noun
Etymology
Origin of chorister
1325–75; < Medieval Latin chorist ( a ) singer in a choir + -er 1; replacing Middle English queristre < Anglo-French, equivalent to quer choir + -istre -ist
Explanation
If you sing in your school chorus, you can describe yourself as a chorister. A chorister is either a member or the leader of a choir. Any organized group of singers can be called a chorus or choir, and anyone who belongs to the group is a chorister. This term is more common when talking about boys or girls who sing in choirs (along with the alternatives choirboy and choirgirl). Chorister comes from the Latin chorus, originally "dance in a circle" or "singers and dancers."
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.
Chorister was an enormously difficult job even when the Met’s repertory extended from Handel through Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Puccini to the middle of the 20th century.
From New York Times • May 21, 2024
He was a Chorister at Utrecht, till he was nine Years old, and afterwards was sent to Daventer, his Mother also going thither to take Care of him.
From Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. by Erasmus, Desiderius
Touches upon the Strange Effects a Half-pistole may have upon a Beadle and a Chorister.
From Twenty Years After by Dumas père, Alexandre
Chorister blackbird and thrush Together or alternate piped; A free-hearted harmony large, With meaning for man, for brute, When the primitive forces are brimmed.
From Poems — Volume 2 by Meredith, George
"The Chorister" is the Saturn of this abortive generation of jocular poems, all in four cantos or thereabouts, for it was generally admitted that six would wear the subject threadbare.
From Sons of the Soil by Balzac, Honoré de
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.
