Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A frenzied, impassioned choric hymn and dance of ancient Greece in honor of Dionysus.
- n. An irregular poetic expression suggestive of the ancient Greek dithyramb.
- n. A wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A choral hymn sung in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus.
- n. A poem or oration in the same style.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A kind of lyric poetry in honor of Bacchus, usually sung by a band of revelers to a flute accompaniment; hence, in general, a poem written in a wild irregular strain.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A form of Greek lyric composition, originally a choral song in honor of Dionysus, afterward of other gods, heroes, etc.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing
- n. (ancient Greece) a passionate hymn (usually in honor of Dionysus)
Etymologies
Examples
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The dithyramb is a chant in chorus in honour of a god or a hero.
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His last letter is a kind of dithyramb about "Lohengrin," which naturally predisposes me favourably towards the man.
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This dithyramb had a specific provocation: “While I was at Harvard,” she wrote with grave alarm, “I saw Professors smoking cigarettes.”
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This man was a harper second to none of those who then lived, and the first, so far as we know, who composed a dithyramb, naming it so and teaching it to a chorus at Corinth.
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With that, wallow in dithyramb and eulogy, and the second edition shall vanish like smoke.
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The fifth book commences in a sort of dithyramb with another and higher preamble about the honour due to the soul, whence are deduced the duties of a man to his parents and his friends, to the suppliant and stranger.
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Besides outdoing in dithyramb what ABN does in Spanish, besides being equally forgetful of historical planning and delays, it errs quite a lot on the historical context.
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Early in the banquet [the symposium], libations were poured to Dionysus, god of wine, and a dithyramb, a song-and-dance to the inebriating god, was beaten out.
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This man was a harper second to none of those who then lived, and the first, so far as we know, who composed a dithyramb, naming it so and teaching it to a chorus22 at Corinth.
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Mysians as a dithyramb in the Dorian mode, found it impossible, and fell back by the very nature of things into the more appropriate
sionnach commented on the word dithyramb
A wild poem in which the poet alternates between dithering and rambling.
(Timothy Train)
July 23, 2008
arby commented on the word dithyramb
1. A frenzied, impassioned choric hymn and dance of ancient Greece in honor of Dionysus. 2. An irregular poetic expression suggestive of the ancient Greek dithyramb. 3. A wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing.
May 25, 2007