| 释义 |
▪ I. song, n.|sɒŋ|
Forms: α. 1 sanc, 1– (latterly Sc. and north. dial.) sang (4 zang), 4–5 sange. β. 1– song, 3–6 songe (4 zonge), 6–7 songue.
[Common Teut.: OE. sang, sǫng, = OFris. sang, song (WFris. sang, EFris. song, NFris. sōng), MDu. sanc, zanc, etc. (Du. zang), OS. (MLG., LG.) sang, OHG. sanc, sang (G. sang), ON. sǫngr, sǫngv- (Icel. söngur, Norw. song, Sw. sång, Da. sang), Goth. saggws:—OTeut. sangwaz, f. the pret. stem of singwan sing v.1]
1. The act or art of singing; the result or effect of this, vocal music; that which is sung (in general or collective sense); occas., poetry.
See also plain-song.
α Beowulf 1063 Þær wæs sang & sweᵹ samod ætgædere fore Healfdenes hildewisan. c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxiv. §1 Þa he þa þis leoð asungen hæfde, þa forlet he þone sang. a1300Cursor M. 1030 Þar sune es soft and suet sang. 1340Ayenb. 60 Þe dyeules noriches þet..doþ ham slepe ine hare zenne be hare uayre zang. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 18127 Thei halpe hit in with mochel sang. c1450Holland Howlat 943 Thar with dame Natur has to the hevin..Ascendit sone..with solace and sang. 1786Burns Twa Dogs 27 After some dog in Highland sang.
βa900Cynewulf Crist 1649 Ðær is engla song, eadiᵹra blis. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xv. 25 Miððy..[he] ᵹeneolecde to huse, ᵹeherde huislung & þæt song. c1205Lay. 30617 Þer wes blisse & muche song. c1275Moral Ode 347 in O.E. Misc., Þer is alre Murehþe mest myd englene songe. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4025 Of song & of mynstrecye Alle men gaf hym þe maystrie. c1440Promp. Parv. 464/2 Songe, cantus. Ibid., Songe, of a manne a-lone, monodia. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 b, They shall..here theyr songe & melody. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 214 b, And in the toppe was mervailous swete armony both of song and instrument. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. I. 122/2 He..went about in Mercia to teach song. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 29 Smit with the love of sacred song. Ibid. ix. 25 This Subject for Heroic Song Pleas'd me. 1791Cowper Judgm. Poets 17 To poets of renown in song, The nymphs referr'd the cause. 1808Scott Marm. i. Introd. 271 The mightiest chiefs of British song Scorn'd not such legends to prolong. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. I. 30 As eloquence exists before syntax, and song before prosody. 1878Masque Poets 11 Sing! Sing of what? The world is full of song!
2. a. A metrical composition adapted for singing, esp. one in rime and having a regular verse-form; occas., a poem.
αc897K. ælfred tr. Gregory's Past. C. 409 Ða singað ðone sang ðe nan mon elles singan ne mæᵹ. 971Blickl. Hom. 45 Þa þe on heofenum syndon, hi þingiaþ for þa þe þyssum sange fylᵹeaþ. a1200Vices & Virtues 15 Ða aingles of heuene..sunge ðane derewurðe sang, Gloria in exselsis deo. a1300Cursor M. 23 Sanges sere of selcuth rime, Inglis, frankys, and latine. c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 250 Herdtow euere slyk a sang er now? c1400Destr. Troy 3474 Why fare ye thus now, With..sanges of myrthe. c1440York Myst. xx. 43 Of sorowes sere schal be my sang. 1533Gau Richt Vay 16 Thay that prouokis ony ewil desir..with sangis or wordis or foul takine. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 74 To sing sangs of joy and blythnes. 17..Ramsay Address to Town Council 6 Sweet Edie's funeral-sang. 1785Burns 1st Ep. to J. Lapraik iii, There was ae sang, amang the rest, Aboon them a' it pleas'd me best.
βc825Vesp. Psalter xxxii. 3 Singað him song neowne. c1175Lamb. Hom. 63 Godes songes beoð alle gode; to þere saule heo senden fode. c1205Lay. 7005 He cuðen al þeos songes, & þat gleo of ilcche londe. a1250Owl & Night. 722 Vor-þi me singþ in holi chirche, An clerkes ginneþ songes wirche. c1320Sir Tristr. 2654 Of ysonde he made a song. 1340Ayenb. 68 Þe holi gost..makeþ his ychosene zinge ine hare herten þe zuete zonges of heuene. c1425Cast. Persev. 2336 in Macro Plays 147, iij mens songys to syngyn lowde. 1470–85Malory Arthur x. xxxi. 464 The harper had songe his songe to the ende. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 238 b, Dyverse Songes beesydes accustomed in churches doe instructe us of the benefyte of Chryst. 1598Barnfield Pecunia iii, And add some Musique to a merry Songue. 1649F. Roberts Clavis Bibl. 384 Songs being choice succinct pieces gratefull to the eare, helpfull to the memory and delightful to the heart. 1667Milton P.L. i. 13 My adventrous Song. Ibid. iii. 413 Thy Name Shall be the copious matter of my Song. 1718Free-thinker No. 69. 100 Much of the same Nature with our Song of ‘Britons strike Home’ &c. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. x. I. 244 On the faith of ancient songs, the uncertain..memorials of barbarians. 1820Shelley To a Skylark 90 Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. 1878E. J. Trelawny Records Shelley, etc. ix. 109 Inspiring it towards songs and other poetry.
b. the Song of Solomon, Song of Songs, one of the books of the Old Testament.
1382Wyclif Song Sol. (heading), Heer gynneth the booc that is clepid Songus [v.r. Song] of Songis. 1568Bishop's Bible (headline), The songue of Solomon. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 7 He nameth..the book of Psalmes,..and the Song of Salomon. 1611Bible Song Sol. i. 1 The song of songs, which is Solomons. Ibid. (heading), Solomons song. 1781Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry III. xxxvi. 317 There were numerous versions of Solomon's Song before the year 1600. 1803Good (title), Song of Songs: or, Sacred Idyls. Translated from The Original Hebrew. 1856S. Davidson Bibl. Criticism ii. 19 The song of Deborah exhibits such [dialectal] appearances. So does the Song of Solomon.
c. Naut. (See quot.)
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 638 Song, the call of soundings by the leadsman in the channels.
d. Mus. A musical setting or composition adapted for singing or suggestive of a song. song without words, an instrumental composition in the style of a song (after Mendelssohn's title ‘Lieder ohne Worte’); also transf.
1871S. Smiles Character viii. 219 Cheerfulness..gives harmony of soul, and is a perpetual song without words. 1875Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms s.v., The second subject of a sonata is sometimes called the ‘Song’. 1883Grove's Dict. Mus. III. 368/1 The Song, as we know it in his [Schubert's] hands,..set to no simple Volkslieder, but to long complex poems,..—such songs were his and his alone. 1883R. Prentice Musician ii. 95 The second movement [of a Beethoven sonata] is a veritable Song without Words. 1938Oxf. Compan. Mus. 885/1 Song without words, a term introduced by Mendelssohn to cover a type of one-movement pianoforte solo, throughout which a well-marked song-like melody progresses, with an accompaniment. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XI. 902/1 She [sc. Fanny Mendelssohn] had herself written some of the Songs Without Words attributed to her brother.
e. transf. A sound as of singing.
1822Shelley Triumph Life 463 That falling stream's Lethean song. 1877Daily News 3 Nov. 6 New troops without a military history, who have never heard the song of an enemy's bullets. 1895J. C. Snaith Mistr. Marvin xii, The song of metal filled the room.
