Refrain | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Re-frāin’, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. REFRAINED; p. pr. & vb. n. REFRAINING.] [O. Fr. refraindre, refraigner, Pr. refranher, refriher, L. Lat. refrangere, for Lat. refringere, from re, again, back, and frangere, to break; Fr. refréner, Pr. & Sp. refrenar, It. raffrenare, Lat. refrenare, to curb. Cf. REFRACT and REFRENATION.]

Sense 1. To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to curb; to govern.

Nor from the Holy One of heaven Refrained his tongue blasphemous. Milton.

Sense 2. To keep one’s self from; to abstain from. [Obs. and rare.]

Who, requiring a remedy for his gout, received no other counsel than to refrain cold drink. Browne.

Re-frāin', v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. To keep from action or interference; to forbear; to abstain. Refrain from these men, and let them alone. Acts v. 38. Syn.—To hold back; forbear; abstain; withhold.

Re-frāin′, n.

noun

n. [Fr. refrain, Pr. refranh, refrim, from O. Fr. refraindre, Pr. refranher, hence, Sp. refran, Pg. refrão, a proverb. See supra.] The burden of a song; a phrase or verse which recurs at the end of each of the separate divisions of a poetic composition.