chorus

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Medieval Latin chorus (“church choir”), Latin chorus (“group of dancers and singers; dance”), from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “group of dancers and singers, choir, chorus; dance accompanied by song; round dance”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to encircle, enclose”) or *ǵʰoros. Doublet of choir and hora. The plural form chori is from Latin chorī, from Ancient Greek χοροί (khoroí). The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (Ancient Greece, historical)
   1. A group of singers and dancers in a theatrical performance or religious festival who commented on the main performance in speech or song.
   2. A song performed by the singers of such a group.
2. (by extension, chiefly Britain, theater, 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.
3. 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.
4. (by extension) A group of people in a performance who recite together.
5. An instance of singing by a group of people.
6. (figurative)
   1. A group of people, animals, or inanimate objects who make sounds together.
      a chorus of crickets    a chorus of whiners
      More than just an appliance, the air conditioner is a memento mori. […] As summer proceeds, listen to the chorus of machines humming in the windows, outside the houses, atop the office buildings. 2017-08-09, Shane Cashman, “The Moral History of Air-Conditioning”, in The Atlantic
   2. The noise or sound made by such a group.
      a chorus of shouts and catcalls
      At the end of a frantic first 45 minutes, there was still time for Charlie Adam to strike the bar from 20 yards before referee [Martin] Atkinson departed to a deafening chorus of jeering from Everton's fans. 1 October 2011, Phil McNulty, “Everton 0 – 2 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2021-09-06
   3. A group of people who express a unanimous opinion.
      So far, more than a dozen EU countries have either enacted a windfall tax or said they’re planning to. […] On Monday, US President Joe Biden joined the chorus, accusing oil companies of “war profiteering” and threatening them with big new levies if they fail to bring down consumer prices. 2022-11-02, “Windfall Taxes Are All the Rage. They Shouldn’t Be.”, in The Washington Post
      Donald Trump’s top political staffers at Mar-a-Lago are pressing him to move forward with his planned 2024 presidential campaign announcement next week but a chorus of allies are suggesting delaying until after the Senate runoff in Georgia in December, according to sources familiar with the matter. 2022-11-11, Hugo Lowell, “Rift in Trump’s inner circle over 2024 presidential campaign announcement”, in The Guardian
   4. The opinion expressed by such a group.
      On Friday, 75 scholars and clinicians signed an open letter, joining a chorus of disagreement with Berenson by arguing that “establishing marijuana as a causal link to violence at the individual level is both theoretically and empirically problematic”. 2019-02-17, Jamiles Lartey, “Popular book on marijuana's apparent dangers is pure alarmism, experts say”, in The Guardian
7. (music)
   1. A piece of music, especially one in a larger work such as an opera, written to be sung by a choir in parts (for example, by sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses).
   2. A part of a song which is repeated between verses; a refrain.
      The catchiest part of most songs is the chorus.
      See the flowing bowl before us, / Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! / Strike the harp and join the chorus. / Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! 1862, T[homas] Oliphant, John Thomas, arranger, “No. 15. Nos Galan. New Year’s Eve. [Deck the Halls]”, in Welsh Melodies: With Welsh and English Poetry, London: Addison, Hollier & Lucas, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 140
   3. The main part of a pop song played after the introduction.
   4. A group of organ pipes or organ stops intended to be played simultaneously; a compound stop; also, the sound made by such pipes or stops.
   5. (often attributively) A feature or setting in electronic music that makes one instrument sound like many.
   6. (Christianity) A simple, often repetitive, song intended to be sung in a group during informal worship.
   7. (jazz) The improvised solo section in a small group performance.
      Of additional interest is the riff in the second chorus, which was later copied by Joe Garland and recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra as "In the Mood," becoming the biggest hit of the Swing Era. 2002, Thomas E. Larson, History and Tradition of Jazz, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing
      Jazz solos in the 1920s are much more about variety and discontinuity than unity and coherence. The explosive introduction, the instrutable and tender scat-clarinet dialogue, the spritely piano chorus, and the majestic trumpet chorus—contrast is far more important than unity. 2014, Thomas Brothers, “‘Some Kind of a God’”, in Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism, New York, N.Y., London: W[illiam] W[arder] Norton & Company, page 299

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To sing (a song), express (a sentiment), or recite or say (words) in chorus.