3. The musical utterance of certain birds.
In OE. also used of the cry of the sea-gull and eagle.
a1000Boeth. Metr. xiii. 50 Fuᵹelas..stunað eal geador welwinsum sanc. c1200Ormin 7931 Wop wass uss bitacnedd wel Þurrh cullfre & turrtle baþe; Forr þeȝȝre sang iss lic wiþþ wop. a1250Owl & Night. 221 Þu miht mid þine songe afere Alle þat hereþ þine ibere. c1386Chaucer Manciple's T. 201 To the crowe he stert,..And made him blak, and raft him al his song. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop iv. iv, The goddes..haue gyuen..to the nyghtyngale fayr & playsaunt songe. 1551T. Wilson Logike (1580) 80 Self willed folke..vse ofte the Cuckowes song. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 13 No bird, but did her shrill notes sweetly sing; No song but did containe a louely dit. 1667Milton P.L. v. 41 The night-warbling Bird, that now awake Tunes sweetest his love-labor'd song. 1725Fam. Dict. s.v. Canary-Bird, To make a right choice of this Bird, and to know when he has a good Song. 1773Phil. Trans. LXIII. 290 What is called the song of the Canary bird. 1816Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire i. (1818) 31 A very small warbler, the only one that appeared to have any song. 1877Jefferies Gamekeeper at H. vii. (1890) 169 All the birds whose song makes them valuable.
4. a. In various transf. or fig. uses.
The sense ‘a subject or theme of song’ occurs in several passages of the Wycliffite (see quot. 1382) and later versions of the Bible.
Beowulf 787 Þara þe..ᵹehyrdon gryreleoð galan..siᵹe⁓leasne sang. Ibid. 2447. 1382 Wyclif Job xxx. 9 Now forsothe I am turned in to the song of hem. ― Lam. iii. 14. 14.. Sir Beues (M.) 1232 For sone thy songe shall be: welawey! 1436Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 154 At the sowth-west corner Off gonnes he had a song; That anon he left that place. c1440Jacob's Well 155 Þe feend makyth his men to synge þe song of helle, þat is ‘allas & welle⁓away’. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark vii. 52 The foresayed songe was songen in vaine to the deafe Phariseis. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 325 Sing this song to others. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 509 Out on ye, Owles, nothing but Songs of Death. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 76 The ordinarie burthen of their song is, that all the world is naught. 1653Binning Serm. (1845) 597 Many listen to the Song of Justification, but they will not abide to hear out all the Song. 1707Lockhart Papers (1817) I. 223 He returned it to the clerk..with this despising and contemning remark, ‘Now there's ane end of ane old song’. 1872A. De Vere Legends St. Patrick 124 Shall I lengthen out my days Toothless,..Some losel's song?
b. In phrases denoting continuance or change in statements, attitude, etc.
1390Gower Conf. I. 260 Now schalt thou singe an other song. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 393 b, It is the self same song, that hath now ben songen many Yeres. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 97 It's the same old Song of Stark Love and Kindness, which they have pip'd to each other these many Years. 1786Burns Earnest Cry & Prayer xv, She'll teach you, wi' a reekan whittle, Anither sang. 1796Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3) s.v., He changed his song; he altered his account or evidence. 1822Scott Nigel ii, Let me catch ye in Barford's Park,..I could gar some of ye sing another sang.
c. A fuss or outcry about something.
1843Cracks about Kirk II. 9 Thae convocation chiels that are makin' sic a sang aboot their sufferings. 1863Mrs. J. H. Riddell World in Church II. 157 She had foreborne likewise and no one made a song about it.
d. a song in one's heart, a feeling of joy or pleasure.
1930L. Hart With a Song in my Heart 4 With a song in my heart;—I behold your adorable face. 1946Hansard Commons 9 Apr. 1807, I will find, and find with a song in my heart, whatever money is necessary to finance useful and practical proposals for developing these areas. 1978Times 9 Jan. 13/1 Does the lending rate come down? Then every conservative owner-occupier has a song in his heart.
e. on (full) song, in good form, performing well. colloq.
1967Autocar 27 Dec. 10/1 The close and even spacing of the ratios..make it easy to keep the engine ‘on full song’ during hard driving. 1971Daily Tel. 21 Aug. 16/1 As the table reveals, most of the leading unit trust managers have at least one fund that is ‘on song’. 1974Observer 3 Feb. 24/5 Really on song since beating Manchester City in the Cup, Forest won 5–1. 1981Radio Times 11 Apr. 23/2 If you are on song nothing will break your concentration.
5. Used to denote a very small or trifling sum, amount, or value, or a thing of little worth or importance. Freq. an old (also a mere) song.
a. In the phr. for a(n old) song, for a mere trifle, for little or nothing.
(a)1601Shakes. All's Well iii. ii. 9, I know a man that had this tricke of melancholy hold a goodly Mannor for a song. a1639W. Whately Prototypes ii. xxvi. (1640) 25 To have so little esteem of the outward means of salvation, as to part with them for a song as we say. 1707Reflex. upon Ridicule 262 He retrenches the Number of his Servants or their Wages, and would have them serve, as they say, for a Song. 1751H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 395 The whole-length Vandykes went for a song! 1808Pike Sources Mississ. i. App. 10 You will perceive that we have obtained about 100000 acres for a song. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. xvii, I assure you, the things were going for a song. 1890Jessopp Trials Co. Parson iv. 173 A brief report was published, and may be purchased now for a song.
(b)1650H. More Observ. in Enthus. Tri. (1656) 78 Truth is not to be had of God Almighty for an old Song. 1658–9Burton's Diary (1828) III. 239 Haply he compounded for an old song. 1705Phil. Trans. XXIV. 1997 An old Book might be bought for an old Song, (as we say). 1796Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), It was bought for an old song, i.e. very cheap. 1824Byron Juan xvi. lix, The cost would be a trifle—an ‘old song’, Set to some thousands. 1889T. A. Trollope What I remember III. 32 They were acquired ‘for an old song’.
b. In other uses.
1798W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) I. 53 Oh, fly, Sir! or your life's not worth a song! 1854Marion Harland Alone xxvi, Some care, some responsibility—that is a mere song, though. 1879Hesba Stretton Needle's Eye II. 208 It was a pretty place once, but now it's hardly worth an old song.
6. song and dance.
a. A form of entertainment (spec. a vaudeville act) consisting of singing and dancing. Freq. attrib. orig. U.S.
[1628F. Drake World Encompassed 76 They yet continued their song and dance a reasonable time.] 1872S. Hale Let. 16 Jan. (1918) iii. 78 He did a ‘Song and Dance’, two, in fact. 1872Chicago Tribune 13 Oct. 5/6 First week of the distinguished song and dance artists. 1895N.Y. Dramatic News 23 Nov. 13/3 The first double song and dance team was comprised of Wash Norton and Ben Cotton. 1940Chatelaine Apr. 36/2, I practiced my song-and-dance act for weeks. 1959R. Longrigg Wrong Number iv. 58 So up she pops from hell or wherever, just the time for a bit of song and dance. 1968Radio Times 28 Nov. 53/1 The song-and-dance patter comedian. 1977Time Out 17–23 June 47/2 Pleasant Nilsson-like song 'n' dance numbers.
b. fig. A rigmarole, an elaborately contrived story or entreaty, a fuss or outcry. Also attrib. colloq. (orig. U.S. slang). Cf. sense 4 c.
1895E. W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 6 Den, 'is whiskers gives me a song an' dance. 1900B. Matthews Confident To-Morrow 9 And it ain't a song-and-dance I'm giving you either. 1913Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 292, I don't see how this song and dance helps us any. 1922S. Lewis Babbitt xxxii. 375 George, what's this I hear about some song and dance you gave Colonel Snow about not wanting to join the G.C.L.? 1949Time 5 Sept. 2/3 Labor Leader Preble..was not impressed by ‘the song and dance about [Stefan's] mother and sister being persecuted and murdered’. 1958‘E. Dundy’ Dud Avocado iii. vi. 266 If only he hadn't felt obliged to make such a song and dance about it. 1967‘S. Woods’ And Shame Devil 118 ‘'Appen tha means well,’ he said, his speech suddenly broadened almost out of all recognition, ‘and 'appen tha's joost making a song and dance.’ 1980J. Ditton Copley's Hunch ii. ii. 132 The Prime Minister wants to make a song and dance about it.
7. attrib. and Comb.
a. Simple attrib., as songcraft [cf. OE. sang-, songcræft], song-feast, etc.
1855Longfellow Hiaw. Introd. 109 A half-effaced inscription, Written with little skill of *song-craft. 1880W. Watson Prince's Quest (1892) 60 Seeing his charmed songcraft of no might Him to ensnare.
1763J. Brown Poetry & Music iv. 36 While these..Savages continue in their present unlettered State.., no material Improvements in their *Song-Feasts can arise.
1881Blackw. Mag. April 517 The bleak solitudes of the *Song⁓land on the Border.
1944C. Day Lewis Poetry for You vi. 61 The chief thing which poets took over from the *song-lyric and preserved in the new lyrical poetry was..‘singleness of mind’.
1884Harper's Mag. March 537/2 Two pieces of *song-music.
1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 429/1 Audible sound, which may possess the distinctions of *song-notes (musical sounds).
1845Browning Lett. (1899) I. 17 These scenes and *song-scraps are such mere escapes of my inner power.
1947A. Einstein Music in Romantic Era xiv. 187 With Op. 24, the Heine *song-sequence, he [sc. Schumann] began to write lieder.
1930P. Geddes et al. (title) *Song-sheet and welcomes. 1967A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in England i. 29 The countless Sorrowful Lamentations of hanged men did not become anchored in tradition..perhaps because the song-sheets bearing these effusions are of late appearance.
1876G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 176 So tiny a trickle of *song-strain.
1845W. Stevenson Church Scotl. Pulpit I. 84 It is only from the full..heart that a *song-stream of devotion can freely flow.
1884Jefferies Life of Fields 60 The *song-talk of the finches rises and sinks like the tinkle of a waterfall.
1809E. Cutler Diary 28 Aug. in J. P. Cutler Life & Times E. Cutler (1890) v. 98 Very soon a man began to sing a hymn in a familiar *song-tune. 1824Mrs. Cameron Marten & his Scholars viii. 49 John..began presently to whistle a song-tune. 1967A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in England iii. 139 As feudal society gives way to capitalism..recitative melodies are replaced by song-tunes.
1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 273/1 That true *song-warble which we get in the stornelli and rispetti of the Italian peasants.
b. Objective, as song-composition, with agent-nouns, as song-composer, song-enditer, song-maker, song-singer, song-wright, song-writer, or with vbl. ns. and ppl. adjs., as song-singing, song-writing.
1947A. Einstein Music in Romantic Era xiv. 184 There were no Italian *song-composers. Ibid. 191 The procession of musicians who contributed to Romantic *song-composition.
1713Rowe Jane Shore Prol., Those venerable ancient *Song-Enditers Soar'd many a Pitch above our modern Writers.
1787Burns Let. to W. Nicol 1 June, It's true, she's as poor 's a *sang-maker. 1892E. Reeves Homeward Bound 10 The rich..harmonies of later songmakers.
1733Weekly Reg. 8 Dec., Clerks of kitchens, *song-singers, horse-racers, valets-de-chambre.
1743Francis tr. Horace, Odes iii. x. 18 Thy Husband, who gives up his Heart for a Ditty To a *Song-singing Wench. 1839D. Black Hist. Brechin vii. 157 Zealous song-singing ladies. 1848W. Allingham Diary 26 Sept. (1907) ii. 43 Dine at Peter Kelly's,..much song-singing afterwards. 1888R. Buchanan Heir of Linne ii, Peasants and fishermen enjoyed his gifts of conversation and song-singing.
