choir (kwir)

[A corrupt spelling of quirel, "restored" to chair (without a change of pronunciation) in the latter part of the 16th century, in imperfect imitation of F. chœur or the orig. L. chorus: see quirel and chorus.] 1. Any company of singers. He asked, but all the heavenly quire stood mute. Milton , P. L., iii. 217. 2. An organized company of singers. (a) Especially, such a company employed in church service. The choir, With all the choicest music of the kingdom, Together sung Te Deum. Shak . , Hen. VIII., iv. 1. Then let the pealing organ blow To the full-voiced quire below. Milton, Il Penseroso, 1. 161. The choir have not one common-metre hymn to drag them down to the people in the pews below. W. M. Baker , New Timothy, p. 157. (b) A choral society, especially one that performs sacred music. In eight-part music a chorus is divided into first IMG:content-0335.png:[blocks in formation] How often have I led thy sportive choir With tunele pipe beside the murmuring Loire. Goldsmith , Traveller, 1. 243. Formerly and still occasionally quire . choir (kwir), v . t . and i. [ choir for quire, n.; same as quirel , v.] To sing in company. On either side [of the Virgin], round the steps of the throne, is a crowd of choiring angels. Farrar . choir-boy (kwir'boi), n. A member of a boychoir; a boy who sings in a choir. choiristert, n. An obsolete form of chorister. choir-office (kwir'of"is), n. 1. Same as choir service, 1.-2. In the Rom. Cath. Ch., any one of the seven canonical hours.-3. The breviary office. Lee, Eccl. Terms. Choir-screen, Cathedral of Lincoln, England. the third principal section of the instrument, of le power than the great organ, and containing stops specially suited for choir accompaniment. Once called the chair - organ; occasionally, also, the positive organ. choir-pitch (kwir'pich), n. The ancient church pitch of Germany, said to be about one tone higher than the concert-pitch. choir-ruler (kwir'rö"lėr), n. Eccles., one of the church officers who preside, in place of the precentor, over the singing of the psalms on the more important festivals. The choir-rulers wear copes, and are two or four in number, according to the rank of the festival. Until a late period, even if they do not still, several churches on the continent put staves into the hands of the choir - rulers , as is still practised in Belgium. Rock , Church of our Fathers, ii. 204. choir-screen (kwir's krēn), n. An ornamental screen of wood, stone, or metal, often in openwork, dividing the choir or chancel of a church from the aisles or the ambulatory, usually in such a manner as not to obstruct sight or sound, but sometimes a solid wall cutting off all view of the floor of the choir from the aisles. See cut in preceding column.