REFRAIN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Refrain

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/rɪfrˈeɪn/ Listen

verb

Refrain v. t. (past & past part. refrained; pres. part. refraining)

To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to curb; to govern. "His reason refraineth not his foul delight or talent." "Refrain thy foot from their path."

To abstain from. (Obs.) "Who, requiring a remedy for his gout, received no other counsel than to refrain cold drink."

Refrain v. i. To keep one's self from action or interference; to hold aloof; to forbear; to abstain. "Refrain from these men, and let them alone." "They refrained therefrom (eating flesh) some time after."

Synonyms: To hold back; forbear; abstain; withhold.

noun

Refrain n. The burden of a song; a phrase or verse which recurs at the end of each of the separate stanzas or divisions of a poetic composition. "We hear the wild refrain."

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Etymology of 'Refrain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Refrain" Quotes from Famous Books

... who has the independence and the resolution to go where no missionary family resides, and carry on the work of female education. Even at the risk of offending the modesty of the persons concerned, I cannot refrain from putting on record my admiration of the course of Miss Wilson in Zahleh, Miss Gibbon in Hasbeiya, and Miss Williams in Tyre, in making homes for themselves, and carrying on their work far from European society ...

— The Women of the Arabs • Henry Harris Jessup

... of this celebrated woman is so remarkable that we can not refrain from briefly recording it. Her marvelous beauty had inflamed the passions of the king, and she had obtained so entire an ascendency over his mind that she was literally the monarch of France. The treasures of the empire were emptied into her lap. Notwithstanding the stigma ...

— Maria Antoinette - Makers of History • John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott

... readers of The London Letter have had an account week by week, as to the truth of which they can judge for themselves, for the facts are there by which it can be tested. The attempt has been made to refrain from any criticism which could hurt the feelings of the generals, who are doing their duty to the best of their power in most trying circumstances. But is it not plain that the British Army has been ...

— Lessons of the War • Spenser Wilkinson

... "to stay till I had seen him made Earle of Leicester, and Baron of Denbigh, with great solemnity; herself (Elizabeth) helping to put on his ceremonial, he sitting on his knees before her, keeping a great gravity and a discreet behaviour; but she could not refrain from putting her hand to his neck to kittle (i.e., tickle) him, smilingly, the French Ambassador and I standing beside her."—MELVILLE'S MEMOIRS, ...

— Kenilworth • Sir Walter Scott

... and went to order her off, whereupon she coolly dropped the end of her boordeh which covered the head and shoulders, effectually preventing him from going near her; made up her bundle and walked off. His respect for the Hareem did not, however, induce him to refrain ...

— Letters from Egypt • Lucie Duff Gordon

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