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What (who) is Refrain - definition

REPEATED LINES IN MUSIC OR POETRY

Shout chorus; Arranger's chorus; Chorus (song); Estribillo; Refrain (song); Kehrreim; Repetition (rhyme)

refrain

(refrains, refraining, refrained)

1.

If you refrain from doing something, you deliberately do not do it.

Mrs Hardie refrained from making any comment...

VERB: V from -ing/n

2.

A refrain is a short, simple part of a song, which is repeated many times.

...a refrain from an old song.

N-COUNT

3.

A refrain is a comment or saying that people often repeat.

Rosa's constant refrain is that she doesn't have a life.

N-COUNT

refrain

refrain¹

¦ verb (usu. refrain from) stop oneself from doing something.

Origin

ME: from OFr. refrener, from L. refrenare, from re- (expressing intensive force) + frenum 'bridle'.

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refrain²

¦ noun a repeated line or number of lines in a poem or song, typically at the end of each verse.

?the musical accompaniment for a refrain.

Origin

ME: from OFr., from refraindre 'break', based on L. refringere 'break up' (because the refrain 'broke' the sequence).

Refrain

·vt To abstain from.

II. Refrain ·vi To keep one's self from action or interference; to hold aloof; to Forbear; to Abstain.

III. Refrain ·v The burden of a song; a phrase or verse which recurs at the end of each of the separate stanzas or divisions of a poetic composition.

IV. Refrain ·vt To hold back; to Restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to Curb; to Govern.

Wikipedia

Refrain

A refrain (from Vulgar Latin refringere, "to repeat", and later from Old French refraindre) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the villanelle, the virelay, and the sestina.

In popular music, the refrain or chorus may contrast with the verse melodically, rhythmically, and harmonically; it may assume a higher level of dynamics and activity, often with added instrumentation. Chorus form, or strophic form, is a sectional and/or additive way of structuring a piece of music based on the repetition of one formal section or block played repeatedly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrain

Examples of use of Refrain

1. "Helpless, helpless, helpless," went the refrain.

2. That unfinished war returned like an old refrain.

3. Could he have heard Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s "pump you up" refrain?

4. What we need is more than the constant energy refrain.

5. The Interior Ministry appealed to protesters to refrain from violence.