song

[sawng, song]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR song ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a short metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad.

a musical piece adapted for singing or simulating a piece to be sung: Mendelssohn's “Songs without Words.”

poetical composition; poetry.

the art or act of singing; vocal music.

something that is sung.

an elaborate vocal signal produced by an animal, as the distinctive sounds produced by certain birds, frogs, etc., in a courtship or territorial display.

Idioms

for a song, at a very low price; as a bargain: We bought the rug for a song when the estate was auctioned off.

Origin of song

before 900; Middle English song, sang, Old English; cognate with German Sang, Old Norse sǫngr, Gothic saggws

Related formssong·like, adjective

Song

[sawng]

noun Pinyin.

Ai·ling

[ahy-ling] /ˈaɪˈlɪŋ/. Soong, Ai-ling.

Qing·ling

[ching-ling] /ˈtʃɪŋˈlɪŋ/. Soong, Ching-ling.

Mei·ling

[mey-ling] /ˈmeɪˈlɪŋ/. Soong, Mei-ling.

Zi·wen

[zœ-wuhn] /ˈzœˈwʌn/. Soong, Tse-ven.

Sung.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for song

lullaby, number, strain, lyric, melody, hymn, poem, anthem, aria, verse, ditty, ballad, refrain, lay, carol, tune, chant, shanty, vocal, air

Examples from the Web for song

Contemporary Examples of song

I still do find it a tremendously useful device to invent a character and have the character sing the song.
Belle & Sebastian Aren’t So Shy Anymore
James Joiner
January 7, 2015
So we picked out the song (“Rhiannon,” click here for video), and Deer Tick learned it.
Deer Tick's John McCauley on Ten Years in Rock and Roll
James Joiner
January 2, 2015
So this is Christmas, as the song goes, and what have we done?
No Gods, No Cops, No Masters
James Poulos
January 1, 2015
And good luck getting the song (and music video) to “Chandelier” out of your head.
The 10 Best Albums of 2014: Taylor Swift, Sia, Run the Jewels, and More
Marlow Stern
December 28, 2014
And, not entirely coincidentally, he had to do the song on Johnny Carson.
How Martin Luther King Jr. Influenced Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’
Peter Guralnick
December 28, 2014

Historical Examples of song

And the wild ducklings are out on the pool, and the woods are full of song.
The Armourer's Prentices
Charlotte M. Yonge
He took the song from his pocket, and smoothed it out before her on the piano.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
I am considering them apart, and confining myself wholly to the words of the song.
The Conquest of Fear
Basil King
Listen to me, and I will show you how the song ought to have been sung.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
Her heart ascended on a wave of thanks to the giver of song.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for song

song

noun

a piece of music, usually employing a verbal text, composed for the voice, esp one intended for performance by a soloist
the whole repertory of such pieces
(as modifier)a song book

poetical composition; poetry

the characteristic tuneful call or sound made by certain birds or insects

the act or process of singingthey raised their voices in song

for a song at a bargain price

on song British informal performing at peak efficiency or ability

Derived Formssonglike, adjective

Word Origin for song

Old English sang; related to Gothic saggws, Old High German sang; see sing

Song

noun

the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese name for Sung

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

Word Origin and History for song

Old English sang "voice, song, art of singing; metrical composition adapted for singing, psalm, poem," from Proto-Germanic *sangwaz (cf. Old Norse söngr, Norwegian song, Swedish sång, Old Saxon, Danish, Old Frisian, Old High German, German sang, Middle Dutch sanc, Dutch zang, Gothic saggws), from PIE *songwh-o- "singing, song," from *sengwh- "to sing, make an incantation" (see sing (v.)).

Phrase for a song "for a trifle, for little or nothing" is from "All's Well" III.ii.9 (the identical image, por du son, is in Old French. With a song in (one's) heart "feeling joy" is first attested 1930 in Lorenz Hart's lyric. Song and dance as a form of vaudeville act is attested from 1872; figurative sense of "rigmarole" is from 1895.

Idioms and Phrases with song

song

In addition to the idiom beginning with song

song and dance

also see:

for a song
swan song