choir

American  

[kwahy^uhr] / kwaɪər /

Archaic, quire

noun

1. a company of singers, especially an organized group employed in church service.

2. any group of musicians or musical instruments; a musical company, or band, or a division of one.

   string choir.

3. Architecture.

   1. the part of a church occupied by the singers of the choir.

   2. the part of a cruciform church east of the crossing.

4. (in medieval angelology) one of the orders of angels.

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adjective

1. professed to recite or chant the divine office.

   a choir monk.

verb (used with or without object)

1. to sing or sound in chorus.

idioms

1. preach to the choir. preach to the choir.

choir British  

/ kwaɪə /

noun

1. an organized group of singers, esp for singing in church services

2. 1. the part of a cathedral, abbey, or church in front of the altar, lined on both sides with benches, and used by the choir and clergy Compare chancel

   2. ( as modifier )

      choir stalls

3. a number of instruments of the same family playing together

   a brass choir

4. Also called: choir organ.  one of the manuals on an organ controlling a set of soft sweet-toned pipes Compare great swell

5. any of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology

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Other Word Forms

• choirlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of choir

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English quer, from Old French cuer, from Latin chorus “choir,” replacing Old English chor, from Latin; chorus

Example Sentences

Then, we immediately segue into what sounds like it’s supposed to be a children’s choir.

From Salon

Teachers were separately asked whether their schools had a choir.

From BBC

This included a community cast of 90 Bradford residents aged from eight to 76 who joined forces with dancers, musicians and choirs.

From BBC

Black writers and then, toward the end, writers of other ethnicities add their voices to the choir.

From The Wall Street Journal

Under the right conditions, the atoms stop acting independently and instead emit light together, like a choir singing in unison -- much louder than solo singers.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• assemblage
• band
• cast
• chorus
• orchestra
• quartet
• quintet
• sextet
• trio
• troupe