sing-songn.
1. A ballad, a piece of verse, having musical rather than poetical qualities, esp. one of a monotonous or jingling character.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > types of song > [noun] > ballad
ballad1458
sing-song1609
street ballad1694
balladling1798
song ballad1832
border balladc1863
come-all-ye1892
slowie1939
slow dance1989
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > bad poem or doggerel poem > [noun] > monotonous or jingling poem
sing-song1609
1609 Euerie Woman in her Humor sig. G2 My posts shal not be garded with a little sing song.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Berks. 86 This sing-song was made on the English by the Scots.
1709 Brit. Apollo 23–25 Nov. Her Sing-Songs..sound as well as Country Ding-Dongs.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) i. ii. §130 101 There was a Magazine provided of..Pictures and Sing-songs for the Service at Oxford.
1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles & St. James (new ed.) xxx, in Writings I. 315 A beautiful legend; a nice sing-song to send men to sleep.
2.
a. Verse or rhyme of the above type.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > bad poem or doggerel poem > [noun] > monotonous or jingling poem > monotonous or jingling poetry
sing-song1693
1693 T. Rymer Short View Trag. sig. O1v Campanella tells us, that the German and Gallican Heresie began with Sing-Song, and is carried on by Comedy, and Tragedies.
1734 A. Pope Epist. to Arbuthnot 226 I ne'r..daggled thro' the Town, To fetch and carry Sing-song up and down.
1775 F. Burney Jrnl. Nov. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1990) II. 179 I would recommend to such worthy Judges, the singsong & prettiness of Waller & Cowley.
1833 Westm. Rev. 18 35 Its place is taken by the despised melodrame, the sing-song of opera.
1856 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire V. l. 603 His actions are celebrated in most grandiloquent sing-song.
b. Tone of voice marked by a monotonous rise and fall, with a kind of singing effect.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [noun] > intonation > pitch > sing-song
sing-song1822
1822 C. B. Brown Carwin, etc. II. 115 Their tone was an insipid sing-song, or a monotonous uniformity.
1835 N. P. Willis Pencillings II. xliii. 43 Crying out the invitation to prayer in a long drawling sing-song.
1887 A. Jessopp Arcady ii. 50 The fine old Norfolk words, and twang, and squeaky sing-song have gone.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > [noun] > minstrel
gleemanc897
galegalea1250
minstrel?a1300
bard1449
sing-song1694
troubadour1728
musar1776
jongleur1782
minstreless1817
1694 P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 5th Bk. Wks. xviii Rhimers, Poets,..Sing-songs, Musitianers.
4.
a. An amateur concert of an informal nature; a convivial meeting where each person is expected to contribute a song. Now more usually a gathering for, or session of, community singing.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > social gathering > [noun] > gatherings for specific activity
apple paring1656
house raising1704
quilting1768
bee1769
sing-song1769
reading party1781
rocking1786
cotton-picking1795
rolling1819
picking bee1828
candy pulling1834
candy pull1845
taffy-join1854
barn-raising1856
taffy pulling1863
coffee shop1880
log-rolling1883
taffy pull1883
petting party1920
play date1975
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > a performance > [noun] > sing-song
sing-song1769
sing1850
singing1860
sing-in1968
sing-along1973
1769 Trinculo's Trip 19 The dinner o'er, the sing-song done.
1857 J. E. Ritchie Night Side of London 192 The wealthy [have] their ‘ancient concerts’—the costermongers what they term their sing-song.
1864 J. C. Hotten Slang Dict. (new ed.) Sing-Song, a choral meeting at a pot-house.
1869 J. Greenwood Seven Curses London ii. 19 The London factory-bred girl..has her ‘young man’, and accompanies him of evenings to ‘sing-songs’ and raffles.
1885 Times 11 Feb. 8/1 On Christmas night the whole camp was en fête, a capital sing-song having been got up.
1899 R. Kipling Stalky & Co. ii. 252 ‘Had some rippin' sing-songs in camp, too,’ said Tertius.
1914 D. O. Barnett Let. 18 Dec. in In Happy Memory (1915) 28 We've got some sing-songs and smokers on for Christmas.
1933 Sun (Baltimore) 21 Oct. 14/6 Harvard students will..learn old German drinking songs at the German Sing-Song conducted by James W. Hawkes.
1968 ‘J. le Carré’ Small Town in Germany ix. 147 Wednesday was welfare. Ping pong night. Sing song night.
1974 J. Aiken Midnight is Place i. 30 Ey, David! Coom to t'sing-song at t'Mason's Arms tonight?
b. The style of singing usual at a concert or gathering of this description.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > [noun] > style of singing
musica ficta1786
stile rappresentativo1886
sing-song1893
bel canto1894
throat singing1916
quasi parlando1959
isicathamiya1974
1893 E. J. Milliken 'Arry Ballads 3 A sand-parlour'd shanty devoted to sing-song and swipes.
Compounds
C1. attributive.
a. Of persons: Making mere jingling rhyme or monotonous verse; delighting in trivial or simple singing.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > [adjective] > given to singing
sing-songa1687
lyric1814
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > bad poem or doggerel poem > [adjective] > composing bad verse > monotonous or jingling
sing-songa1687
a1687 Duke of Buckingham Poems (1775) 141 And sing-song Durfey..Lives by his impudence, and not the muses.
1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical v. 51 The poets..from Huffing Dryden, to Sing-Song Durfey.
1760 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) III. 620 A good-humoured sing-song man.