1892Athenæum 23 July 124/3 He places Herrick above Shakspeare as a *song⁓wright.
1821Mrs. Hemans in H. F. Chorley Mem. (1837) I. 83 This being my first appearance before the public as a *song-writer. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 273/1 His songs illustrate an infirmity which even the Scottish song-writers share with the English.
1772J. Aikin (title) Essays on *song-writing. 1809Belfast Monthly Mag. Mar. 164/2, I promise..method in my handling the theory and practice of song⁓writing. 1810J. Aikin (title), Essays on Song-Writing. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 273 Here, indeed, is the crowning difficulty of song-writing. 1947A. Einstein Music in Romantic Era iv. 35 The song-writing Berlin purists.
c. Miscellaneous, as song-fraught, song-like, song-rapt, song-timed, song-tuned, song-wild, song-worthy adjs.
1855Bailey Mystic 32 *Song-fraught wavelets lipped with light.
1861F. W. Faber Hymn, Nativ. our Lady i, *Songlike breezes ever blowing.
1885W. B. Yeats in Dublin Univ. Rev. July 137 A wandering *song-rapt bird.
c1873J. Addis Eliz. Echoes (1879) 94 Circled with Mænads' *song-timed, dance-timed bounds.
1859Ld. Lytton Wanderer (ed. 2) 205 Take from the wall now, my *song-tuned Lyre.
1937Blunden Elegy 15 The flight of one small *song-wild lark Finds heaven.
1855Patmore Angel in Ho. ii. i. Prel. i, More *Song-worthy and heroic things Than..war.
8. Special combs.: song-ballet, (a) U.S. dial., a ballad; (b) a theatrical work combining songs and ballet; song-box, the syrinx of a bird; song-cycle [cf. G. liederzyklus], a series of songs intended to form one musical entity, and having words dealing with related subjects; song-flight (a) flight of a characteristic pattern made by a bird as it sings, in a territorial display; song-form Mus., a form used in the composition of songs; spec. [tr. G. liedform] the form of a simple melody with simple accompaniment, or that of a work in three sections of which the third is a repetition of the first; song-fowl poet. = song-bird 1; song-grosbeak, one or other species of the American genus Zamelodia; song-hit colloq., a song which is a popular success; song-motet, a simple type of motet; song-muscle (see quot.); song-perch, a place where a bird perches to sing, so as to establish its territory; song period, the part of the year during which the birds of a species sing; song-plugger orig. U.S., a person employed to popularize songs, esp. by performing them repeatedly; hence song-plugging vbl. n., song-plug v. trans., song-plugged ppl. a.; song-post = song-perch above; song stylist, a singer admired for his or her style; song-tide, time of divine service; song-voice, the voice as used in the act of singing.
1915Dialect Notes IV. 190 *Song-ballet, n., a song or ballad. 1938Sun (Baltimore) 15 June 6/7 Visitors will join the mountaineers to sing their ‘song ballets’. 1962Auden Dyer's Hand (1963) 484 We have translated..Brecht's text for the song-ballet Die sieben Todsünden with music by Kurt Weill.
1899J. A. Thomson Sci. Life 187 The bird's song is nothing to the morphologist, except in so far as the anatomy of the syrinx or *song-box is concerned.
1899Westm. Gaz. 3 May 3/3 Two *song-cycles made up his programme yesterday. 1942E. Blom Music in England x. 168 Arthur Somervell's settings of poems from Tennyson's ‘Maud’, which have remained among the world's few great song-cycles. 1978Listener 30 Mar. 412/4 A mature song-cycle by Dallapiccola.
1936Nicholson & Koch Songs of Wild Birds 9 *Song-flight is an extra means of making the singer temporarily as conspicuous as possible. 1961A. J. Berger Bird Study vi. 186 Song, song flights, and other special displays serve an orientation function: they attract a female to the male's territory or to a nest site.
