bourdon

Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“accompaniment”), from Old French bordon, from Medieval Latin burdō, burdōnem (“drone”). The modern pronunciation is influenced by modern French bourdon.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʊədən/

bourdon (plural bourdons)

1. (music, archaic) The burden or bass of a melody.
   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     The earth tremors resumed and made a bourdon to the loud psalms that they sang, interspersed with the odd ode of Horace recited by Silas.

2. The drone pipe of a bagpipe.
3. The lowest-pitched stop of an organ.
   • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vintage, published 2007, page 5:

     The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.

4. The lowest-pitched bell of a carillon.
5. A large, low-pitched bell not part of a diatonically tuned ring of bells.
6. A bumblebee, genus Bombus.

Borrowed from Middle English burdoun (“pilgrim's staff”), from Old French bordon, from Medieval Latin burdō, burdōnem (“pilgrim's staff”).

• bordon, burdon

bourdon (plural bourdons)

1. (historical) A pilgrim's staff.
   • 1883 October, M.H. Bloxam, “On The Sepulchral Effigy of a Pilgrim in St. Mary's Church, Haverfordwest, South Wales”, in Archaeologia Cambrensis, volume 14, number 56, page 258:

     The left hand was gone, this held the bourdon or pilgrim's staff, a small portion only of which appeared over the scrip.

   • 1897 May, W. Connor Sydney, “Out With the Old Pilgrims”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, page 489:

     The pilgrim's return was denoted by a bunch of palm, which was tied round the head of the bourdon, the leaves being, of course, ghe guerdon of his enterprise, giving the name of Palmer to the tribe.

   • 1904, James Blanton Wharey, A Study of the Sources of Bunyan's Allegories, page 29:

     Both in Wright's text and in Lydgate's version the hutch from which Grace Dieu gets the scrip and bourdon is said to contain 'many a fair jewel.'

   • 1926, James Charles Wall, Pilgrimage, page 27:

     A thin wand is frequently bound against the pilgrim's bourdon in fifteenth century pictures.

• obround

Inherited from Middle French bourdon (“honeybee, bumblebee”), from Old French bordon (“bumblebee, drone, beetle, insect”), from Medieval Latin burdō (c. C.E. 1000), first recorded in the Homilies of King Ælfric, glossed by Old English dora (“bumblebee”). Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Frankish *boʀdō, *buʀdō (“beetle, insect”), from Proto-Germanic *buzdô (“beetle, grub”, literally “swelling”), from *būs- (“to erupt, burst, flow rapidly”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūs- (“to move quickly”), related to Old English budda (“beetle”), Middle Low German buddech (“thick, swollen”), Low German budde (“louse, grub”). See bug.

• IPA^(key): /buʁ.dɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃

bourdon m (plural bourdons)

1. bumblebee (species of bee)
2. (music) drone
3. (figurative, colloquial) blues (feeling of sadness)

   Synonym: cafard

   • 1999, Anna Gavalda, “Permission”, in Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part, →ISBN:

     Je me souviens qu’il écrivait ça à un de ses copains qui avait le bourdon et qui voulait voyager. L’autre lui disait grosso modo que c’était pas la peine étant donné qu’il allait se trimballer son paquet d’emmerdements avec lui.

     I remember he wrote that to one of his friends who was down in the dumps and wanted to go travelling. He basically told him that there was no point since he'd just be taking all his problems with him.

• avoir le bourdon
• faux-bourdon
• bourdonner
• bourdonnement

• “bourdon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From French bourdon (“bee”).

bourdon

1. bee, wasp

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

bourdon

1. Alternative form of burdoun (“pilgrim's staff”)

From Old French bordon (“bumblebee, drone, beetle, insect”), from Medieval Latin burdo.

bourdon m (plural bourdons)

1. (Jersey) bumblebee
   • 1903, Edgar MacCulloch, “Proverbs, Weather Sayings, etc.”, in Guernsey Folk Lore‎^[1], page 524:

     Ch'est coume un bourdon dans une canne.

     It is like a humble bee in a can.

• bourde