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Refrain vs Refrein - What's the difference?

refrain | refrein | Alternative forms |

Refrein is a alternative form of refrain.



As nouns the difference between refrain and refrein

is that refrain is the chorus or burden of a song repeated at the end of each verse or stanza while refrein is an alternative spelling of lang=en.

As a verb refrain

is to hold back, to restrain (someone or something).

refrain

English

Etymology 1

From a combination of (etyl) refraindre, (etyl) refreindre (from (etyl) refrangere), and (etyl) refrener, (etyl) refrener (from (etyl) refrenare).

Verb

(en verb)
  • (archaic) To hold back, to restrain (someone or something).
  • * Proverbs i:15 .
    • Refrain thy foot from their path.
  • (reflexive, archaic) To show restraint; to hold oneself back.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts V:
    • And nowe I saye unto you: refrayne youreselves from these men, and let them alone [...].
  • *
    • his reson aperceyueth it wel that it is synne / agayns the lawe of god / and yet his reson / refreyneth nat his foul delit or talent.
  • * Bible, Proverbs i. 15
    • Refrain thy foot from their path.
  • To stop oneself (from) some action or interference; to abstain.
  • * Bible, Acts v. 38
    • Refrain from these men, and let them alone.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • They refrained therefrom [eating flesh] some time after.
  • *
    • Who, requiring a remedy for his gout, received no other counsel than to refrain cold drink.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) refrain, from the (etyl) verb . See refract and the verb refrain.

    Noun

    (wikipedia refrain) (en noun)
  • The chorus or burden of a song repeated at the end of each verse or stanza.
    • We hear the wild refrain . Whittier.
  • A much repeated comment, complaint, or saying.

    • References

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    Anagrams

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    refrein

    English

    Alternative forms

    * refrain

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (rare)
  • * 1935 , Charles Burney, Frank Mercer, A General History of Music, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Period (1789) , p. 601:
    • [T]here are frequent returns to particular portions of the airs, more indeed in the manner of a refrein or burden, than Da Capo, or Rondo…
  • * 1855 , George Musgrave Musgrave, A ramble through Normandy , p. 415:
    • While the last words of the War Song, just brought under notice, are yet awakening doubts as to the authenticity of the refrein , or chorus, here alleged to have been shouted forth by the Norman Army, I take occasion to observe that Monsieur Travers must have treated a vague tradition as an historical fact, in imputing to so able a Commander as William of Normandy the folly of setting fire to his fleet.
  • * 1845 , Shakespeare Society (Great Britain), The Shakespeare Society Papers? , p. 19:
    • The refrein of Spenser0s Prothalamion turns upon “the Thames”; of his Epithalamion on “the echoing woods”.

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