part song

noun

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

Words nearby part song

part company, part exchange, part music, part of fortune, part of speech, part song, part time, part with, part work, part-off, part-score

Origin of part song

First recorded in 1590–1600

OTHER WORDS FROM part song

part singing, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for part song

A part-song is a composition for two or more voices, (usually four) to be sung a capella.
Music Notation and Terminology|Karl W. Gehrkens
Part-song was simplified, and Johan Walther compiled a hymnal of religious songs in the vernacular for from four to six voices.
The Story of the Hymns and Tunes|Theron Brown and Hezekiah Butterworth
The sanction of the cardinals was given—and part-song harmony became permanently one of the angel voices of the Christian church.
The Story of the Hymns and Tunes|Theron Brown and Hezekiah Butterworth
Suddenly, from a grove behind us, came the sound of children's voices singing an old German part-song.
A Camera Actress in the Wilds of Togoland|Meg Gehrts

Let us take six gentlemen met together to learn the old thirteenth-century part-song, the round entitled ‘Sumer is icumen in.’
English Costume|Dion Clayton Calthrop

British Dictionary definitions for part song

part song

noun

a song composed in harmonized parts

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012