.
gloss: The noise or sound made by such a group.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: a chorus of shouts and catcalls
As she came to the last line [of a song], her soft low voice seemed to awaken a chorus of sprightly horns and trumpets, and certain other wind instruments peculiar to the music of that day.
At the end of a frantic first 45 minutes, there was still time for Charlie Adam to strike the bar from 20 yards before referee [Martin] Atkinson departed to a deafening chorus of jeering from Everton's fans.
gloss: A group of people who express a unanimous opinion.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: So far, more than a dozen EU countries have either enacted a windfall tax or said they’re planning to. […] On Monday, US President Joe Biden joined the chorus, accusing oil companies of “war profiteering” and threatening them with big new levies if they fail to bring down consumer prices.
Donald Trump’s top political staffers at Mar-a-Lago are pressing him to move forward with his planned 2024 presidential campaign announcement next week but a chorus of allies are suggesting delaying until after the Senate runoff in Georgia in December, according to sources familiar with the matter.
gloss: The opinion expressed by such a group.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: On Friday, 75 scholars and clinicians signed an open letter, joining a chorus of disagreement with Berenson by arguing that “establishing marijuana as a causal link to violence at the individual level is both theoretically and empirically problematic”.
gloss: A piece of music, especially one in a larger work such as an opera, written to be sung by a choir in parts (for example, by sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses).
pos: noun
gloss: A part of a song which is repeated between verses to emphasize the song's content; a refrain.
pos: noun
examples: The catchiest part of most songs is the chorus.
[T]he commodore, the lieutenant, and landlord, joined in the chorus, repeating this elegant ſtanza: […]
See the flowing bowl before us, / Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! / Strike the harp and join the chorus. / Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
gloss: The main part of a pop song played after the introduction.
pos: noun
gloss: A group of organ pipes or organ stops intended to be played simultaneously; a compound stop; also, the sound made by such pipes or stops.
pos: noun
gloss: A feature or setting in electronic music that makes one instrument sound like many.
pos: noun
tags: attributive
often
gloss: A simple, often repetitive, song intended to be sung in a group during informal worship.
pos: noun
gloss: The improvised solo section in a small group performance.
pos: noun
examples: Of additional interest is the riff in the second chorus, which was later copied by Joe Garland and recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra as "In the Mood," becoming the biggest hit of the Swing Era.
Jazz solos in the 1920s are much more about variety and discontinuity than unity and coherence. The explosive introduction, the instrutable and tender scat-clarinet dialogue, the spritely piano chorus, and the majestic trumpet chorus—contrast is far more important than unity.
gloss: To sing (a song), express (a sentiment), or recite or say (words) in chorus.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
Shortly afterwards, all England was engaged in chorussing his favourite ditty— […]
[…] I could not even affect to join in the stereotyped "Oh, thank you!" which was chorused around me.
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.
The Cottons chorused grateful acknowledgement.
From Peking to Berlin the rulers of the Communist world dutifully chorused delight at [Nikita] Khrushchev's coup.
Again the women chorussed their approval.
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.
Elsewhere, within the walls of other charity houses, orphans' voices chorused hymns or recitations from Scripture, […]
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!'
gloss: To express concurrence with (something said by another person); to echo.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: "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.
gloss: To provide (a song) with a chorus or refrain.
pos: verb
tags: rare
transitive
examples: Let ev'ry Song be Choruſt with his Name. / And Muſick pay her Tribute to his Fame.
gloss: To sing the chorus or refrain of a song.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
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.
gloss: To sing, express, or say in, or as if in, unison.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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— […]
Six State Commissioners of Education gloomily chorused about retrenchments, pay cuts and shut-down schools in Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington, Massachusetts and Maine.
The animals crowded round the van. "Good-bye, Boxer!" they chorused, "good-bye!"
Without an abatement agreement there would have been no chorusing from the government about the great success and triumph that Fontainebleau represented for Britain.
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.
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.
gloss: To echo in unison another person's words.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Then she shouted: "Viva our Lady of Grace," and the crowd chorused.
gloss: Of animals: to make cries or sounds together.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
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.
Related words: auroral chorus
choir
choral
chorea
choreographer
choreography
choreutic
chorine
chorister
Huntington's chorea
quire
Sydenham's chorea
Derived words: bird chorus
chorus frog
chorus girl
chorusless
choruslike
chorus line
chorusmaster
cyberchorus
cyclic chorus
dawn chorus
Greek chorus
in chorus
Nikon chorus
post-chorus
prechorus
semichorus
verse-chorus
choruser
out-chorus
Translations: