Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A poem or song with a regularly recurring refrain.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Any song in which an idea, line, or refrain is continually repeated.
- n. Same as rondeau
- n. A dance in a circle; a round or roundel.
Wiktionary
- n. music A poem or song having a line or phrase repeated at regular intervals.
- n. A dance in a circle.
- n. Anything having a round form; a roundel.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Poetry) See rondeau, and rondel.
- n. A tune in which a simple strain is often repeated; a simple rural strain which is short and lively.
- n. A dance in a circle.
- n. Anything having a round form; a roundel.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a song in which a line or phrase is repeated as the refrain
Etymologies
- From Middle French rondelet, diminutive of Old French rondel (French: rondeau). Ending -lay either from lay ("ballad or sung poem"), or from virelay. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, alteration (influenced by lai, poem, song) of Old French rondelet, diminutive of rondel, roundel; see roundel. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It's the usual roundelay of friction and fun, though not terribly sparkling.”
“The magazine talks about hard work, but life in the country looks like an endless roundelay of making livestock look cute, cooking entrees that use four ingredients and serve eight, and taking gorgeous landscape photographs suitable for jigsaw puzzles.”
“This predictable roundelay is repeated so many times that I feel as though I could just fill in the words and dance the steps for each side and be done with it.”
The Huffington Post: Rabbi David Wolpe: Is It Anti-Semitism?
“A conference panel never moves beyond a roundelay of blurb-speak.”
“Watching the Jingle Ball, a roundelay of bubblegum pop acts sponsored by radio station Z-100 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, and perhaps more significantly, the screaming packs of 13-year-old girls who made up the largest portion of the audience, a reporter realized, to the detriment of no one, how much his taste veers toward that of a tween ' s.”
“Rather, with a roundelay of Housewives, appearances by the Millionaire Matchmaker, the occasional celebrity guest (slash friend of Mr. Cohen) like Jerry Seinfeld or Sarah Jessica Parker, and catch phrases like "Mazel of the Week," "Watch What Happens" is a fresh and funny half-hour for Bravo addicts around the nation, one of whom, of course, is this reporter.”
“Put another way, a physical assault on President Bush failed to knock the taint meme out of the cable news roundelay of hackery.”
Bob Cesca: Why the Media Taint-Mongers are Continuing to Wrongfully Accuse Obama
“I'm sure the entire roundelay will repeat itself soon enough.”
David Roberts: Cap-and-Trade vs. Carbon Tax: A Bird in Hand Is Worth Two on Alpha Centauri
“It was one unending roundelay of sex and drugs and light vocal harmonizing with the Mamas and the Papas.”
“The Valet, his latest product, is yet another inconsequential roundelay of playacting and ostensibly comic misunderstandings - there's no cross-dressing or hiding in wardrobes, but it's essentially that kind of movie.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘roundelay’.
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phrontistery-r
from phrontistery.info
raad, rabanna, rabbet, rabble, Rabelaisian, rabic, racemation, raceme, racemiferous, rach, rachidian, rachiometer and 514 more...
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Rabelation
Words and phrases from Urquhart and Motteaux's matchless translation of Rabelais' "Gargantua and Pantagruel" (available here).
Make bold with suggestions down in the comment box.bum-gut, torchecul, septembral juice, turdy, linkie pinkie, neat's tongues, variorum, fanfreluches, well-mouthed wench, the close buttock..., rataconniculation, beeves and 300 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, R
retinol, rectory, rhubarb, rancor, recension, rood, redivivus, roborate, redound, ripsnorting, ragtag, recruit and 250 more...
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Time Out New York
words looked up while copyediting for this magazine
tonsorial, nudnick, doyenne, lothario, ebon, compere, cloaca, carom, evince, jocosity, profligacy, favela and 110 more...
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khairoun's Words
sofa, picturesque, acciaccatura, roundelay, chreode, gallimaufry, palimpsest, periphery, sedimentary, resorption, undine, fidget and 3 more...
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My Lovelies
mafficking, myrmidon, magniloquent, senescence, seraglio, anodyne, sundry, portmanteau, dearth, scion, frangible, noetic and 34 more...
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.sound
canticle, chord, dissonant, hitch, purl, hush, timbre, trill, howl, whir, thrum, peal and 11 more...
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music
octave, lyric, opera, flute, maracas, gong, tambourine, bass, trumpet, balalaika, lyre, bongos and 36 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (R)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
rabicano, raceme, radiant, raggedy ann, rain, rambling rose, ramparts, rampion, rapacious, rapier, rapine, rarebit and 66 more...
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King Gilbert I of Savoy
The great W.S. Gilbert was librettist in the famous Gilbert & Sullivan collaboration, producing fourteen operas altogether. They are rich in wonderful Victorian words and usages and very clever rhy...
emollient, escutcheon, supercilious, physiognomy, overbearing, semi-despondent, trousseau, burglary, protuberant, rataplan, indenture, gyrate and 70 more...
Tweets
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