ballad sb. (2 used contemptuously in H5 V. ii. 166)
1.
light, simple song
MND. IV. i. 222
“to write a ballad of
this dream,”
AYL. II. vii. 148.
2.
popular song, esp.
one celebrating or scurrilously attacking some
person or thing Wint. IV. iii. [iv.] 186, 2H4 IV. iii.
52.