Word.ws English Dictionary

faburden

faburden noun: a kind of counterpoint with a drone bass.

Noun

faburden (plural faburdens)

  1. A kind of counterpoint with a drone bass.
  2. A succession of chords of the sixth.
  3. (obsolete) A refrain.
    • [B]ecause he obseru'd Ergo was the deadly clap of the piece, […] hee accustomed to make it the Faburden to anie thing hee spake; As if anie of his companions complained hee was hungrie, hee would straight conclude Ergo you must goe to dinner; or if the clocke had stroke or bell towld, Ergo you must...1596, Thomas Nashe, “The Letter of Harueys Tutor to his Father, as touching his manners and behauior”, in Have with You to Saffron-Walden
    • They haue all of them one and the same manner of tune in their singing; and commonly they make three rests in their song, besides the fa-burden in the end, which is a kind of grone.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book X.] Of Stockedoues.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius...

Forms of faburden

pluralfaburdens
alternative formfauxbourdon

Origin of faburden

From French faux bourdon. See false, and burden (“a verse”).

Questions about faburden

What does faburden mean?
Faburden means a kind of counterpoint with a drone bass.
What part of speech is faburden?
Faburden is a noun.
What is the plural of faburden?
The plural of faburden is faburdens.

Words near faburden in the dictionary

  1. fabulous
  2. fabulous invalid
  3. fabulously
  4. fabulousness
  5. fabulousnesses
  6. faburden
  7. faburdens
  8. fac
  9. fac brat
  10. fac brats
  11. fac-simile

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: faburden (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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