The Only Use of
refrain
in
Macbeth
- Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin laced with his golden blood;
And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature
For ruin's wasteful entrance: there, the murderers,
Steeped in the colours of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breeched with gore: who could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart
Courage to make's love known?†p. 71.1
Definitions:
-
(1)
(refrain as in: a repeated refrain) something repeated regularlyespecially:
- lines repeated after each verse of a song
- a phrase or idea often repeated by someone or within a poem
-
(2)
(refrain as in: refrain from laughing) avoid or resist doing something