1884R. Prentice Musician: Grade 3 4 The simplest *song-form is constructed on two or three sentences only. 1902H. C. Banister Mus. Anal. i. 2 There is a term now in vogue to designate the simplest of all plans or forms: ‘Song-Form’ or ‘Aria-Form’. 1946R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (1949) v. 109 The blues are essentially a song form. 1954Grove's Dict. Mus. (ed. 5) VII. 962/2 The term ‘song form,’ derived from the German, has unfortunately been used by different writers with different significations. The vagueness which results and the fact that the term is not happily chosen gives rise to doubts whether it had not better be entirely abandoned.
1877G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 71 Not that the sweet-fowl, *song-fowl, needs no rest.
1839Audubon Syn. Birds N. Amer. 132 Coccoborus, *Song-Grosbeak. Coccoborus cæruleus, Blue Song-Grosbeak. 1884Coues N. Amer. Birds 389 Zamelodia ludoviciana, Rose-breasted Song Grosbeak. Zamelodia melanocephala, Black-headed Song Grosbeak.
1914‘High Jinks, Jr.’ Choice Slang 18 *Song hit, a popular song. 1918[see hit n. 4]. 1959‘F. Newton’ Jazz Scene 9 Pop, pop music, popular entertainment music as typified by the ‘song-hit’.
1942H. Hewitt Harmonice Musices Odhecaton vi. 69 A few ‘*song-motets’ find a place in the Odhecaton. 1974Early Music Oct. 219 Some of his [sc. Dufay's] most elegant Latin compositions..are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and their treble-dominated texture and lyrical charm—they resemble chansons in many ways—explain why they are called song-motets.
1885Newton in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 29 [As] by the action of the syringeal muscles..the sounds uttered by the Bird are modified, they are properly called the *Song-muscles.
1934British Birds XXVIII. 15 If a male is on his *song perch when his hen quits her eggs, he usually follows her..to her feeding ground. 1975I. Rowley Bird Life v. 61 The kookaburra defends a large area, but in particular a number of song perches.
1908British Birds I. 367 In the middle of the *song-period all the individuals of a species found in any locality sing every day. 1961A. J. Berger Bird Study vi. 171 Many species have a short song period (post-breeding) after the molt has been completed.
1927Daily Express 22 Sept. 9/3 ‘Clap Yo' Hands’ must have been *song-plugged for ten minutes right off... ‘Do-Do-Do’ is another song-plugged number.
1923N.Y. Times 7 Oct. ix. 2/1 *Song plugger, a retiring representative of a song publisher planted in the audience to call for songs, whistle refrains and applaud. 1927Melody Maker May 437/1 Song pluggers are..vocalists lent by the music publishers to the dance bands just for the nights on which these bands are due to broadcast, and, of course, sing only their employer's numbers. 1976R. Sanders in D. Villiers Next Year in Jerusalem 208 Gershwin..embarked upon his musical career at sixteen as a Tin Pan Alley song plugger and composer.
1927Melody Maker May 433 (heading), *Song-plugging thro' the ages. 1972P. Black Biggest Aspidistra i. iii. 29 The song-plugging wave did not recede until 1948, when the BBC and the publishers managed to draw up an agreement.
1938British Birds XXXI. 320 The habitat was on open grassy ground with stones and sallow bushes as ‘*song posts’. 1938Sun (Baltimore) 15 June 6/7 Special guests will be..Miss Florence Clark, of Detroit, noted *song stylist. 1973Black Panther 24 Mar. 7/1 Elaine Brown, community activist..is also a musician, composer, lyricist and song stylist.
1853Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ii. 14 If wayfaring..had hindered him from being with his brethren at public *song-tide in the house of God.
1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 431/2 The glottis must be disciplined.., and proceed gradually from the *song-voice to that of speech.
▪ II. song
obs. pa. tense and pple. of sing v.1 |