refrain

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfɹeɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn

Inherited from Middle English refreynen, from Anglo-Norman refrener, Old French refrener, from Latin refrēnāre, from re- +‎ frēnāre, from frēnum.

refrain (third-person singular simple present refrains, present participle refraining, simple past and past participle refrained)

1. (transitive, archaic) To hold back, to restrain (someone or something). [from 14th c.]
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 1:15:

     Refrain thy foot from their path.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 14:

     The presence even for a moment among a party of debauchees of a woman endued with every quality of modesty and not less severe than beautiful refrained the humorous sallies even of the most licentious but her departure was the signal for an outbreak of ribaldry.

2. (reflexive, archaic) To show restraint; to hold oneself back. [from 14th c.]
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:

     And nowe I saye unto you: refrayne youreselves from these men, and let them alone [...].

   • 1899, Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of the West, Volume 1 Chapter 18:

     As I went down the river, all dissatisfaction at my lot passed away, and by the time Dartmouth came in view I could no longer refrain myself, but threw my cap into the air, and barely caught it from falling overboard as I shouted, "Hurrah for merry England! […] "

3. (transitive, now rare) To repress (a desire, emotion etc.); to check or curb. [from 14th c.]

   Synonym: hold

4. (intransitive, with preposition "from") To stop oneself from some action or interference; to abstain; to eschew [from 15th c.]
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 5:38:

     Refrain from these men, and let them alone.

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     They refrained therefrom [eating flesh] some time after.

   • July 5, 1731, Jonathan Swift, letter to Vanessa

     If you knew how I struggle for a little health, what uneasiness I am at in riding and walking, and refraining from every thing agreeable to my taste

   • 1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Time Traveler Returns”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 36:

     I will [...] tell you the story of what has happened to me, if you like, but you must refrain from interruptions.

5. (transitive, rare, regional) To abstain from (food or drink). [from 16th c.]
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     Who, requiring a remedy for his gout, received no other counsel than to refrain cold drink.

From French refrain, from the Old French verb refraindre (“to break off, repeat”), from Latin re- (“back, again”) + frangō (“break”); compare Occitan refranhs (“a refrain”), refranher (“to repeat”). See refract and the verb refrain.

refrain (plural refrains)

1. The chorus or burden of a song repeated at the end of each verse or stanza.
   • 1949, George Orwell, chapter 1, in Nineteen Eighty-Four:

     For perhaps as much as thirty seconds they kept it up. It was a refrain that was often heard in moments of overwhelming emotion. Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.

2. (by extension) A much repeated comment, complaint, or saying.

   Synonym: old saw

• “refrain”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Ren fair, ferrian

Alteration of Old French refrait, past participle of the verb refraindre (based on the verb's infinitive), itself from Vulgar Latin *refrangere, from Latin refringere.

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.fʁɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

refrain m (plural refrains)

1. refrain, chorus

• changer de refrain

• “refrain”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• fariner

Borrowed from French refrain.

refrain m (invariable)

1. refrain

   Synonym: ritornello

• refrain in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• rifarne