refrain: Meaning and Definition of

re•frain

1. to abstain from an impulse to say or do something (often fol. by from): I refrained from telling him what I thought.

1. to curb.

re•frain

1. a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a song or poem, esp. at the end of each stanza; chorus.
1. a musical setting for the refrain of a poem.
2. any melody.
3. the principal, recurrent section of a rondo.