barcarole
Americannoun
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a boating song of the Venetian gondoliers.
-
a piece of music composed in the style of such songs.
noun
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a Venetian boat song in a time of six or twelve quaver beats to the bar
-
an instrumental composition resembling this
Etymology
Origin of barcarole
1605–15; < Venetian barcarola boatman's song, feminine of barcarolo, equivalent to barcar- (< Late Latin barcārius boatman; see bark 3, -ary) + -olo (≪ Latin -eolus )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Long-held but shifting sonorities here suggest a barcarole as a voyage to the underworld.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2014
As the Sicilian men intone shocked syllables in a martial rhythm, a carefree barcarole suddenly emerges from a passing boat carrying ladies and gentlemen to the ball.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2013
She could warble the Venetian barcarole with all the soft accents of an Adriatic tongue, or sing the Bauerlied of the Tyrol with every cadence of the peasant's fancy.
From Davenport Dunn, Volume 1 (of 2) A Man Of Our Day by Lever, Charles James
It is oriental in color, and is broken here and there by a barcarole which Vasco murmurs in his sleep.
From The Standard Operas (12th edition) Their Plots, Their Music, and Their Composers by Upton, George P. (George Putnam)
But the voice, “which was the best at a barcarole of any in Naples,” had raised a very few love notes, when a rough voice exclaims:
From John Leech, His Life and Work. Vol. 1 by Frith, William Powell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
