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part song

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

First recorded in 1590–1600
Related formspart singing, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for part song

Historical Examples

  • Her “No” was set to counterpoint in the part-song, and she frightened Love out of her sight in a ballet.

    The Spirit of Place

    Alice Meynell

  • 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

  • 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

  • A part-song is a composition for two or more voices, (usually four) to be sung a capella.

British Dictionary definitions for part song

part song

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
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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