sing

sing vb Sing, troll, carol, descant, warble, trill, hymn, chant, intone all mean to produce musical tones by or as if by means of the voice.

Sing is the general term used of human beings and of animals and things that produce musical or sustained tones. In its primary application to human beings it usually implies utterance in words with musical inflections or modulations and often suggests such modulated utterance as an art to be practiced, studied, or learned

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sing an aria

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sing the part of Faust

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sing a plaintive song

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she studied singing diligently but lacked the voice to profit from instruction

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grasshoppers chirping, and birds singing— Shaw

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the rigging sang in the wind

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Troll usually suggests the use of full round tones in singing

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while mountains were unloosing their hair to the music waterfalls trolled like bells for the wedding— Babette Deutsch

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and is especially applicable to the hearty voices of jovial men raised in singing or the resonant celebration in song of great events or deeds

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let us be jocund. Will you troll the catch you taught me but whilere?— Shak.

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strange adventure that we're trolling: modest maid and gallant groom— Gilbert

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Carol suggests the voices of youthful, lively, or joyous singers, usually of persons, sometimes of birds; it may or may not suggest the singing of carols, but it often implies merriment or effortlessness and spontaneity

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used to carol cheerfully in the morning, locked in the single bathroom— Canby

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a wren on a tree stump caroled clear— Masefield

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Descant (see also DISCOURSE) implies part singing or, especially, the singing of a higher part in harmony with the plainsong of the tenor in a contrapuntal treatment. Descant often merely implies harmonious singing or singing in harmony with

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they will . . . sing so sweetly, and withall descant it so finely and tunably— Topsell

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a device by which several singers appear to be descanting, when in fact only one is doing so— Grove's Diet, of Music

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Warble frequently implies singing in a soft and gentle voice but with various modulations (as turns and trills and quavers); often it means no more than to sing melodiously or with sweetness

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warble his native woodnotes wild— Milton

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the skylark warbles high his trembling thrilling ecstasy— Gray

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Trill basically means to sing with trills or vibrations (as by rapidly alternating two notes a degree apart)

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trill like a canary

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but it is often extended to refer to the making of sounds involving vibration without much thought of musical quality

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with a shrill trilling from the countless leaves in between gusts of wind— Idriess

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trilled his soup into his mouth with a swift sucking vibration— The Use of English

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could hear the noise of a telephone trilling— James Helvick

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Hymn implies a lifting of the voice in songs of worship or praise, especially of God

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evening by evening, as they came to the setting sun, they hymned Father, Son, and Holy Ghost— Pusey

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the thrush concerting with the lark that hymned on high— Pollok

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Chant may mean little more than sing, but often it is used specifically to imply the method of singing adopted by priests or choristers singing unmetiicai verse where the emphasis is upon musical recitation of phrases, measured even tones, and a reverential spirit. Intone also comes very close to the specific sense of chant in meaning but sometimes carries a stronger connotation of reciting in sustained monotone

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the Psalms were chanted

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the priest intoned the Gospel of the Mass

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I joined with choirs of monks, intoning their deep sonorous dirges— L. P. Smith

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they would take hands and ring-a-rosy about him, chanting at the tops of their voices, until good humor was restored— Mary Austin

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