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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
ballad
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
sing
▪ Here was a community in which people argued fiercely about theology, even sang ballads about predestination.
▪ As they walk they sing a special ballad composed by the archdeacon's niece for the occasion.
▪ And then they couldn't sing a ballad in the key that they recorded it because of some studio trick!
▪ She sings ballads very well and she can do ragtime like no-one you've ever heard.
▪ Then, from somewhere beyond the imposing stone wall, came a sweet voice singing a haunting ballad.
▪ A man and his wife positioned themselves in the middle of one of the tree-lined avenues and sang ballads to a harmonica.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Peggy ScottAdams's provocative ballad is hitting radio audiences like an emotional bomb.
▪ The results are exquisite-moving from ballads and other composed pieces through different grades of abstraction to total collective improvisation.
▪ Transfixing and intense, their dark, wine-soaked ballads and lock-tite harmonies are addictive.
▪ Where previous boy-girl ballads dealt with prom night nerves or playground jealousies.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ballad

Ballad \Bal"lad\, n. [OE. balade, OF. balade, F. ballade, fr. Pr. ballada a dancing song, fr. ballare to dance; cf. It. ballata. See 2d Ball, n., and Ballet.] A popular kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; as, the ballad of Chevy Chase; esp., a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.

Ballad

Ballad \Bal"lad\, v. i. To make or sing ballads. [Obs.]

Ballad

Ballad \Bal"lad\, v. t. To make mention of in ballads. [Obs.]

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
ballad

late 15c., from French ballade "dancing song" (13c.), from Old Provençal ballada "(poem for a) dance," from balar "to dance," from Late Latin ballare "to dance" (see ball (n.2)).

Wiktionary
ballad

n. 1 A kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; especially, a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas. 2 A slow romantic song. vb. 1 (context obsolete English) To make mention of in ballads. 2 (context intransitive English) To compose or sing ballads.

WordNet
ballad
  1. n. a narrative song with a recurrent refrain [syn: lay]

  2. a narrative poem of popular origin [syn: lay]

Wikipedia
Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "dancing songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa.

Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century the term took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and is now often used for any love song, particularly the pop or rock sentimental ballad.

Ballad (disambiguation)

Ballad is a form of narrative poetry, often put to music, or a type of sentimental love song in modern popular music.

Ballad or Ballade may also refer to:

Ballad (Namonaki Koi no Uta)

"Ballad (Namonaki Koi no Uta)" is the 10th Japanese single released by alan. The song is the theme song of the same-titled movie starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Yui Aragaki.

The single also contains the previously released digital single Shiawase no Kane.

The single debuted at #11 the first week selling 5,988 copies, the second week it fell to #22 selling 2,948 copies, total to date it's sold 10,696 copies.

Ballad (John Ireland)

Ballad (sometimes called Ballade) is a piece for piano solo composed in 1929 by John Ireland.

A performance takes about 10 minutes.

Ballad (Glee)

"Ballad" is the tenth episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on November 18, 2009, and was written and directed by series creator Brad Falchuk. "Ballad" sees the glee club split into pairs to sing ballads to one another. Rachel ( Lea Michele) is paired with club director Will ( Matthew Morrison) and develops a crush on him. Quinn's ( Dianna Agron) parents learn that Quinn is pregnant, and she moves in with Finn ( Cory Monteith) and his mother when her own parents evict her. Gregg Henry and Charlotte Ross guest-star as Quinn's parents Russell and Judy Fabray, and Sarah Drew appears as Suzy Pepper, a student with a former crush on Will. Romy Rosemont returns as Finn's mother, Carole Hudson.

The episode features covers of seven songs, including a mash-up of " Don't Stand So Close to Me" by The Police and " Young Girl" by Gary Puckett and The Union Gap. Studio recordings of all songs performed in the episode were released as singles, available for digital download. "Ballad" was watched by 7.29 million US viewers and received mixed reviews from critics. Elizabeth Holmes of The Wall Street Journal and Liz Pardue of Zap2it were disappointed that Jane Lynch did not appear as Sue Sylvester, though Mike Hale of the New York Times did not miss her presence. Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle deemed "Ballad" one of the best episodes of Glee to date. Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly did not enjoy it as much as the preceding episode " Wheels" but reviewed the episode positively overall, while Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune deemed it "deliriously, deliciously bad".

"Ballad" was the episode submission of Dianna Agron for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, but her nomination failed to make the final cut.

Ballad (song)

"You Were.../Ballad" is Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki's forty-seventh (forty-eighth overall) single, released on December 29, 2009. The single was intended to be released on December 16, but Avex Trax pushed the release date two weeks back. The first song on the single "You were..." is the theme song for the Japanese version of the Disney movie Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, while the second song "Ballad" is tied up with The Firmament of the Pleiades, a NHK's historical and political drama based on Jiro Asada's book of the same name. The single became Hamasaki's 22nd consecutive single to debut at number-one position since her 2002 single "Free & Easy" on the Oricon weekly charts, making her the first solo artist and the female artist to have 22 consecutive singles to debut at number-one position. It is also her 34th number-one single on the Oricon weekly charts.

Usage examples of "ballad".

He was still watching Alleluia when Delilah made her abrupt, unnerving switch to one of the bawdiest ballads Caleb had ever heard her sing.

From a window opening upon a balcony overhead came the clear notes of a barytone voice enunciating the oldfashioned words of an English ballad, the refrain of which expressed hopeless separation.

Gellor left off the runs and rills, playing instead a melody and singing a ballad that bespoke the comradery and gladness of a forest camp at the coming of night.

This last topic gave Jim and the others an opportunity for which they were grateful, to point out where the version of the ballad the de Mers had heard was wrong.

Bahama Room, your host Joey Mirris, featuring for Our Big Summer Season, the haunting ballads of Sheilagh Morraine, and Chookie McCall and her Island Dancers.

Several ballads have been written about the so-called Ivy Runners, telling of the bravery and resourcefulness they showed, and reminding us that even the greatest walls must, in time, yield to the overclimbing ivy.

Following the example of one of his comrades of Medan, being readily carried away by precision of style and the rhythm of sentences, by the imperious rule of the ballad, of the pantoum or the chant royal, Maupassant also desired to write in metrical lines.

Determination gripped Parrail as he concentrated every fibre of his being on the mythic ballad.

Il Penseroso have their source in a song of Fletcher, and two beautiful little ballads that are ascribed to Shakespeare.

Cleindori playing a small harp which she held on her lap, and singing in a soft pentatonic scale some endless ballad about a lake of cloud where stars fell on the shore and a woman walked, showered in stars.

Beggars sat by church doors asking for alms, mendicant friars begged bread for their orders or for the poor in prison, jongleurs performed stunts and magic in the plazas and recited satiric tales and narrative ballads of adventure in Saracen lands.

Uncle Henry spoke as if reciting a ballad of old in a lilting cadence.

Wagner, westward bring thy heavenly art, No trifler thou: Siegfried and Wotan be Names for big ballads of the modern heart.

He found tucked away in a snug corner an ancient collection of Border Ballads, and he read therein of many unmoral romances and pretty fancies, which, since he was a small boy, held little meaning for him, or charm, beyond a delight in the swing of the rhythm, for Johnny had a feeling for music.

He wrote sacred and panegyrical odes, Anacreontic and Horatian lyrics, dithyrambs and cantatas, and even, in his later years, ballads.