song
see also: Song
Etymology

From Middle English song, sang, from Old English sang, from Proto-West Germanic *sangu, from Proto-Germanic *sangwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷʰ-.

Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /sɒŋ/
  • (America) IPA: /sɔŋ/
    • (cot-caught) IPA: /sɑŋ/
Noun

song

  1. A musical composition with lyrics for voice or voices, performed by singing.
    Thomas listened to his favorite song on the radio yesterday.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
      He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.
  2. (by extension) Any musical composition.
  3. Poetical composition; poetry; verse.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
      This subject for heroic song.
    • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight's Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
      The bard that first adorned our native tongue / Tuned to his British lyre this ancient song.
  4. The act or art of singing.
  5. A melodious sound made by a bird, insect, whale or other animal.
    I love hearing the song of canary birds.
    • 1833, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Canterbury Pilgrims:
      That most ethereal of all sounds, the song of crickets.
  6. (ornithology) The distinctive sound that a male bird utters to attract a mate or to protect his territory; contrasts with call; also, similar vocalisations made by female birds.
  7. A low price, especially one under the expected value; chiefly in for a song.
    He bought that car for a song.
    • 1810, Benjamin Silliman, A Journal of Travels in England, Holland and Scotland:
      his [a common soldier's] pay is a song.
    • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC ↗, page 0016 ↗:
      Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; […].
  8. An object of derision; a laughing stock.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Job 30:9 ↗:
      And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
Translations Translations Translations
  • Spanish: por poco dinero, de balde

Song
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /sɔŋ/, /sɑŋ/
Etymology 1

Borrowed from Mandarin - 宋.

Proper noun
  1. (historical) A former dynasty in China, reigning from the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the beginning of the Yuan.
  2. (historical) A former empire in China, occupying the eastern half of modern China.
  3. (historical) The era of Chinese history during which the dynasty reigned.
  4. Surname.
  5. A river in China; any of various minor rivers in China.
Synonyms Proper noun
  1. A river in Papua New Guinea
Proper noun
  1. A lgarea in Adamawa, Nigeria.
Proper noun
  1. Surname.



This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
Offline English dictionary