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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or evoking daybreak.
  2. n. A poem or song of or about lovers separating at dawn.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. In troubadour and similar music, a song or piece to be performed in the open air in the early morning, usually addressed to some special person; a musical announcement of dawn. See serenade.
  2. n. In modern music, a rarely used title for a short instrumental composition in lyric style.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A song or poem greeting or evoking the dawn.
  2. n. A morning love song; a song of lovers parting in the morning.
  3. n. morning music

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. An open air concert in the morning, as distinguished from an evening serenade; also, a pianoforte composition suggestive of morning.

Etymologies

  1. French, from Old French albade, from Old Provençal albada, from alba, dawn, aubade, from Latin, feminine of albus, white; see albho- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “Oh, guess what I found in my Dictionaire de la Langue Francaise when I looked up "aubade" - a song of the dawn?”

    aubade - French Word-A-Day

  • “The aubade is a poem about lovers parting in sorrow at dawn, and it’s a form dating back to the Elizabethan era, though I suspect this universal act of separation must have been commemorated in song long before then.”

    2007 October : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation - Part 2

  • “The serenade, which the French call "aubade", was a gift from above ... as is freedom, as is love.”

    aubade - French Word-A-Day

  • “The serenade, which the French call "aubade", was a gift from above... as is freedom, as is love.”

    aubade - French Word-A-Day

  • “Oh, and I also meant to mention that I believe "aubade" can mean a song to a bride on the morning of her wedding.”

    aubade - French Word-A-Day

  • “Fans of that old Cat Stevens song, "Morning Has Broken", will see it listed under the "aubade" section.”

    Archive 2006-04-01

  • “A naked woman is beautiful; to see her semi-dressed, and then guess at the rest, is most excellent too. 33, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 4th, aubade.com”

    The Wall Street Journal: Paris: Modern Romance

  • “The fun way to learn French une aubade (oh-bad) : dawn serenade donner une aubade à quelqu'un = to serenade someone”

    French Word-A-Day:

  • “It has a lament (“Lament”), an aubade (“Aubade for Brad”), and a pattern poem with lines that curve in and out like a slalom course (“Poetry Slalom”).”

    2009 January 12 « One-Minute Book Reviews

  • “There is a melancholy in the modern world which looks with nostalgia to the days when magic ruled the world, and sunrise was a time of aubade, dusk a time for the canticles of evensong, when the elfin ships can be glimpsed by those with second sight against the fiery clouds, setting sail away from the mortal shores for worlds beyond the sunset, beyond the seas we know.”

    MIND MELD: Gods by the Bushel

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘aubade’.

Comments

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  • jmjarmstrong JM knows it's the early muso who gets the aubade! Jan 29, 2011

  • jorge999 aubade: a song or poem greeting the dawn.
    (see Philip Larkin's extraordinary poem of the same name) Nov 5, 2009

  • reallifepixel an aubade Aug 18, 2009

  • misterpolly Cf. serenade Dec 28, 2007

‘aubade’ has been looked up 3437 times, loved by 8 people, added to 66 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 9.