choir

Pluralchoirs

Formschoirs, choiring, choired

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A group of people who sing together, especially one trained to perform as a unit.

   The cathedral choir rehearses every Thursday evening.

   Several community choirs competed at the regional festival.

   Similarchorus, chorale

   Note

   The core sense, and the one the word's history explains. It came through Middle English quer and Old French quer from Latin chorus and Greek khorós, 'a company of dancers or singers'. The modern ch- spelling was reshaped to match chorus and French chœur. In use it usually names a standing body tied to an institution, such as a church choir or army choirs, rather than any crowd that happens to sing.

2. 2
   noundialectalChristiancountable

   One of the nine ranks or orders into which angels are traditionally divided.

   Medieval theologians placed the seraphim in the highest choir.

   The fresco depicts all nine choirs of angels arranged in concentric circles.

   Similarorder, rank

   Note

   Christian angelology divides the heavenly host into nine ranks, and each rank is called a choir. Seraphim, cherubim and thrones are three of them. The word usually appears in the plural or with a number, as in 'the nine choirs' or 'the choirs of angels'. The image keeps the old sense of a company singing together that runs through the singing group.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A set of strings on a harpsichord that includes one string for each note.

   The player engaged a second choir for a fuller sound in the final movement.

   Larger harpsichords often carry three choirs of strings.

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To sing in concert; to join one's voice with others in unified song.

   Carolers choired through the snowy streets on Christmas Eve.

   At dawn the monks choir in the abbey church, their voices rising as one.

   Similarsing, chant

   Note

   A rare verb that takes no object: people choir together, but they do not choir a hymn. Its forms are regular (choired, choiring). The Presbyterian Magazine of 1859 sets 'a long interval of choiring' against congregational singing, which 'the churches must come to.' There it means singing left to a trained choir. In that use the verb can carry a note of performance rather than shared worship.

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