Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In music, especially in comic operas, a song whose principal characteristic is a multitude of words rapidly sung or spoken to a simple melody.
Etymologies
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Examples
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But sometimes they are too restless to remain in their beds, and then they fall to earth; and if we could wait so long we might hear the children teach them their patter-song.
Dreamland Julie Mathilde Lippmann
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"He looked like an elephant when he put his trousers on wrong -- you know elephants have their knees the wrong way," Eileen once told the public in a patter-song.
The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes Israel Zangwill 1895
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These attempts to take a census of his children generally occurred after a peasant had brought him up the drive -- "hat in one hand, and Squire in the other," as the patter-song had it.
The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes Israel Zangwill 1895
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And they gratefully sang along at every chance, even the patter-song syncopations of some of Ms. Nash's choruses.
NYT > Home Page By JON PARELES 2010
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