      In the middle of the little woody bay, or rather basin, which received the scanty waters of the stream, an armed sloop lay at anchor, and he heard the din of license and carousal on board,—the hasty oath—the hearty laugh—and the boisterous song, chorussed by a score of rough voices, which made the bay re-echo. 1826, Allan Cunningham, chapter V, in Paul Jones; a Romance.[…], volume II, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, →OCLC, page 125
      But soon they streamed ashore, fresh-faced young sailormen in small and large parties directed by ship's officers and Russian embassy guides. They drove to London, to Salisbury Cathedral, to Windsor Castle, chorusing sea chanteys and waving at girls. 22 June 1953, “Great Britain: Two-way Scrutiny”, in Thomas Stanley Matthews, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC
      The Cottons chorused grateful acknowledgement. 1955, Evelyn E. Smith, “Weather Prediction”, in Isaac Asimov, Terry Carr, Martin H[arry] Greenberg, editors, 100 Great Fantasy Short Stories, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published 1984
      From Peking to Berlin the rulers of the Communist world dutifully chorused delight at [Nikita] Khrushchev's coup. 15 December 1957, “Satellites: The Quavering Chorus”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC
      Again the women chorussed their approval. 1981, Wole Soyinka, chapter XIII, in Aké: The Years of Childhood (The Vintage Library of Contemporary World Literature), Aventura Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage, published September 1983, page 194
      The evil spirit caught up with him, unwound his trunk that was like a python, wrapped it around Pig and carried him back in triumph to the cave. The devilish host chorused a paean of victory as they swarmed back. 1982–1984, Wu Cheng’en, “When the Heart Spirit Stays in the Home the Demons Submit; the Mother of Wood Helps Bring Monsters to the Truth”, in W[illiam] J[ohn] F[rancis] Jenner, transl., Journey to the West, volume III, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, published 1997, page 178
      Elsewhere, within the walls of other charity houses, orphans' voices chorused hymns or recitations from Scripture, […] 1999, Simon Schama, “Amsterdam Anatomized”, in Rembrandt’s Eyes (A Borzoi Book), New York: N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, part 4 (The Prodigal), section i (The City in Five Senses), page 315
      I also remember a Children's Day celebration organised by our local academy where the little Westerners performed a piece called The Just War: […] They jumped right up and, while they were suspended in the air, drove their bayonets into an imaginary enemy's throat, chorusing 'Kill! kill! kill!' 2009, Dai Sijie, chapter 3, in Adriana Hunter, transl., Once on a Moonless Night (A Borzoi Book), 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, page 93
   2. To express concurrence with (something said by another person); to echo.
   3. (rare) To provide (a song) with a chorus or refrain.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To sing the chorus or refrain of a song.
      1785, James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D, Wednesday, 8th September, 1773, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6018/pg6018-images.html Malcolm sung an Erse song, the chorus of which was 'Hatyin foam foam eri', with words of his own. […] the boatmen and Mr M’Queen chorused, and all went well.
   2. To sing, express, or say in, or as if in, unison.
      Six State Commissioners of Education gloomily chorused about retrenchments, pay cuts and shut-down schools in Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington, Massachusetts and Maine. 14 August 1933, “No Slice for Teachers”, in Time
      Without an abatement agreement there would have been no chorusing from the government about the great success and triumph that Fontainebleau represented for Britain. 1 July 1985, George Robertson, Hansard, archived from the original on 2019-02-12
      Others in the crowded bus, having nothing better to do, took up the cry, and soon many of the higglers were chorusing about the ugliness of the fisherman playing dominoes. 1986, Anthony Winkler, chapter 2, in The Painted Canoe, University of Chicago Press, page 20
      When I asked that question in the House recently, a number of Tel Aviv's little echoes in the Chamber chorused that Israel was a democracy. 25 November 1998, George Galloway, Hansard
   3. To echo in unison another person's words.
      Then she shouted: "Viva our Lady of Grace," and the crowd chorused. 20 October 1947, “Miracle Man”, in Time
   4. Of animals: to make cries or sounds together.
      Then the cocks began to crow in the town beneath the hill, and the birds chorused in the fields, and a pale yellow poppy colored the east. 1987, Tanith Lee, Night's Sorceries, New York: Daw Books, page 122
      1998, Italo Calvino, The Path to the Spiders' Nests, translated by Archibald Colquhoun, revised by Martin McLaughlin, Hopewell, NJ: The Ecco Press, 1998, Chapter Two, p. 51, The hens are now sleeping in rows on their perches in the coops, and the frogs are out of the water and chorusing away along the bed of the whole torrent, from source to mouth.