1794 W. Combe Hist. Thames I. 282 The severity of the sing-song satirist.
1872 Punch 16 Nov. 200/1 You know that the sing-song lot mostly dislike good music.
b. Of the nature of sing-song; characterized by a jingling triviality or a monotonous rise and fall.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > [adjective] > rising or falling
sing-song1734
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [adjective] > intonation > sing-song > of nature of
sing-song1734
1734 Prompter 24 Dec. 1/1 Are the Opera's any more than Sing-song Concerts?
1739 P. Whitehead Manners 8 What sing-song Riot, and what Eunuch-squawling.
1810 W. Scott Let. 24 Oct. (1932) II. 396 I have other four little tales or singsong kind of verses.
1812 Baker's Biogr. Dram. II. 313/2 A satire on the sing-song and raree-show insignificance of modern operas.
1832 T. B. Macaulay Let. 21 July in G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay (1876) I. v. 262 Shall I tell you the news in rhyme? I think I will send you a regular sing-song gazette.
c. Monotonous in cadence.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [adjective] > intonation > sing-song
sing-song1825
sing-songy1892
1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan I. 89 A regular sing-song intonation.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. i. 19 Repeating in true sing-song vernacular the legend of St. George.
1874 F. C. Burnand My Time xxii. 198 He addressed him in an unctuous tone, and in a sing-song style.
C2.
sing-song girl n. a Chinese girl who entertains men by singing and dancing (euphemistic one of easy virtue).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > sexual indulgence > unchaste behaviour of woman > unchaste or loose woman > other spec.
grass widow1529
leaguer-laundress1630
leaguer-lady1702
leaguer-lass1822
garrison-hack1876
sing-song girl1934
groupie1966
1934 ‘A. Bridge’ Ginger Griffin 326 So there will be more war in China because of a foreigner's idle love-letter to a sing-song girl.
1939 W. H. Auden & C. Isherwood Journey to War 157 Even the singsong girls have changed their style.
1965 J. Von Sternberg Fun in Chinese Laundry iv. 82 On the first floor were gambling tables, singsong girls.
1978 China Now Mar. 19/2 The shocking thing was that in the cities—where officials danced or played with sing song girls—there were grain and food.
sing-song theory n. the theory (propounded by Jespersen) that language evolved from primitive singing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > [noun] > origin of language > theories of
pooh-pooh theory1861
bow-wow theory1864
symphonesis1872
nativism1892
ta-ta theory1930
sing-song theory1939
1939 L. H. Gray Found. Lang. 40 Language has been traced by some to primitive rhythmic chants and to singing (the sing-song theory).
1973 Current Anthropol. XIV. 27/3 He makes no reference to Jespersen's classic ‘sing-song’ theory of language origin (1922). Though this label was applied to Jespersen's hypothesis..by his critics, there seems little doubt that he believed language to have been chanted before it was spoken.
Derivatives
ˈsing-ˌsongy adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > [adjective] > style of singing
orthian1598
miauling1884
sing-songy1892
vo-do-deo-do1934
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [adjective] > intonation > sing-song
sing-song1825
sing-songy1892
1892 E. Lytton Let. 20 July in E. Lutyens Blessed Girl (1953) viii. 155 Vic is made to read poetry aloud to us. He has a very sing-songy voice.
1900 Pall Mall Mag. Sept. 107 Reading in deep guttural tones, and in a sing-songy way.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
sing-songv.
1. transitive.
a. To force by means of singing.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > sing [verb (transitive)] > force or drive by singing
singa1616
sing-song1726
1726 L. Welsted Dissembled Wanton i. i In Short, we are Sing-Songed at once out of our Senses and our Money.
b. To utter or express in a monotonous chant. Also, with direct speech as object.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [verb (transitive)] > intonate > sing-song
sing-song1867
1867 Our Young Folks Mar. (Stand.) Some singsonged the multiplication table.
1882 ‘E. Lyall’ Donovan vi Now they sing-song all the things so, and I can't seem to pick myself up.
1884 Graphic 15 Nov. 519/3 One sing-songing the alphabet.
1931 Amer. Speech 7 50 To the ‘fiddlin'’ for the square dances the ‘caller’ sing-songs: All to your places, straighten up your faces, Join eight hands and circle left.
1963 R. Wolff I, Keturah ii. iv. 171 ‘You can't catch me. You can't catch me,’ he singsonged.
1976 P. A. Lake Leffert's Dis. 173 ‘I'm sorry, he's not here,’ she sing-songed with her nasal twang.
2. intransitive. To sing, make verses, utter words, etc., in a sing-song manner.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > sing [verb (intransitive)]
singc825
chantc1405
carpc1425
relesch1513
deliver1530
record1590
strain1602
cherubim1748
vocalize1782
nightingalize1799
sing-song1828
outsing1877
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [verb (intransitive)] > sing-song
sing-song1828
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > rhyme > [verb (intransitive)] > jingle
tinkle1625
tink1655
chimea1667
jingle1670
clinka1745
sing-song1828
1828 W. Taylor Historic Surv. German Poetry I. 131 On the linden, birds were thronging, All chirping, warbling, singing-songing.
1875 Ld. Tennyson Queen Mary ii. i. 66 There's no glory Like his who saves his country: and you sit Sing-songing here.
1901 ‘G. Douglas’ House with Green Shutters 267 He sing-songed, always saying ‘this fine bullock’ in exactly the same tone of voice.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
<
n.1609
v.1726