Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Choir |
ChoirNoun1. A chorus that sings as part of a religious ceremony. 2. A family of similar musical instrument playing together. 3. The area occupied by singers; the part of the chancel between sanctuary and nave. Verb1. Sing in a choir. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "choir" was first used: sometime around 1300. (references) |
Etymology: Choir \Choir\, noun. [from Old English expression quer, Old French cuer, French ch[oe]ur, from the Latin expression chorus choral dance, chorus, choir, from the Greek expression, originally dancing place; probably akin to inclosure, from Latin expression hortus garden, and English yard. See Chorus.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of a choir, foretells you may expect cheerful surroundings to replace gloom and discontent. For a young woman to sing in a choir, denotes she will be miserable over the attention paid others by her lover. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is called a cappella singing. When singing with instrumental accompaniment, the accompanying instruments can consist of practically any instruments, one or several.
There exists a large number of different types of choirs, among others:
One of the first great choral composers was Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643), a master of counterpoint, who conclusively showed some of what could be done with choirs and many other musical ensembles.
Monteverdi, together with Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), demonstrated how music can support and enforce the message of the lyrics. They both composed a large number of music for both a cappella choir as well as choirs accompanied by different ensembles.
A century later, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was the next to make his prominent mark in history. Due to his work as a cantor he came to compose an overwhelming amount of sacred choral music; cantatas, motets, passions and other music.
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Structure of choirs
Choirs are often led by a conductor. Most often choirs consist of four parts but there is no limit to the number of possible parts. However, other than four, the most common number of parts is three, five, six and eight.Choral music
A great number of composers have written choral works. However, composing instrumental music is an entirely different field than composing vocal music. Inclusion of text and to cater the special capabilities and limitations of the human voice makes composing vocal music in some ways more demanding than composing instrumental music. Due to this difficulty, many of the greatest composers have never composed choral music. Naturally, many composers have their favourite instruments and rarely compose for other types instruments or ensembles and choral music is in this sense not a special case.Famous choirs
Professional choirs
Amateur choirs
Children's choirs
Important choral works
Choir (disambiguation)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Choir."
Synonyms: ChoirSynonyms: consort (n), chorus (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Clergy | Churchwarden, sidesman; clerk, precentor, choir; almoner, suisse, verger, beadle, sexton, sacristan; acolyth, acolothyst, acolyte, altar boy; chorister. |
Temple | Chancel, quire, choir, nave, aisle, transept, vestry, crypt, golgotha, calvary, Easter sepulcher; stall, pew; pulpit, ambo, lectern, reading desk, confessional, prothesis, credence, baldachin, baldacchino; apse, belfry; chapter house; presbytery; anxious-bench, anxious-seat; diaconicum, jube; mourner's bench, mourner's seat. |
Worship | Return thanks, give thanks; say grace, bless, praise, laud, glorify, magnify, sing praises; give benediction, lead the choir, intone; deacon, deacon off |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Choir |
| English words defined with "choir": Antiphone, antiphony ♦ bema ♦ cantor, Cantoris, chancel, Chevet, choir loft, Choir service, choirboy, choirmaster, choral, Chorist, chorister, chorus, conducting ♦ Decanal side, Decanal stall, Decani ♦ Faldstool ♦ Kapelle ♦ laic, lay, Lecturn ♦ Manductor ♦ precentor ♦ recessional, Recessional hymn, rood screen ♦ Sacrist, sanctuary, secular, Semichorus ♦ Wood choir. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "choir": CHOIR BIRD, choir organ, Choir Posse, Church Invisible, Clapping the Prayer Books ♦ Habakkuk ♦ Linspe ♦ MoTab, Musician, Chief ♦ QUIRE ♦ Village Blacksmith. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "choir": Retrochoir. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Choir" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. French (fall). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Choir chick (American Pie; writing credit: Adam Herz) I've been abducted by the Vienna Boys Choir! (Flashback; writing credit: David Loughery) Bells ringing, fireworks, a dulcet choir of pretty little birdies (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) Hey, you stand behind me in the choir, you sing well, you have a lot of energy (Ordinary People; writing credit: Judith Guest; Alvin Sargent) Followed by a church supper! With a choir! (The Wild Bunch; writing credit: Walon Green; Roy N. Sickner) | |
Lyrics | They hear a choir sing a song, the music seemed to come from afar (Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord; performing artist: Boney M) Said she could hear me singin' in the choir (Long Time Gone; performing artist: Dixie Chicks) Like the sweet song of a choir (Burning Love; performing artist: Elvis Presley) The choir softly sing; (THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING; performing artist: King Crimson) I recall last Sunday morning, a choir from off the streets, ("Sing Me Back Home"; performing artist: Merle Haggard) | |
Clever | At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | George Jessel and His Art Choir (1931) Bobby Bumps Queers a Choir (1916) The Choir of Densmore (1912) | |
Song Titles | 99 1/2 Won't Do (performing artist: Sabathani Choir) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | "Salisbury" from the choir / Gilbert, del. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Ely Cathedral, England. Interior from south choir aisle. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Tobol'sk kremlin, Archbishop's Residence (1773-75), interior, residential church, view west with choir gallery. Since 1925, the main site of the Tobol'sk Regional History Museum, Tobol'sk, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. |  | Exeter Cathedral. Choir looking east. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Cover art: The Massed Congressional Choir 1997-1998 / Oliphant 98. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Choir entering chapel (Mary Lyon Hall), South Hadley, Mass. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Vested choir marching to chapel, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Consecration of the choir and the two chapels of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Orlando, Florida. Wings over Jordan, a popular Sunday morning radio program broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting System from station WDBO. The choir rehearsing. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Church choir. San Augustine, Texas. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Synthesized vocals or choir entering in a stretto manner. | | A choir of bamboo-like flutes playing in a chordal manner. |
| Church choir signing hallelujah. | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | At the moment when the uproar of the demons receded, one would have said, it was a choir of angels approaching in the darkness |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | One by one the others took up the air until a full choir of voices was singing |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Travel | Bahamas | Many churches in The Bahamas have proud traditions of gospel choir singing, and church services can be quite lively. (references) |
Austria | Do not expect your contacts in Vienna to be able to easily acquire tickets to the Opera, the Spanish Riding School or the Vienna Boys Choir. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Choir" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 96.44% of the time. "Choir" is used about 899 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 96.44% | 867 | 8,172 |
| Noun (proper) | 3.11% | 28 | 65,706 |
| Noun (common) | 0.44% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 899 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "choir": boy's choir ♦ chapel choir ♦ choir boy ♦ choir leader ♦ choir loft ♦ choir master ♦ Choir organ ♦ choir school ♦ Choir screen ♦ Choir service ♦ choir singing ♦ choir stalls ♦ Choir wall ♦ lead the choir ♦ male voice choir ♦ wood choir. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "choir": choir-book, choir-boy, choir-mistress, choir-screen, choir-stalls. | |
Ending with "choir": double-choir, four-choir, three-choir. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
choir | 292 | child choir indianapolis | 19 |
mormon tabernacle choir | 168 | boy choir miami | 18 |
choir robe | 166 | african child choir | 18 |
brooklyn tabernacle choir | 110 | choir riser | 18 |
georgia mass choir | 62 | choir retard | 17 |
vienna boy choir | 62 | choir clipart | 16 |
choir mongolia | 59 | colorado mass choir | 15 |
boy choir | 52 | choir georgia lyrics mass | 15 |
show choir | 49 | choir gospel music | 14 |
gospel choir | 46 | choir dress show | 14 |
chicago mass choir | 45 | chancel choir | 13 |
church choir | 40 | choir dress | 13 |
westminster choir college | 39 | church choir robe | 13 |
child choir | 39 | choir tour | 13 |
choir music | 37 | red army choir | 12 |
the boy choir of harlem | 31 | boy choir philadelphia | 12 |
youth choir | 23 | choir river white youth | 12 |
mississippi child choir | 23 | choir picture | 11 |
choir mass | 21 | wilmington chester mass choir | 11 |
