ballade

[buh-lahd, ba-; French ba-lad]

noun, plural bal·lades

[buh-lahdz, ba-; French ba-lad] /bəˈlɑdz, bæ-; French baˈlad/.

a poem consisting commonly of three stanzas having an identical rhyme scheme, followed by an envoy, and having the same last line for each of the stanzas and the envoy.
Music. a composition in free style and romantic mood, often for solo piano or for orchestra.

Origin of ballade

1485–95; < Middle French, variant of balade ballad

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ballade

Historical Examples of ballade

All that was possible, however, to be made of the Ballade was made of it by Mr. Borwick.
Musical Criticisms
Arthur Johnstone
Others, looking at the ceiling, sigh to the viol some German ballade.
The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Vol. II (of 2)
Charles de Coster
Alluding to the wheel of Fortune; see the Ballade on Fortune, l. 46, and note.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 2 (of 7)
Geoffrey Chaucer
Chesterton is so fond of the ballade that I must quote one specimen complete.
Six Major Prophets
Edwin Emery Slosson
It agrees with the present Ballade; which settles the question.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems
Geoffrey Chaucer

British Dictionary definitions for ballade

ballade

noun

prosody a verse form consisting of three stanzas and an envoy, all ending with the same line. The first three stanzas commonly have eight or ten lines each and the same rhyme scheme
music an instrumental composition, esp for piano, based on or intended to evoke a narrative

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 ballade

late 14c., an earlier borrowing of ballad (q.v.) with a specific metrical sense. Technically, a poem consisting of one or more triplets of seven- (later eight-) lined stanzas, each ending with the same line as the refrain, usually with an envoy. Popularized 19c. as a type of musical composition by Frédéric Chopin. Ballade royal is recorded from late 15c.