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# refrain

«refrain» in Mova's early modern english dictionary: **stop yourself; hold back** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### kind

archaic word

### modern equivalent

stop yourself; hold back

### part of speech

verb and noun

### meaning for a pupil

To stop yourself from doing something; to hold back; in old usage also used with "himself". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/R/refrain/#m1)

### how it differs from today

Today we say "refrain from" and it is formal; the reflexive form "refrained himself" and "could not refrain himself" is old, and the noun "refrain" (a repeated line) is today's sense.

### examples

- And he washed his face, and came out; and he refrained himself, and said: 'Set on bread.' (Torah GEN.43.31, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/R/refrain/#x1)
- Every verse ended with this refrain,-- (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/R/refrain/#x2)
- Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried: 'Cause every man to go out from me.' And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. (Torah GEN.45.1, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/R/refrain/#x3)

### primary record

refrain

### tests

rate: word (≥3 uses, never in EWT or ≥10× EWT, Wiktionary: first sense archaic); corpora 25 (Torah 1, tales 23, Sefer Yetzirah 1); EWT 0; ratio 2.8 (Torah alone 2.3); Wiktionary archaic (first sense)

### In the corpora

- [And he washed his face, and came out; and he refrained himself, and said: 'Set on bread.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1433/)
- [Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O LORD?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.1375/)
- [I have preached righteousness in the great congregation, lo, I did not refrain my lips; O LORD, Thou knowest.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.664/)
- [I have refrained my feet from every evil way, in order that I might observe Thy word.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.2266/)
- [In the multitude of words there wanteth not transgression; but he that refraineth his lips is wise.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.277/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «refrain» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/R/refrain/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.