choruses

Noun

chorus (plural choruses or (obsolete) chorusses or (rare) chori)

1. (historical, Ancient Greece) A group of singers and dancers in a theatrical performance or religious festival who commented on the main performance in speech or song.
   • [W]ee would that the voice and dialect of the propheteſſe Pythia, reſembling the ſpeech of a Chorus in a tragedie from a ſcaffold, ſhould pronounce her anſwers not in ſimple, plaine, and triviall termes, without any grace to ſet them out, but with Poeticall magnificence of high and ſtately verſes...1603, Plutarch, “Why the Prophetesse Pythia Giveth No Answers Now from the Oracle in Verse or Meeter”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […]...
2. (historical, Ancient Greece) A song performed by the singers of such a group.
   • And the Apocalyps of Saint Iohn is the majeſtick image of a high and ſtately Tragedy, ſhutting up and intermingling her ſolemn Scenes and Acts with a ſevenfold Chorus of halleluja's and harping ſymphonies: […]1642 (indicated as 1641), John Milton, The Reason of Church-governement Urg’d against Prelaty […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Rothwell, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 39
3. (UK, broadly, historical) An actor who reads the prologue and epilogue of a play, and sometimes also acts as a commentator or narrator; also, a portion of a play read by this actor.
   • Enter Chorus. / Cut is the branch that might haue growne ful ſtraight, / And burned is Apolloes Laurel bough, / That ſometime grew within this learned man: […]1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC, signature [F3], recto
4. A group of singers performing together; a choir; specifically, such a group singing together in a musical, an opera, etc., as distinct from the soloists; an ensemble.
   • The performance of the chorus was awe-inspiring and exhilarating.
5. (broadly) A group of people in a performance who recite together.
6. An instance of singing by a group of people.
   • But once out of sight of those fearful precincts, the psalm was forgotten, and again broke, loud, clear, and silvery, the joyous chorus.1848, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter I, in Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book I (The Norman Visitor, the Saxon King, and the...

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