Chorus

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin chorus, Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- or *ǵʰoros.

Pronunciation

• • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːɹəs/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔɹəs/
  • Rhymes: -ɔːɹəs
  • Hyphenation: chor‧us

Proper noun

Chorus (uncountable)

1. (Ancient Greece, historical) A group of singers and dancers in a theatrical performance or religious festival who commented on the main performance in speech or song.
   • 1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC; republished as Hermann Breymann, editor, Doctor Faustus (Englische Sprach- und Literaturdenkmale des 16., 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts; 5; Marlowes Werke: Historisch-kritische Ausgabe […]; II), Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg: Verlag von Gebr[üder] Henninger, 1889, →OCLC, scene XIV, lines 1519–1521, page 196:

     Enter Chorus. / [Chor.] Cut is the branch that might haue growne ful straight, / And burned is Apolloes’s Laurell bough, / That sometime grew within this learned man: […]

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Ya're as good as a Chorus my lord.

2. (Ancient Greece, historical) A song performed by the singers of such a group.