roulade
verbEtymology From French roulade, from rouler (“to roll”), from Old French roler.
1
To sing an elaborate embellishment of several notes to one syllable.
roulade
nounUK /ɹuːˈlɑːd/ · US /ɹuˈlɑd/
Etymology From French roulade, from rouler (“to roll”), from Old French roler.
1
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music An elaborate embellishment of several notes sung to one syllable.
- He leaned back in his chair, and little more than the whites of his upturned eyes were visible; and beating time upon the table with one hand, claw-wise, and with two or three queer, little thrills and roulades, which re-appeared with great precision in each verse, he delivered himself thus, in what I suspect was an old psalm tune: […]1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
- He heard only here and there the ecstatic burst of a mocking-bird's wonderful roulades.1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 71: