choir - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

A cathedral choir.

From Middle English quer, quere, from Old French quer, from Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “company of dancers or singers”). Modern spelling influenced by chorus and French chœur. Doublet of quire, chorus, and hora.

choir (plural choirs)

  1. (music) A group of people who sing together; a company of people who are trained to sing together.
    Alternative form: (archaic) quire
    The church choir practices Thursday nights.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
    • 2020 April 24, Oscar Holland, “How North Korea’s ideology is built on song and dance”, in CNN‎[1]:
      Army choirs and troupes perform at some of North Korea's biggest state events.
    • 2020 May 13, David Williams, “How coronavirus spread from one member to 87% of the singers at a Washington choir practice”, in CNN‎[2]:
      Public health officials studying the Covid-19 outbreak among members of a Washington choir found numerous ways the virus could have spread, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  2. (architecture) One quarter of a cruciform church, or the architectural area of a church, generally used by the choir; often near the apse.
    Alternative form: (uncommon) quire
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
  3. (Christian angelology) One of the nine ranks or orders of angels.
    Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones are three of the choirs of angels.
  4. Set of strings (one per note) for a harpsichord.

singing group

part of a church for choir assembly

choir (third-person singular simple present choirs, present participle choiring, simple past and past participle choired)

  1. (intransitive) To sing in concert.
    Alternative form: (poetic) quire
    • 1859, The Presbyterian Magazine, volume 9, page 423:
      The great aim of this book is to secure congregational singing, which the churches must come to, at last, after a long interval of choiring.

Inherited from Middle French cheoir, from Old French cheoir, from older chedeir, from Late Latin cadēre, from Latin cadĕre, from Proto-Italic *kadō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- (“to fall”).

choir (defective) (past participle chu)

  1. (literary) to fall
    Synonym: tomber
    • 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act 5, scene 3:
      L'abandonnerez-vous à l'infâme couteau
      Qui fait choir les méchants sous la main d'un bourreau ?
      Would you abandon him to the infamous blade
      Which makes the wicked fall under the headman's hand?
    • 1976, Serge Gainsbourg, “Chez Max coiffeur pour hommes”, in L’homme à tête de chou:
      Puis sous le sirocco du séchoir
      Dans mes cheveux
      La petite garce laisse choir :
      "Je veux"
      Then under the sirocco of the dryer
      Into my hair
      The little lass let drop [the words]
      "I want [you]"

This is a defective verb, only conjugated in certain tenses.

infinitive simple choir
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple —
compound ayant + past participle
past participle chu/ʃy/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simpletenses) present chois/ʃwa/ chois/ʃwa/ choit/ʃwa/ choyons/ʃwa.jɔ̃/ choyez/ʃwa.je/ choient/ʃwa/
imperfect — — — — — —
past historic2 chus/ʃy/ chus/ʃy/ chut/ʃy/ chûmes/ʃym/ chûtes/ʃyt/ churent/ʃyʁ/
future choirai or cherrai/ʃwa.ʁe/ or /ʃɛ.ʁe/ or /ʃe.ʁe/ choiras or cherras/ʃwa.ʁa/ or /ʃɛ.ʁa/ or /ʃe.ʁa/ choira or cherra/ʃwa.ʁa/ or /ʃɛ.ʁa/ or /ʃe.ʁa/ choirons or cherrons/ʃwa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃe.ʁɔ̃/ choirez or cherrez/ʃwa.ʁe/ or /ʃɛ.ʁe/ or /ʃe.ʁe/ choiront or cherront/ʃwa.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʃe.ʁɔ̃/
conditional choirais/ʃwaʁɛ/ choirais/ʃwaʁɛ/ choirait/ʃwaʁɛ/ choirions/ʃwaʁjɔ̃/ choiriez/ʃwaʁje/ choiraient/ʃwaʁɛ/
(compoundtenses) present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simpletenses) present — — — — — —
imperfect2 — — chût/ʃy/ — — —
(compoundtenses) past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — — — — — —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Rarely, the present participle chéant / cheyant and the imperfect indicative chéais, chéait / cheyait are found.

choir m

  1. lenited form of coir

choïr

  1. lenited form of coïr