choir
[kwahyuh r]
- a company of singers, especially an organized group employed in church service.
- any group of musicians or musical instruments; a musical company, or band, or a division of one: string choir.
- Architecture.
- the part of a church occupied by the singers of the choir.
- the part of a cruciform church east of the crossing.
- (in medieval angelology) one of the orders of angels.
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- professed to recite or chant the divine office: a choir monk.
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- to sing or sound in chorus.
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Origin of choir
1250–1300; Middle English quer < Old French cuer < Latin chorus chorus; replacing Old English chor choir < Latin
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
ensemble, choir, chorus, trio, cast, orchestra, band, troupe, assemblage, quintet, sextet, quartet, serenade, chant, warble, whistle, shout, croon, hum, waitExamples from the Web for choir
Contemporary Examples
But I was a choir geek, and then got frustrated and took an acting class and realized that was the thing for me.
Michael C. Hall on Going Drag for ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ and Exorcising ‘Dexter’Marlow Stern
December 4, 2014
The play of Sunday, the play of being angels in the choir, is not just a peripheral secondary marginal realm of activity.
It was in the vestry where the choir was putting on its garments.
Surreally, a choir of high school students at the gate adjoining ours begins singing a hymnal.
Lewis grew up in Florida, and sang in church, choir, and in school.
Norm Lewis, Broadway’s First Black ‘Phantom,’ on Racism, Heroes, and Dream RolesTim Teeman
March 21, 2014
Historical Examples
He could hear the music of the organ, and presently the choir began to sing an anthem.
The Foolish LoversSt. John G. Ervine
Josie, of course, was prompt to oust Angie Tuthill from her place in the choir.
The Fortune HunterLouis Joseph Vance
I wish you'd commence to-night, instead of choir practice night.
The Fortune HunterLouis Joseph Vance
It was a low vault, with squat arches, on exactly the same plan as the choir.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
Thirdly, the choir of elder men, who are from thirty to sixty years of age, will also sing.
LawsPlato
choir
- an organized group of singers, esp for singing in church services
- 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 clergyCompare chancel
- (as modifier)choir stalls
- a number of instruments of the same family playing togethera brass choir
- Also called: choir organ one of the manuals on an organ controlling a set of soft sweet-toned pipesCompare great (def. 21), swell (def. 16)
- any of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology
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Archaic spelling: quire
Word Origin
C13 quer, from Old French cuer, from Latin chorus
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for choir
n.
c.1300, queor "part of the church where the choir sings," from Old French cuer, quer "choir of a church (architectural); chorus of singers" (13c., Modern French choeur), from Latin chorus "choir" (see chorus). Meaning "band of singers" is c.1400, quyre. Re-spelled mid-17c. on Latin model.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper