Also fal de rol.

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  1.  As a meaningless refrain in songs.

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1701.  Farquhar, Sir H. Wildair, IV. ii. Wks. (Rtldg.), 554/2. Wildair [sings] Fal, al, deral!

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[1864.  Browning, Mr. Sludge. Fol-de-rol-de-rido liddle iddle-ol!].

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  2.  A gewgaw, trifle; a flimsy thing.

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c. 1820.  Hogg, Basil Lee, in Tales & Sk. (1837), III. 56. ‘He’ll flee frae ae falderall til anither a’ the days o’ his life.’

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1879.  E. Garrett, House by Works, II. 154. That his darling might never want for fal-de-rals.

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1881.  Mrs. C. Praed, Policy & P., I. 118. The little piebald is far too ’cute to trust her legs on that English fal-deral [a rickety fancy bridge].

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  attrib.  1861.  Sala, Dutch Pictures, vi. 67. None of your fal-de-ral lavender boots, but rigid, unmistakeable shoes of Cordovan leather, with broad sandals, and stout soles.

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  Hence Falderal v., in phr. To falderal it: to sing falderal, to sing unmeaning sounds.

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1825.  L. Hunt, Poems, Bacchus in Tuscany, 426.

        Falderallalling it
With quips and triple rhymes.

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