SONG

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Song mean? 

• SONG (noun)
  The noun SONG has 6 senses:

1. a short musical composition with words

2. a distinctive or characteristic sound

3. the act of singing

4. the characteristic sound produced by a bird

5. a very small sum

6. the imperial dynasty of China from 960 to 1279; noted for art and literature and philosophy

  Familiarity information: SONG used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SONG (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A short musical composition with words

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

song; vocal

Context example:

a successful musical must have at least three good songs

Hypernyms ("song" is a kind of...):

composition; musical composition; opus; piece; piece of music (a musical work that has been created)

Meronyms (parts of "song"):

language; lyric; words (the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number)

chorus; refrain (the part of a song where a soloist is joined by a group of singers)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "song"):

work song (a usually rhythmical song to accompany repetitious work)

torch song (a popular song concerned with disappointment in love)

serenade (a song characteristically played outside the house of a woman)

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

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

prothalamion; prothalamium (a song in celebration of a marriage)

partsong (a song with two or more voice parts)

golden oldie; oldie (a song that was formerly popular)

berceuse; cradlesong; lullaby (a quiet song intended to lull a child to sleep)

love-song; love song (a song about love or expressing love for another person)

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

folk ballad; folk song; folksong (a song that is traditionally sung by the common people of a region and forms part of their culture)

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

coronach; dirge; lament; requiem; threnody (a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person)

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

barcarole; barcarolle (a boating song sung by Venetian gondoliers)

ballad; lay (a narrative song with a recurrent refrain)

aria (an elaborate song for solo voice)

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

religious song (religious music for singing)

Derivation:

sing (produce tones with the voice)

sing (deliver by singing)

songster (a person who sings)

songster (a composer of words or music for popular songs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A distinctive or characteristic sound

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

the wheels sang their song as the train rocketed ahead

Hypernyms ("song" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Derivation:

sing (make a whining, ringing, or whistling sound)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of singing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

song; strain

Context example:

with a shout and a song they marched up to the gates

Hypernyms ("song" is a kind of...):

vocal music (music that is vocalized (as contrasted with instrumental music))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "song"):

cradlesong; lullaby (the act of singing a quiet song to lull a child to sleep)

carol (a joyful song (usually celebrating the birth of Christ))

Derivation:

sing (produce tones with the voice)

sing (deliver by singing)

songster (a person who sings)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The characteristic sound produced by a bird

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

birdcall; birdsong; call; song

Context example:

a bird will not learn its song unless it hears it at an early age

Hypernyms ("song" is a kind of...):

animal communication (communication between animals (of the same species))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "song"):

bell-like call (a birdcall that resembles the tone of a bell)

two-note call (a birdcall having two notes)

Derivation:

sing (to make melodious sounds)

songster (any bird having a musical call)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A very small sum

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Context example:

he bought it for a song

Hypernyms ("song" is a kind of...):

bargain; buy; steal (an advantageous purchase)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The imperial dynasty of China from 960 to 1279; noted for art and literature and philosophy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

Song; Song dynasty; Sung; Sung dynasty

Hypernyms ("Song" is a kind of...):

dynasty (a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family)

 Context examples 

“Ah me!” cried the wife, “if I were but a thousand feet beneath the earth, that I might not hear that song.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"Now, we must finish with Mignon's song, for Mr. Bhaer sings that," said Jo, before the pause grew painful.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I had often heard the song before, and always with lively delight; for Bessie had a sweet voice,—at least, I thought so.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was main hot, and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin' out as clear as clear—and the death-haul on the man already.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I went on, by finding suddenly that somebody was in the middle of a song.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He wondered if he ought to write a swan-song, but laughed the thought away.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Towards the close of it, in the interval succeeding an Italian song, she explained the words of the song to Mr Elliot.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Sir John was loud in his admiration at the end of every song, and as loud in his conversation with the others while every song lasted.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Yet there is truth in what he says, for, as you know well, the song was not of the cleanest.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And Frank Churchill was heard to say, “I think you could manage this without effort; the first part is so very trifling. The strength of the song falls on the second.”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)