parabasis: Meaning and Definition of

pa•rab•a•sis

Pronunciation: (pu-rab'u-sis), [key]
— pl. -ses
  1. (in ancient Greek drama) a choral ode addressed to the audience, esp. of comedy, and independent of the action of the play: usually following the agon and, in the earliest forms of comedy, serving often to end the play.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.