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aubade

[oh-bad, oh-bahd; French oh-bad]
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noun, plural au·bades [oh-badz, oh-bahdz; French oh-bad] /oʊˈbædz, oʊˈbɑdz; French oʊˈbad/. Music.
  1. a piece sung or played outdoors at dawn, usually as a compliment to someone.
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Origin of aubade

1670–80; < French, Middle French, equivalent to aube (< Provençal alba song about the parting of two lovers at dawn < Vulgar Latin, noun use of feminine of Latin albus white, clear) + -ade -ade1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

starsunlightshineflaredaylighttanbasksunrisesolaubade

Examples from the Web for aubade

Historical Examples

  • After all, that “Aubade Provenale” was just the melodious story of the woods in spring.

    The Branding Iron

    Katharine Newlin Burt

  • Sweet as any aubade of the olden time, under olive and ilex, is it not?

    A Speckled Bird

    Augusta J. Evans Wilson

  • He remembered that Alain was supposed to sing an aubade, a dawn song, in the street below to warn and rouse him.

British Dictionary definitions for aubade

aubade

noun
  1. a song or poem appropriate to or greeting the dawn
  2. a romantic or idyllic prelude or overture
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Compare serenade

Word Origin

C19: from French, from Old Provençal aubada (unattested), from auba dawn, ultimately from Latin albus white
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for aubade

n.

"musical announcement of dawn," from French aubade (15c.), from Provençal aubada, from auba "dawn," from Latin alba, fem. of albus "white" (see alb).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper