consort

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French, ultimately from Latin cōnsors.

Pronunciation

• (noun)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏn'sôt, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnsɔːt/
  • (General American) enPR: kän'sôrt, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnsɔɹt/

  • Audio (US), noun

    (file)

• (verb)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kənsôt', IPA^(key): /kənˈsɔːt/
  • (General American) enPR: kənsôrt', IPA^(key): /kənˈsɔɹt/

  • Audio (US), verb

    (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

Noun

consort (countable and uncountable, plural consorts)

1. The spouse of a monarch.

   The consort of the queen has passed from this troubled sphere.

2. A husband, wife, companion or partner.
   • 1863, William Makepeace Thackeray, Roundabout Papers:
   • 1838, Charles Darwin, The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle:

     the snow-white gander, invariably accompanied by his darker consort

3. (euphemistic, sometimes humorous) An informal, usually well-publicized sexual companion of a monarch, aristocrat, celebrity, etc.
   • 1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     He single chose to live, and shunned to wed, / Well pleased to want a consort of his bed.

4. A ship accompanying another.
5. (uncountable) Association or partnership.
   • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Theater, →OCLC:

     Take it singly, and it carries an air of levity; […] but, in consort with the rest, you see, has a meaning quite different.

6. A group or company, especially of musicians playing the same type of instrument.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 22:

     In one consort there sat / Cruel revenge and rancorous despite, / Disloyal treason, and heart-burning hate.

   • 1633, George Herbert, Employment:

     Lord, place me in thy consort.

7. (obsolete) Harmony of sounds; concert, as of musical instruments.
   • 1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “Astrophel. A Pastoral Elegie vpon the Death of the Most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney.”, in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: T C for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     To make a sad consort, / Come, let us join our mournful song with theirs.

   • 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “At A Solemn Music”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, , London: Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, , →OCLC:

     And keep in tune with Heaven, till God ere long
     To his celestial consort us unite

Synonyms

• (husband, wife, companion, partner): Thesaurus:spouse, companion, escort
• (association, partnership): association, partnership
• (group of musicians): band, group

Derived terms

• broken consort

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

consort (not comparable)

2. (postpositive) of a title, by virtue of one's (living) spouse; often contrasted with regnant and dowager

   Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother took on nearly as many duties as queen dowager, after her husband's death, as she had had when she was queen consort during his reign.

Derived terms

• queen consort
• king consort
• prince consort
• princess consort

See also

• regnant
• queen regnant
• queen dowager

Verb

consort (third-person singular simple present consorts, present participle consorting, simple past and past participle consorted)

1. (intransitive) To associate or keep company (with).
   • 1610, Alexander Cooke, Pope Joane, in William Oldys, editor, The Harleian Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library: Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes: With a Table of the Contents, and an Alphabetical Index, volume IV, London: Printed for T Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, 1744, OCLC 5325177; republished as John Maltham, editor, The Harleian Miscellany; or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library, Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes, volume IV, London: Printed for R. Dutton, 1808–1811, OCLC 30776079, page 95:

     If there bee any lasie fellow, any that cannot away with worke, any that would wallow in pleasures, hee is hastie to be priested. And when hee is made one, and has gotten a benefice, he consorts with his neighbour priests, who are altogether given to pleasures; and then both hee, and they, live, not like Christians, but like epicures; drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.

   • 1717, Catcott, Samuel Croxall, John Dryden, Nicholas Rowe, Temple Stanyan, “Book XIII”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     Which of the Grecian chiefs consorts with thee?

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter X, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     I had noticed also that Queequeg never consorted at all, or but very little, with the other seamen in the inn.

   • 1961, J. A. Philip, “Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato,”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, volume 92, page 457:

     Being itself inferior and consorting with an inferior faculty it begets inferior offspring.

2. (intransitive) To be in agreement.

Synonyms

• (associate or keep company): hang out (slang)
• (be in agreement): agree, concur
• (associate or unite in company with): associate, hang out (slang)

Translations

Anagrams

• Croston, Scorton, cortons, crotons

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnsors.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)
• Rhymes: -ɔɾt

Noun

consort m or f by sense (plural consorts)

1. partner, consort
2. (law) spouse

   Synonym: cònjuge

3. (law) accomplice

   Synonym: partícip

4. (law) joinder

   Synonym: litisconsort

Derived terms

• litisconsort

Related terms

• consorci

Further reading

• “consort” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “consort”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “consort” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnsortem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.sɔʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

consort f (plural consorts)

1. consort
2. (plural only, preceded by et, slightly derogatory) minions, associates; the likes

   Facebook, Myspace et consorts.

   Facebook, Myspace and the likes.

Further reading

• “consort”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French consort, from Latin consors.

Noun

consort m (plural consorți)

1. consort

Declension