Chant
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): (v. t.) To celebrate in song.
(2): (v. t.) Twang; manner of speaking; a canting tone.
(3): (v. t.) To utter with a melodious voice; to sing.
(4): (v. t.) To sing or recite after the manner of a chant, or to a tune called a chant.
(5): (v. t.) A short and simple melody, divided into two parts by double bars, to which unmetrical psalms, etc., are sung or recited. It is the most ancient form of choral music.
(6): (v. t.) Song; melody.
(7): (v. i.) To sing, as in reciting a chant.
(8): (v. t.) A psalm, etc., arranged for chanting.
(9): (v. i.) To make melody with the voice; to sing.
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [2]
Is used for the vocal music of churches. In church history we meet with divers kinds of these; as, 1. Chant Ambrosian, established by St. Ambrose;
2. Chant Gregorian, introduced by pope Gregory the Great, who established schools of chanters, and corrected the church music. This, at first, was called the Roman song; afterwards the plain song; as the choir and people sing in unison.
King James Dictionary [3]
CHANT,
1. To sing to utter a melodious voice that is, to cant or throw the voice in modulations.
The cheerful birds do chant sweet music.
2. To celebrate in song as, to chant the praises of Jehovah. 3. To sing, as in church-service to repeat words in a kind of canting voice, with modulations.
Holman Bible Dictionary [4]
Instruments DancingMusic
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
( פָּרִט , Parat ´ , to Chatter, spoken contemptuously; Sept. Ἐπικρατέω ) occurs only in Amos 6:5, where the passage, "That Chant to the sound of the viol," may be rendered, "That sing to the sound of the harp." The Chaldee, Syriac, and Vulgate read, "who sing to the sound of the psaltery;" and the margin of our version gives "quaver." Josephus informs us that the instrument here termed Nebel was of a triangular shape, and carried in the hand. In the paintings on the monuments at Thebes we find players on the harp in the act of singing to the sound of their own music. (See the cut below.) Similar scenes are depicted on the Assyrian monuments. (See Music). Both among the Jews and the Egyptians musical instruments were chiefly played upon by women: the Psalmist, describing a musical procession,' says, "The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels" ( Psalms 68:25). (See Harp).
(cantus, a song), the word employed in the early Church to designate the vocal music of the congregation. The term was applied, later, to special tunes adapted to prose; e.g. the Ambrosian, established by St. Ambrose, and the Gregorian, introduced by Pope Gregory the Great, who established schools of chanters, and corrected the Church music. This, at first, was called the Roman song; afterwards the plain song, as the choir and people sing in unison. In modern liturgical worship, the word designates the musical performance of all those parts of a prose liturgy which are permitted to be sung or recited in a musical tone. In a wider sense, it is used to denote those forms of sacred music in which prose (e.g. passages of Scripture) is sung in simple harmonies. (See Music).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [6]
(פרט , pāraṭ ): Occurs only once in the King James Version in Amos 6:5 , and the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Pāraṭ corresponds to an Arabic root meaning to anticipate. It may therefore signify to improvise, to sing without care or preparation. the Revised Version (British and American) "to sing idle songs" suits the context. See Driver, Joel and Amos .
