part song

American  

noun

1. a song with parts for several voices, especially one meant to be sung without accompaniment.

---

part song British  

noun

1. a song composed in harmonized parts

2. (in more technical usage) a piece of homophonic choral music in which the topmost part carries the melody

---

Other Word Forms

• part singing
  noun

Etymology

Origin of part song

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

part song

There is a ten-minute-long “Amazing Grace,” part song, part sermon, that could come only from someone steeped in the tradition of her father’s Delta whooping.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 4, 2016

Back then "glee" referred to a specific form of unaccompanied English part song - singing with two or more voice parts, with one part carrying the melody - and were all male.

From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2010

She was not even asked to join in the part song, for Lottie, as choir-mistress, had the selection of the chorus.

From The Girls of St. Cyprian's A Tale of School Life by Brazil, Angela

What we've got to do," said Lottie Lowman, "is to learn our part song, and practise it for all we're worth.

From The Girls of St. Cyprian's A Tale of School Life by Brazil, Angela

A light part song, or madrigal, with a fa la burden or chorus, Ð most common with the Elizabethan madrigal composers.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah