ETYM Old Eng. air, eir, French air, Latin aër, from Greek aer, air, mist, for aeier, from root ai to blow, breathe. Related to Aëry, Debonair, Malaria, Wind.
(Homonyms: err, heir).
1. A mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing.
2. The atmosphere; wind.
3. The region above the ground.
4. A distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing: SYN. aura, atmosphere.
5. A distinctive manner.
6. Medium for radio and television broadcasting; SYN. airwave.
7. (Archaic) The gaseous substance once thought to be one of four elements composing the universe. + prikaži više

ETYM Old Eng. balade, Old Fren. balade, French ballade, from Pr. ballada a dancing song, from ballare to dance; cf. Italian ballata. Related to Ball, and Ballet.
Form of traditional narrative poetry, widespread in Europe and the US. Ballads are metrically simple, sometimes (as in Russia) unstrophic and unrhymed or (as in Denmark) dependent on assonance. Concerned with some strongly emotional event, the ballad is halfway between the lyric and the epic. Most English ballads date from the 15th century but may describe earlier events. Poets of the Romantic movement both in England and in Germany were greatly influenced by the ballad revival, as seen in, for example, the Lyrical Ballads 1798 of Wordsworth and Coleridge. Des Knaben Wunderhorn/The Boy’s Magic Horn 1805–08, a collection edited by Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim, was a major influence on 19th-century German poetry. The ballad form was adapted in “broadsheets”, with a satirical or political motive, and in the “hanging” ballads purporting to come from condemned criminals.
Historically, the ballad was primarily intended for singing at the communal ring-dance, the refrains representing the chorus.
Opinion is divided as to whether the authorship of the ballads may be attributed to individual poets or to the community. Later ballads tend to center on a popular folk hero, such as Robin Hood or Jesse James.
1. A narrative poem of popular origin; SYN. lay.
2. A narrative song with a recurrent refrain; SYN. lay. + prikaži više

ETYM as. song, sang, from singan to sing; akin to Dutch zang, German sang, Icel. söngr, Goth. saggws. Related to Sing.
1. A distinctive or characteristic sound.
2. A short musical composition with words.
3. The act of singing; SYN. strain.
4. A very small sum.
A setting of words to music for one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment. Song may be sacred, for example a psalm, motet, or cantata, or secular, for example a folk song or ballad. In verse song, the text changes in mood while the music remains the same; in lied and other forms of art song, the music changes in response to the emotional development of the text. + prikaži više

ETYM A variant of tone.
A succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; SYN. melody, air, strain, melodic line, line, melodic phrase.