min·strel

(mĭn′strəl)

1. A medieval entertainer who traveled from place to place, especially to sing and recite poetry.

a. A lyric poet.

b. A musician.

3. A performer in a minstrel show.

[Middle English minstral, from Old French menestrel, servant, entertainer, from Late Latin ministeriālis, official in the imperial household, from Latin ministerium, ministry; see ministry.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

minstrel

(ˈmɪnstrəl)

1. (Historical Terms) a medieval wandering musician who performed songs or recited poetry with instrumental accompaniment

2. (Theatre) a performer in a minstrel show

3. archaic or poetic any poet, musician, or singer

[C13: from Old French menestral, from Late Latin ministeriālis an official, from Latin minister]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

min•strel

(ˈmɪn strəl)

n.

1. a medieval poet, singer, and musician, who was either an itinerant or a member of a noble household.

2. a musician, singer, or poet.

3. a performer in a minstrel show.

[1175–1225; Middle English ministrel < Old French < Late Latin ministeriālis servant (n. use of adj.)]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	minstrel - a singer of folk songs folk singer, jongleur, poet-singer, troubadour singer, vocalist, vocalizer, vocaliser - a person who sings
	2.	minstrel - a performer in a minstrel show corner man, end man - a man at one end of line of performers in a minstrel show; carries on humorous dialogue with the interlocutor interlocutor, middleman - the performer in the middle of a minstrel line who engages the others in talk performer, performing artist - an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience
Verb	1.	minstrel - celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels music - musical activity (singing or whistling etc.); "his music was his central interest" sing - produce tones with the voice; "She was singing while she was cooking"; "My brother sings very well"

minstrel

noun musician, singer, harper, bard, troubadour, songstress, jongleur He was playing a banjo and garbed in a minstrel's outfit.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

مُغَنٍّ مُتَجَوِّل في العُصور الوُسْطى

minstrel

troubadur

Minnesänger

juglar

ménestrel

vándorénekes

farandsöngvari

menestrelis

menestrels

musikant trubadur

minstrel

gezici halk ozanısaz şairi

中世纪的吟游诗人或歌手

minstrel

[ˈmɪnstrəl] N → juglar m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

minstrel

[ˈmɪnstrəl] n → ménestrel m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

minstrel

n (medieval) → Spielmann m; (wandering) → (fahrender) Sänger; (= ballad-singer) → Bänkelsänger m; (= singer of love songs) → Minnesänger m; (esp US: modern) weißer, als Schwarzer zurechtgemachter Sänger und Komiker

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

minstrel

[ˈmɪnstr/əl] n → giullare m, menestrello

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

minstrel

(ˈminstrəl) noun

a musician who went about the country in medieval times, reciting or singing poems.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

It was no easy thing to be a minstrel, and a man often spent ten or twelve years in learning to be one.

At last a time came when minstrels wandered from town to town, from castle to castle, singing their lays.

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He seemed to be a strolling minstrel, for he bore a harp in his hand, which he thrummed, while his lusty tenor voice rang out with--

So Robin went back to his camp, where he told of the minstrel.

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I told Allan a-Dale, the northern minstrel, that he would damage the harp if he touched it after the seventh cup, but he would not be controlled Friend, I drink to thy successful performance.''

It speedily appeared, that if the knight was not a complete master of the minstrel art, his taste for it had at least been cultivated under the best instructors.

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1-4) Phoebus, of you even the swan sings with clear voice to the beating of his wings, as he alights upon the bank by the eddying river Peneus; and of you the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched lyre, always sings both first and last.

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Out of the popular ballads, or, chiefly, of the minstrel poetry which is partly based on them, regularly develops epic poetry.

At an early period also professional minstrels, called by the Anglo-Saxons scops or gleemen, disengaged themselves from the crowd and began to gain their living by wandering from village to village or tribe to tribe chanting to the harp either the popular ballads or more formal poetry of their own composition.

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Murderous minstrel, instrument of evil, most innocent instrument!

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The third kind depends on memory when the sight of some object awakens a feeling: as in the Cyprians of Dicaeogenes, where the hero breaks into tears on seeing the picture; or again in the 'Lay of Alcinous,' where Odysseus, hearing the minstrel play the lyre, recalls the past and weeps; and hence the recognition.

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This explains the welcome given by Chinese Emperors and Caliphs of Bagdad to all roving minstrels in whose immortality, like flies in amber, they are caught.

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