medley

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See also: Medley

English

Etymology

From Middle English medle, from Anglo-Norman medlee, Old French medlee, from the feminine past participle of early Medieval Latin misculō (to mix). Compare meddle. Doublet of melee.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɛdli/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛdli

Noun

medley (plural medleys)

  1. (now rare, archaic) Combat, fighting; a battle.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “lxxj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book X:
      Thenne came the kyng of Irland and the kynge of the stryete marches to rescowe syre Tristram and sire Palomydes / There beganne a grete medle / & many knyghtes were smyten doune on bothe partyes / and alweyes sir launcelot spared sir Tristram / and he spared hym
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1632, Xenophon, translated by Philemon Holland, Cyrupaedia:
      For greater shields they have, than that they can either doe or see ought, and being raunged by hundreds no doubt they will hinder one another in the medley, except some very few
  2. A collection or mixture of miscellaneous things.
    a fruit medley
  3. (music) A collection of related songs played or mixed together as a single piece.
    They played a medley of favorite folk songs as an encore.
  4. (swimming) A competitive swimming event that combines the four strokes of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.
  5. A cloth of mixed colours.
    • 1631, Thomas Fuller, Comment on Ruth , Chapter 1, verses 9, 10, 11:
      Otherwise , as our Saviour noteth , when the old Cloth was joyned to the new , it made no good medley , but the Rent was made the wors

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

medley (third-person singular simple present medleys, present participle medleying, simple past and past participle medleyed)

  1. (music) To combine, to form a medley.

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English medley.

Pronunciation

Noun

medley n (singular definite medleyet, plural indefinite medleyer)

  1. medley (of songs; swimming event)
    Carola sang et medley af "Fame" og "Flashdance" ved koncerten.
    Carola sang a medley of "Fame" and "Flashdance" at the concert.

Inflection

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English medley.

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: med‧ley

Noun

medley m (plural medleys, diminutive medleytje n)

  1. several songs strung together

Synonyms

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English medley. Doublet of mezclada.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmedlei/
  • Rhymes: -edlei
  • Syllabification: med‧ley

Noun

medley m (plural medleys)

  1. medley (songs)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English medley.

Noun

medley n or c

  1. (music, neuter) medley (song that mixes other songs)
  2. (swimming, common) medley (competition that mixes different forms of swimming)

Declension

(music):

(swimming):

Declension of medley
nominative genitive
singular indefinite medley medleys
definite medleyn medleyns
plural indefinite
definite

Further reading