refrain

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From a combination of Anglo-Norman refraindre, Middle French refreindre (from Latin refrangere), and Anglo-Norman refrener, Middle French refrener (from Latin refrenare).

Verb

refrain (third-person singular simple present refrains, present participle refraining, simple past and past participle refrained)

(transitive, archaic) To hold back, to restrain (someone or something). [from 14th c.]
- Proverbs i:15.
  Refrain thy foot from their path.
(reflexive, archaic) To show restraint; to hold oneself back. [from 14th c.]
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts V:
  And nowe I saye unto you: refrayne youreselves from these men, and let them alone [...].
(transitive, now rare) To repress (a desire, emotion etc.); to check or curb. [from 14th c.]
- Chaucer
  his reson aperceyueth it wel that it is synne / agayns the lawe of god / and yet his reson / refreyneth nat his foul delit or talent.
(intransitive) To stop oneself from some action or interference; to abstain. [from 15th c.]
(transitive, now rare, regional) To abstain from (food or drink). [from 16th c.]
- Thomas Browne
  Who, requiring a remedy for his gout, received no other counsel than to refrain cold drink.

Translations

to hold back

Dutch: tegenhouden (nl), bedwingen (nl), inhouden (nl)
Finnish: pidätellä, pitää poissa
Norwegian: holde (no) tilbake (no)

Slovene: vzdržati se
Tamil: தடுத்தல் (ta) (Thaduththal)

to abstain (from)

Arabic: امتنع (ar) (imtana`a)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 避免 (cmn) (bìmiǎn), 戒除 (cmn) (jièchú)
Czech: zdržet se
Dutch: zich onthouden van (nl)
Finnish: pidättäytyä (with elative)

Japanese: 慎む (ja) (tsutsushimu), 差し控える (ja) (sashihikaeru)
Norwegian: avstå (no)
Portuguese: abster-se de
Russian: воздержаться (ru) (vozderžát'sja) (от (ot) + genitive case), (imperfective) воздерживаться (ru) (vozdérživat'sja) (от (ot) + genitive case)
Slovene: vzdržati se

to keep one’s self from action

Dutch: zich niet inlaten met (nl)
Finnish: pidättäytyä (fi)
German: sich zurückhalten (de)
Norwegian: avholde (no) seg
Persian: خودداری کردن (fa) (xoddäri kardan)

Polish: powstrzymywać się / powstrzymać się
Portuguese: abster-se
Slovene: vzdržati se
Spanish: abstenerse (es), retenerse (es)
ǃXóõ: ǀa̰ã

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: (zich) inhouden; terughouden; (zich) onthouden (van); (zich) verzetten (tegen)
French: se réfréner, se retenir

Etymology 2

From French refrain, from the Old French verb refraindre (“to break off, repeat”), from Latin re- (“back, again”) + frangō (“break”); compare Occitan refranhs (“a refrain”), refranher (“to repeat”). See refract and the verb refrain.