Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A poem or song with a regularly recurring refrain.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any song in which an idea, line, or refrain is continually repeated.
  • noun Same as rondeau
  • noun A dance in a circle; a round or roundel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Poetry) See rondeau, and rondel.
  • noun A tune in which a simple strain is often repeated; a simple rural strain which is short and lively.
  • noun A dance in a circle.
  • noun Anything having a round form; a roundel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music A poem or song having a line or phrase repeated at regular intervals.
  • noun A dance in a circle.
  • noun Anything having a round form; a roundel.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

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

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, alteration (influenced by lai, poem, song) of Old French rondelet, diminutive of rondel, roundel; see roundel.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French rondelet, diminutive of Old French rondel (French: rondeau). Ending -lay either from lay ("ballad or sung poem"), or from virelay.

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