refrain

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See also: Refrain

English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɹɪˈfɹeɪn/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1

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From Middle English refreynen, from Anglo-Norman refraindre, Middle French refreindre (from Latin refringere), and Anglo-Norman refrener, Middle French refrener (from Latin refrenare).

Verb

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

  1. (transitive, archaic) To hold back, to restrain (someone or something). [from 14th c.]
  2. (reflexive, archaic) To show restraint; to hold oneself back. [from 14th c.]
  3. (transitive, now rare) To repress (a desire, emotion etc.); to check or curb. [from 14th c.]
  4. (intransitive, with preposition "from") To stop oneself from some action or interference; to abstain; to eschew [from 15th c.]
  5. (transitive, rare, regional) To abstain from (food or drink). [from 16th c.]
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

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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.

Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

refrain (plural refrains)

  1. The chorus or burden of a song repeated at the end of each verse or stanza.
    • 1949, George Orwell, chapter 1, in Nineteen Eighty-Four:
      For perhaps as much as thirty seconds they kept it up. It was a refrain that was often heard in moments of overwhelming emotion. Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.
  2. (by extension) A much repeated comment, complaint, or saying.
    Synonym: old saw
Translations
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References

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Alteration of Old French refrait, past participle of the verb refraindre (based on the verb's infinitive), itself from Vulgar Latin *refrangere, from Latin refringere.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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refrain m (plural refrains)

  1. refrain, chorus

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Danish: refræn
  • English: refrain
  • German: Refrain
  • Greek: ρεφρέν (refrén)
  • Spanish: refrán

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Italian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French refrain.

Noun

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refrain m (invariable)

  1. refrain
    Synonym: ritornello

Further reading

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  • refrain in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

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