Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. An organized company of singers, especially one performing church music or singing in a church.
- n. The part of a church used by such a company of singers.
- n. The part of the chancel in a cruciform church that is occupied by this company of singers.
- n. A group of instruments of the same kind: a string choir.
- n. A division of some pipe organs, containing pipes suitable for accompanying a choir.
- n. An organized group: a choir of dancers.
- n. One of the orders of angels.
- intransitive v. To sing in chorus.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Singing group; group of people who sing together; company of people who are trained to sing together
- n. The part of a church where the choir assembles for song
- n. one of the nine ranks or orders of angels
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A band or organized company of singers, especially in church service.
- n. That part of a church appropriated to the singers.
- n. The chancel.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To sing in company.
- n. Any company of singers.
- n. An organized company of singers. Especially, such a company employed in church service.
- n. A choral society, especially one that performs sacred music. In eight-part music a chorus is divided into first and second choirs. In the Anglican Church, an official body consisting of the minor canons, the choral vicars, and the choristers connected with a cathedral, whose function is to perform the daily choral service. Such a choir is divided into two sections, called decani and cantoris, sitting on the right and left sides respectively; of these the decani side forms the leading or principal section. See cantoris, decani.
- n. That part of a church which is, or is considered as, appropriated for the use of the singers.
- n. A company; a band, originally of persons dancing to music: loosely applied to an assembly for any ceremonial purpose.
- n. Formerly and still occasionally quire.
- n. All that part of a cruciform church which is beyond, eastward of or farther from the main entrance than the transept; the eastern arm of the cross: so named because the choir proper (see def. 3) is usually in that part of the church and occupies nearly all of it.
- n. A group of instruments of the same class or of related organ-stops, as a trombone choir, a diapason choir, etc.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a family of similar musical instrument playing together
- n. a chorus that sings as part of a religious ceremony
- n. the area occupied by singers; the part of the chancel between sanctuary and nave
- v. sing in a choir
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
-
These various names were, in the Middle Ages, mostly superseded by the term choir, which in turn yielded to the modern term sanctuary.
-
Preaching to the choir is a legitimate enterprise.
-
The problem is, the choir is asleep and will not wake up.
Think Progress » “The real victims of Fox News weren’t the liberals
-
As on Christmas, he was in choir dress, wearing the white Mozzetta of Eastertide, as well as a new white Easter stole, bearing his own coat of arms.
-
I don't usually blog the pieces that our own choir is doing, mainly because it seems excessively solipsistic, but I was so touched at how this piece by Henry Purcell went that I figure there is a point to drawing your attention to it.
-
Nico Muhly's score, layering electronic beats, live ensemble and choir, is a tempest in itself, with textures and colours battering against each other in a dissonant blast.
-
The conductor, head vocalist, and stage hand for this bookish choir is George Murray, who co-founded Bookninja with fellow author Peter Darbyshire back in 2003, when the phrase “book blog” still had to qualified with some form of descriptor for the web-challenged.
-
At the back of this altar (to be seen to right of the next picture), in a crypt-like room beneath the high choir, is the tomb of St. Otto:
-
Several members will be attending training programs this summer, and the choir is getting the Parish Book of Chant.
-
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 01: 29 PM minor correction: choir is "le choeur" not "la choeur."
milosrdenstvi commented on the word choir
As far as I know, this is the only word where oi is pronounced "wai". I'm not even sure if there are any words where oi is pronounced "ai".
December 29, 2010