choir
English
edit
Etymology
editFrom Middle English quer, quere, from Old French quer, from Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “company of dancers or singers”). Modern spelling influenced by chorus and French chœur. Doublet of quire, chorus, and hora.
Pronunciation
edit- (UK) IPA(key): /kwaɪə(ɹ)/, /kwa(ɹ)/ (rapid speech)[en-ref 1]
Audio (UK): (file) - (US) IPA(key): /kwaɪɚ/, /kwaɹ/ (rapid speech)[en-ref 1]
Audio (US): (file) - (Indic) IPA(key): /kʰwaja(ɾ)/, (spelling pronunciation) /kʰɒja(ɾ)/
- Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ), (Indic spelling pronunciation) -ɔɪə(ɹ)
- (most accents) Homophone: quire
Noun
editchoir (plural choirs)
- A group of people who sing together; a company of people who are trained to sing together.
- Alternative form: (archaic) quire
- The church choir practices Thursday nights.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
- 2020 May 13, David Williams, “How coronavirus spread from one member to 87% of the singers at a Washington choir practice”, in CNN[3]:
- Public health officials studying the Covid-19 outbreak among members of a Washington choir found numerous ways the virus could have spread, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- (architecture) Uncommon form of quire (“one quarter of a cruciform church, or the architectural area of a church used by the choir, often near the apse”).
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
- (Christian angelology) One of the nine ranks or orders of angels.
- Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones are three of the choirs of angels.
- Set of strings (one per note) for a harpsichord.
Usage notes
edit- Although choir and quire originated as two spellings of the same word, they have gradually diverged in meaning in modern English.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editsinging group
|
part of a church for choir assembly
|
a rank or order of angels
Verb
editchoir (third-person singular simple present choirs, present participle choiring, simple past and past participle choired)
- (intransitive) To sing in concert.
- Alternative form: (poetic) quire
- 1859, The Presbyterian Magazine, volume 9, page 423:
- The great aim of this book is to secure congregational singing, which the churches must come to, at last, after a long interval of choiring.
References
edit- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Witt, Arlena [@ArlenaWitt] (1 June 2016). Chemistry, Chicago, chess | Po Cudzemu #45 (Video) (in Polish). Event occurs at 6:52–7:15. Retrieved 12 November 2024 – via YouTube. Citing song as rapid speech example: Madonna (1989) “Like a Prayer”, in Madonna (lyrics), Patrick Leonard (music), Like a Prayer[1] (video), performed by Madonna, Sire; Warner Bros., →OCLC, lead single: “You're here with me, it's like a dream / Let the choir sing”
Anagrams
editFrench
editEtymology
editInherited from Middle French cheoir, from Old French cheoir, from older chedeir, from Late Latin cadēre, from Latin cadĕre, from Proto-Italic *kadō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- (“to fall”).
Pronunciation
editVerb
editchoir (defective) (past participle chu)
- (literary) to fall
- Synonym: tomber
- 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act 5, scene 3:
- L’abandonnerez-vous à l’infâme couteau
Qui fait choir les méchants sous la main d’un bourreau ?- Would you abandon him to the infamous blade
Which makes the wicked fall under the headman's hand?
- Would you abandon him to the infamous blade
- 1976, Serge Gainsbourg, “Chez Max coiffeur pour hommes”, in L’homme à tête de chou:
- Puis sous le sirocco du séchoir
Dans mes cheveux
La petite garce laisse choir :
"Je veux"- Then under the sirocco of the dryer
Into my hair
The little lass let drop [the words]
"I want [you]"
- Then under the sirocco of the dryer
Conjugation
editThis is a defective verb, only conjugated in certain tenses.
Conjugation of choir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | choir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | — | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | chu /ʃy/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | chois /ʃwa/ |
chois /ʃwa/ |
choit /ʃwa/ |
choyons /ʃwa.jɔ̃/ |
choyez /ʃwa.je/ |
choient /ʃwa/ |
| imperfect | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| past historic2 | chus /ʃy/ |
chus /ʃy/ |
chut /ʃy/ |
chûmes /ʃym/ |
chûtes /ʃyt/ |
churent /ʃyʁ/ | |
| future | choirai or cherrai /ʃwa.ʁe/ or /ʃɛ.ʁe/ or /ʃe.ʁe/ |
choiras or cherras /ʃwa.ʁa/ or /ʃɛ.ʁa/ or /ʃe.ʁa/ |
choira or cherra /ʃwa.ʁa/ or /ʃɛ.ʁa/ or /ʃe.ʁa/ |
choirons or cherrons /ʃwa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃe.ʁɔ̃/ |
choirez or cherrez /ʃwa.ʁe/ or /ʃɛ.ʁe/ or /ʃe.ʁe/ |
choiront or cherront /ʃwa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃe.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | choirais /ʃwaʁɛ/ |
choirais /ʃwaʁɛ/ |
choirait /ʃwaʁɛ/ |
choirions /ʃwaʁjɔ̃/ |
choiriez /ʃwaʁje/ |
choiraient /ʃwaʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| imperfect2 | — | — | chût /ʃy/ |
— | — | — | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Rarely, the present participle chéant / cheyant and the imperfect indicative chéais, chéait / cheyait are found.
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “choir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Irish
editPronunciation
editNoun
editchoir m
Old Irish
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editchoïr
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- Rhymes:English/aɪə(ɹ)
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