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Webster 1913 Edition

Noun.

;

pl.

Antiphonies

[See

A musical response; also, antiphonal chanting or signing.

An anthem or psalm sung alternately by a choir or congregation divided into two parts. Also figuratively.

O! never more for me shall winds intone,
With all your tops, a vast

antiphony

R. Browning.

Noun.

[contrary, and voice.]

The answer of one choir to another, when an anthem or psalm is sung by two choirs; alternate singing.

A species of psalmody, when a congregation is divided into two parts, and each sings the verses alternately.

The words given out at the beginning of a psalm, to which both the choirs are to accommodate their singing.

A musical composition of several verses, extracted from different psalms.

antiphony ‎(plural antiphonies)

(music, singing) alternate, or responsive singing by a choir split into two parts; a piece sung or chanted in this manner
alternate, or responsive ideas or opinions; juxtaposition
- 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 76:
  "Besides that Cardan pleases himself with that Antiphonie in Nature, that as the Ostrich being a Bird, yet never shes in the Aire, so this Bird of Paradise should alwayes be in the Aire, and never rest upon the Earth."

singing by a choir split in two parts or a piece sung in this manner