song

/sɔŋ/

/sɒŋ/

Other forms: songs

Feeling happy? Feeling sad? Sing a song! A song is poetry set to music, and there’s a song for every occasion, from “Happy Birthday” to “Here Comes the Bride.” Tra la la!

Most songs have words, or lyrics, though not all of them do — and we call the musical sound a bird makes a song as well. Sometimes rhyming poems are called songs, like Pablo Neruda's "April Rain Song." If your friend tells you she bought her bicycle "for a song," that simply means it was inexpensive, not that she actually had to sing a song to get it.

Definitions of song

1. noun

   a short musical composition with words
   “a successful musical must have at least three good songs”

   synonyms: vocal

   types:

   religious song

   religious music for singing

   anthem

   a song of devotion or loyalty (as to a nation or school)

   aria

   an elaborate song for solo voice

   ballad, lay

   a narrative song with a recurrent refrain

   barcarole, barcarolle

   a boating song sung by Venetian gondoliers

   ditty

   a short simple song (or the words of a poem intended to be sung)

   coronach, dirge, lament, requiem, threnody

   a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person

   drinking song

   a song celebrating the joys of drinking; sung at drinking parties

   folk ballad, folk song, folksong

   a song that is traditionally sung by the common people of a region and forms part of their culture

   lied

   a German art song of the 19th century for voice and piano

   love song, love-song

   a song about love or expressing love for another person

   berceuse, cradlesong, lullaby

   a quiet song intended to lull a child to sleep

   golden oldie, oldie

   a song that was formerly popular

   partsong

   a song with two or more voice parts

   prothalamion, prothalamium

   a song in celebration of a marriage

   roundelay

   a song in which a line or phrase is repeated as the refrain

   banquet song, scolion

   a song (sometimes improvised) sung by guests at a banquet

   serenade

   a song characteristically played outside the house of a love interest

   torch song

   a popular song concerned with disappointment in love

   work song

   a usually rhythmical song to accompany repetitious work

   chant

   a repetitive song in which as many syllables as necessary are assigned to a single tone

   Negro spiritual, spiritual

   a kind of religious song originated by Blacks in the southern United States

   Christmas carol, carol

   joyful religious song celebrating the birth of Christ

   anthem, hymn

   a song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)

   keen

   a funeral lament sung with loud wailing

   national anthem

   a song formally adopted as the anthem for a nation

   arietta, short aria

   a short aria

   minstrelsy

   ballads sung by minstrels

   chantey, chanty, sea chantey, shanty

   a rhythmical work song originally sung by sailors

   blues

   a type of folksong that originated among Black Americans at the beginning of the 20th century; has a melancholy sound from repeated use of blue notes

   fado

   a sad Portuguese folksong

   madrigal

   an unaccompanied partsong for 2 or 3 voices; follows a strict poetic form

   round, troll

   a partsong in which voices follow each other; one voice starts and others join in one after another until all are singing different parts of the song at the same time

   belling, callathump, callithump, charivari, chivaree, shivaree

   a noisy mock serenade (made by banging pans and kettles) to a newly married couple

   type of:

   composition, musical composition, opus, piece, piece of music

   a musical work that has been created
2. noun

   the act of singing
   “with a shout and a song they marched up to the gates”

   synonyms: strain

   types:

   carol

   a joyful song

   cradlesong, lullaby

   the act of singing a quiet song to lull a child to sleep

   type of:

   vocal music

   music that is vocalized (as contrasted with instrumental music)
3. noun

   a distinctive or characteristic sound
   “the song of bullets was in the air”

   “the song of the wind”

   “the wheels sang their song as the train rocketed ahead”

   type of:

   sound

   the sudden occurrence of an audible event
4. noun

   the characteristic sound produced by a bird
   “a bird will not learn its song unless it hears it at an early age”

   synonyms: birdcall, birdsong, call

   types:

   bell-like call

   a birdcall that resembles the tone of a bell

   two-note call

   a birdcall having two notes

   type of:

   animal communication

   communication between animals (of the same species)
5. noun

   a very small sum
   “he bought it for a song”

   type of:

   bargain, buy, steal

   an advantageous purchase