different between chorus vs ostinato

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek ????? (khorós). Doublet of choir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k????s/
• Rhymes: -????s

Noun

chorus (plural choruses or chorusses or chori)

1. A group of singers and dancers in the religious festivals of ancient Greece.
2. A group of people in a play or performance who recite together.
3. A group of singers; singing group who perform together.

4. A repeated part of a song.

   Synonym: refrain

5. (jazz) The improvised solo section in a small group performance.
   • 2002, Thomas E. Larson, History and Tradition of Jazz, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, [1]

     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.

   • 2014, Thomas Brothers, Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., [2]

     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—constrast is far more important than unity.

6. A setting or feature in electronic music that makes one voice sound like many.
7. (figuratively) A group of people or animals who make sounds together

8. The noise made by such a group.
9. (theater) An actor who reads the opening and closing lines of a play.

Translations

Verb

chorus (third-person singular simple present choruses, present participle chorusing or chorussing, simple past and past participle chorused or chorussed)

1. (transitive) To sing or recite in chorus.
   • 1826, Allan Cunningham, Paul Jones, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, Vol. II, Chapter V, p. 125, [4]

     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.

   • 1953, "Two-Way Scrutiny" in Time, 22 June, 1953, [5]

     […] 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.

   • 1993, Wu Cheng'en, Journey to the West, translated by W. J. F. Jenner, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, Chapter 75,

     The devilish host chorused a paean of victory as they swarmed back.

   • 1999, Simon Schama, Rembrandt's Eyes, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Part Four, Chapter Seven, part i, p. 315,

     Elsewhere, within the walls of other charity houses, orphans' voices chorused hymns or recitations from Scripture […]

2. (transitive) To say in unison; to express in unison.
   • 1945, George Orwell, Animal Farm, Chapter IX, [6]

     The animals crowded round the van. "Good-bye, Boxer!" they chorused, "good-bye!"

   • 1955, Evelyn E. Smith, "Weather Prediction" in Isaac Asimov, Terry Carr and Martin H. Greenberg (eds.), 100 Great Fantasy Short Stories, New York: Avon Books, 1984,

     The Cottons chorused grateful acknowledgement.

   • 1957, "The Quavering Chorus" in Time, 15 December, 1957, [7]

     From Peking to Berlin the rulers of the Communist world dutifully chorused delight at Khrushchev's coup.

   • 1981, Wole Soyinka, Aké: The Years of Childhood, Vintage, 1983, Chapter XIII, p. 194,

     Again the women chorussed their approval.

   • 1998, George Galloway, Hansard, 25 November, 1998, [8]

     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.

   • 2007, Dai Sijie, Once on a Moonless Night, translated by Adriana Hunter, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, Chapter 3,

     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!'

3. (transitive) To echo (a particular sentiment).
   • 1849, Edgar Allan Poe, "Hop-Frog" [9]

     "Yes," said the King; "Come 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.

4. (intransitive) To sing the chorus (of a song).
   • 1785, James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D, Wednesday, 8th September, 1773, [10]

     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.

5. (intransitive) To speak as if in chorus (about something).
   • 1933, "No Slice for Teachers" in Time, 14 August, 1933, [11]

     Six State Commissioners of Education gloomily chorused about retrenchments, pay cuts and shut-down schools in Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington, Massachusetts and Maine.

   • 1985, George Robertson, Hansard, 1 July, 1985, [12]

     Without an abatement agreement there would have been no chorusing from the government about the great success and triumph that Fontainebleau represented for Britain.

   • 1986, Anthony Winkler, The Painted Canoe, University of Chicago Press, Chapter 2, p. 20, [13]

     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.

6. (intransitive) To echo in unison another person's words.
   • 1947, "Miracle Man" in Time, 20 October, 1947, [14]

     Then she shouted: "Viva our Lady of Grace," and the crowd chorused.

7. (intransitive) (of animals) To make their cry together.
   • 1987, Tanith Lee, Night's Sorceries, New York: Daw Books, p. 122,

     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.

Synonyms

• (say in unison): duet

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• chorus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Chorus in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• “chorus”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• urochs

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin chorus, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ????? (khorós). Doublet of chœur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?.?ys/

Noun

chorus m (uncountable)

1. chorus

Usage notes

Used almost exclusively in the phrase faire chorus.

Derived terms

• faire chorus

References

• “chorus” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ????? (khorós), a group of actors who recite and sing together.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?k?o.rus/, [?k????s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ko.rus/, [?k???us]

Noun

chorus m (genitive chor?); second declension

1. chorus (all forms)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Descendants

References

• chorus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• chorus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• chorus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• chorus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[15], London: Macmillan and Co.
• chorus in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia?^[16]
• chorus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• chorus in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Etymology

From English chorus. Doublet of coro.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?k?.?us/

Noun

chorus m (plural chorus)

1. (music) chorus (effect produced by mixing a signal with delayed and modulated copies of itself)

English

Etymology

From Italian ostinato (“stubborn”). Doublet of obstinate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st??n?to?/

Noun

ostinato (plural ostinatos or ostinati)

1. (music) A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment.

Translations

References

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ostinato.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ostin?to/, [?o?s?t?i?n?t?o?]
• Rhymes: -?to
• Syllabification: os?ti?na?to

Noun

ostinato

1. (music) ostinato

Declension

Anagrams

• soitanto, taistoon

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin obstin?tus.

Adjective

ostinato (feminine ostinata, masculine plural ostinati, feminine plural ostinate)

1. stubborn, obstinate

Related terms

Noun

ostinato m (plural ostinati, feminine ostinata)

1. a stubborn or obstinate person

Etymology 2

Verb

ostinato m (feminine singular ostinata, masculine plural ostinati, feminine plural ostinate)

1. past participle of ostinarsi

Anagrams

• asintoto

Further reading

• ostinato in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana