Definitions of refrain

1. To keep one's self from action; to forbear.

2. To hold within bounds; abstain from action; forbear.

3. To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to curb; to govern.

4. To abstain from

5. To curb: to restrain.

6. To keep one's self from action or interference; to hold aloof; to forbear; to abstain.

7. To hold back; do without; check oneself; as, to refrain from doing a thing.

8. To keep from action: to forbear.

9. To abstain; for bear.

10. not do something; " He refrained from hitting him back"; " she could not forbear weeping"

11. The burden of a song; a phrase or verse which recurs at the end of each of the separate stanzas or divisions of a poetic composition.

12. To hold back; to restrain.

13. To restrain; to keep from action; to keep one's self from action or interference; to forbear.

14. A phrase or strain repeated now and then throughout a poem or song; often, a verse or chorus of a song repeated at the end of each stanza.

15. Recurrent phrase or burden of a song.

16. A strain repeated at intervals, as in a song; a burden.

17. The burden of a song or that which is repeated at the end of each stanza; a kind of musical repetition. See Refract.