angel choir | 20 | choir joke | 11 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "choir"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | kor (chorus, concert, ensemble), grup këngëtarësh, grup aktorësh. (various references) | |
Arabic | فرقة (band, brigade, command, sect, squad, troupe), كورس (chorus, institute), طبقة من الملائكة, جوقة (chorus), جزء من الكنيسة, الخورس. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | хор (chorus, quire), църковен хор, мястото на хора в църква. (various references) | |
Chinese | "詩班 , "诗班. (various references) | |
Czech | pìvecký sbor (chorus). (various references) | |
Danish | rygpositiv (choir organ). (various references) | |
Dutch | rugpositief (choir organ), Nederlands Kamerkoor (Netherlands Chamber Choir), koorhek (choir screen), kamerkoor (chamber choir). (various references) | |
Farsi | هم سرایان (Chorus), کر (Deaf), دسته سرایندگان , بصورت دسته جمعی سرودخواندن . (various references) | |
Finnish | laulukuoro (choral society), kuoro (chorus), kuori (bark, case, chancel, crust, fruit skin, hull, husk, jacket, peel, shell). (various references) | |
French | chorale (choral, chorally, chorus). (various references) | |
German | chor (chorally, chorus, coir, coir loft). (various references) | |
Greek | χορωδία (chorus). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מק"ל" (chorus). (various references) | |
Hungarian | kórus (chorus, quire), énekkar (chorus, quire). (various references) | |
Indonesian | paduan suara (chorus). (various references) | |
Italian | coro (chancel, chorally, chorus). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 聖歌隊 , クロ 明礬 (chlorella, chlorophyll, chloroprene rubber, chrome alum, croissant, cunnilingus, ghoul, good, good morning, Gould, gourmand, gourmet, Guam, Guatamala, Gungnir, kvas, quartet, sniff), 合"隊 (chorus), 合"団 (chorus group). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | がっしょうたい (chorus), がっしょう " (chorus group), せいかたい, クワイア . (various references) | |
Korean | 성가대. (various references) | |
Manx | sheshaght chiaullee (chorus, consort), kior. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | oirchay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | coro (chancel, choral, chorus, coir, coir loft), cantar em coro (chorus). (various references) | |
Romanian | cor (chorus, glee, loft), capelã (chapel), cânta în cor (chorus), stranã (lectern, pew, stall). (various references) | |
Russian | хор (chorus, coir). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | hor (chorale). (various references) | |
Spanish | coro (chorally, chorus). (various references) | |
Swedish | kor (chancel, chorus, coir), kör (chorus, drive, drives). (various references) | |
Thai | ร้องประสานเสียง, ค"ะประสานเสียง. (various references) | |
Turkish | koroda şarkı söylemek, koro yeri (choir stalls), koro (choral, choral society, choric, chorus), kilise korosu. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | співоча група, хорове товариство, хоровий ансамбль, хор (choral society, chorus, quire), церковний хор (chapel), капела (chapel). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | bầy thiên thần, đội hợp xướng. (various references) | |
Welsh | co+r (pew, stall). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | chorus, concentum. (various references) |
| Old French | 900-1400 | quer. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "choir": choirboy, choirboys, choired, choiring, choirmaster, choirmasters, choirs. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "choir": antechoir, mouchoir. (additional references) | |
Words containing "choir": antechoirs, mouchoirs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Choir" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: chaif, chaio, chairm, Chairn, cheiro, chio, chiol, chiop, chior, Chiot, chir, chiro, chlor, chlori, choa, choad, choi, choid, choire, choiry, choix, Chojiro, chor, chori, choti, Choua, choud, Chourou, Chui, chuie, Chuirn, Churi, clori, cohi, coird, coirm, couir, cuoir, hoir, Khebir, Khuri, koir, mhoir, phior, Schori. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "choir" (pronounced kwī"er) |
| 4 | k w ī" er | enquire, acquire, require. |
| 3 | -w ī" er | rewire, wire. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: chiro, ichor. | |
| Words within the letters "c-h-i-o-r" | |
-1 letter: coir, rich. | |
-2 letters: chi, cor, hic, ich, orc, rho, roc. | |
-3 letters: hi, ho, oh, or. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-h-i-o-r" | |
+1 letter: chiros, choirs, choric, coheir, heroic, ichors, orchid, orchil, orchis, orphic, rhodic, thoric. | |
+2 letters: brioche, bronchi, chariot, cheerio, chicory, chloric, chlorid, chlorin, choicer, choired, chokier, choragi, choregi, choreic, chorial, chorine, choring, chorion, chorizo, choroid, chrisom, chromic, chronic, cochair, coheirs, haricot, heroics, hickory, isochor, microhm, morphic, ochring, ochroid, orchids, orchils, ostrich, pibroch, rhombic, rhonchi, trochil, trophic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
