choragus

American  

[kuh-rey-guhs, koh-, kaw-] / kəˈreɪ gəs, koʊ-, kɔ- /

noun

plural

choragi, choraguses

1. (in ancient Greece)

   1. the leader of a dramatic chorus.

   2. a person who undertook the expense of providing for such a chorus.

2. any conductor of an entertainment or festival.

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choragus British  

/ kɔːˈrædʒɪk, -ˈreɪ-, kɔːˈreɪɡəs /

noun

1. 1. the leader of a chorus

   2. a sponsor of a chorus

2. a conductor of a festival

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Other Word Forms

• choragic adjective

Etymology

Origin of choragus

1620–30; < Latin < Greek chorāgós, dialectal variant of chorēgós, equivalent to chor ( ós ) chorus + -ēgos, combining form of ágein to lead

Example Sentences

At one moment a character is declaiming like a choragus; at the next he may be slanging to beat Broadway.

From Time Magazine Archive

For I should be appointed as choragus for tragedies and should call on him to exchange with me, he would prefer to be choragus ten times rather than exchange once with me.

From The Orations of Lysias by Lysias

At the first streak of daylight the senior member, as choragus, will start the key-note in a sonorous barytone, the younger monkeys join in tenor and alto, and the concert begins.

From Dick Sands, the Boy Captain by Frewer, Ellen E.

It was a sight of joy to see them return at night, axe on shoulder, feigning to march like soldiers, a choragus with a loud voice singing out, 'March-step!

From Vailima Letters by Stevenson, Robert Louis

She was their graceful choragus; or rather, she, like some slim daughter of the Greeks—Iphigenia or another—voiced the protagonist's part; and they wailed after her, a chorus of elders.

From Little Novels of Italy by Hewlett, Maurice Henry