re|frain´er

re|frain¹ «rih FRAYN», intransitive verb.

to hold oneself back, especially from satisfying a momentary impulse; abstain: »

Refrain from wrongdoing. I ve hitherto refrained from appealing to you (George Bernard Shaw).

–v.t.

1. Archaic. to hold back; restrain: »

I have refrained my feet from every evil way (Psalms 119:101).

2. Obsolete. to keep from; abstain.

╂[< Old French refrener, learned borrowing from Latin refrēnāre < re- back + frēnāre to restrain, furnish with a bridle < frēnum a bridle]

–re|frain´er, noun.

Synonym Study intransitive verb. Refrain, abstain mean to keep oneself from (doing) something. Refrain implies checking an impulse or urge to do it: »

He politely refrained from saying what he thought of her hat.

Abstain implies holding back from it by force of will, deliberately doing without something one really wants but believes harmful or unnecessary: »

He is abstaining from pie.

re|frain² «rih FRAYN», noun.

1. a) a phrase or verse repeated regularly in a song or poem, especially at the end of each stanza; chorus. In “The Star-Spangled Banner” the refrain is “O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” b) Figurative: »

One hears the same refrain across the country: “What difference would my vote make?” (James Reston). “We are not afraid, we are not afraid,” the soldiers kept telling me, repeating a refrain as if they were trying to convince themselves (Donald Kirk).

2. the music for the refrain of a song.

╂[< Old French refrain, alteration of refrait (originally) past participle of refraindre break off, modulate < Vulgar Latin refrangere break off (in Late Latin, lessen), for Latin refringere; see etym. under refract (Cf. ↑refract)]