"descant" meaning in All languages combined

See descant on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈdɛskænt/ [UK] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-descant.wav [Southern-England] Forms: descants [plural]
Rhymes: -ænt Etymology: From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*keh₂n-}}, {{der|en|xno|descaunt}} Anglo-Norman descaunt, {{der|en|ML.|discantus}} Medieval Latin discantus Head templates: {{en-noun}} descant (plural descants)
  1. A lengthy discourse on a subject.
    Sense id: en-descant-en-noun-EEMhWcNr
  2. (music) A counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme. Categories (topical): Music Translations (counterpoint melody): Diskant [masculine] (German)
    Sense id: en-descant-en-noun-GtB~nBtc Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 17 54 13 15 Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music Disambiguation of 'counterpoint melody': 8 92
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: discant [archaic] Derived forms: descant recorder

Verb [English]

IPA: /ˈdɛskænt/ [UK] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-descant.wav [Southern-England] Forms: descants [present, singular, third-person], descanting [participle, present], descanted [participle, past], descanted [past]
Rhymes: -ænt Etymology: From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*keh₂n-}}, {{der|en|xno|descaunt}} Anglo-Norman descaunt, {{der|en|ML.|discantus}} Medieval Latin discantus Head templates: {{en-verb}} descant (third-person singular simple present descants, present participle descanting, simple past and past participle descanted)
  1. (intransitive) To discuss at length. Tags: intransitive
    Sense id: en-descant-en-verb-eb9R17as
  2. (intransitive, music) To sing or play a descant. Tags: intransitive Categories (topical): Music
    Sense id: en-descant-en-verb-NWDlPUfV Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: discant [archaic]

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for descant meaning in All languages combined (5.2kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "descant recorder"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*keh₂n-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "xno",
        "3": "descaunt"
      },
      "expansion": "Anglo-Norman descaunt",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ML.",
        "3": "discantus"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin discantus",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "descants",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "descant (plural descants)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1828, Thomas De Quincey, “Elements of Rhetoric”, in Blackwood's Magazine",
          "text": "Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A lengthy discourse on a subject."
      ],
      "id": "en-descant-en-noun-EEMhWcNr",
      "links": [
        [
          "discourse",
          "discourse"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Music",
          "orig": "en:Music",
          "parents": [
            "Art",
            "Sound",
            "Culture",
            "Energy",
            "Society",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 54 13 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme."
      ],
      "id": "en-descant-en-noun-GtB~nBtc",
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ],
        [
          "counterpoint",
          "counterpoint"
        ],
        [
          "melody",
          "melody"
        ],
        [
          "sung",
          "sung"
        ],
        [
          "played",
          "played"
        ],
        [
          "theme",
          "theme"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music) A counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "8 92",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "counterpoint melody",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Diskant"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɛskænt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ænt"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-descant.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "discant"
    }
  ],
  "word": "descant"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*keh₂n-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "xno",
        "3": "descaunt"
      },
      "expansion": "Anglo-Norman descaunt",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ML.",
        "3": "discantus"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin discantus",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "descants",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "descanting",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "descanted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "descanted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "descant (third-person singular simple present descants, present participle descanting, simple past and past participle descanted)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad",
          "text": "… This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. I am sure, Lord Stranleigh, that he has been descanting on the distraction of the woods and the camp, or perhaps the metropolitan dissipation of Philadelphia, …",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 121",
          "text": "Involving some interesting, intellectual trips, she was descanting lightly to right and left."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To discuss at length."
      ],
      "id": "en-descant-en-verb-eb9R17as",
      "links": [
        [
          "discuss",
          "discuss"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To discuss at length."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Music",
          "orig": "en:Music",
          "parents": [
            "Art",
            "Sound",
            "Culture",
            "Energy",
            "Society",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To sing or play a descant."
      ],
      "id": "en-descant-en-verb-NWDlPUfV",
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, music) To sing or play a descant."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɛskænt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ænt"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-descant.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "discant"
    }
  ],
  "word": "descant"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Anglo-Norman",
    "English terms derived from Medieval Latin",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *keh₂n-",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
    "Rhymes:English/ænt",
    "Rhymes:English/ænt/2 syllables"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "descant recorder"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
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      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "xno",
        "3": "descaunt"
      },
      "expansion": "Anglo-Norman descaunt",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ML.",
        "3": "discantus"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin discantus",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "descants",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "descant (plural descants)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1828, Thomas De Quincey, “Elements of Rhetoric”, in Blackwood's Magazine",
          "text": "Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A lengthy discourse on a subject."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "discourse",
          "discourse"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Music"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ],
        [
          "counterpoint",
          "counterpoint"
        ],
        [
          "melody",
          "melody"
        ],
        [
          "sung",
          "sung"
        ],
        [
          "played",
          "played"
        ],
        [
          "theme",
          "theme"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music) A counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɛskænt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ænt"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-descant.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "discant"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "counterpoint melody",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Diskant"
    }
  ],
  "word": "descant"
}

{
  "categories": [
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Anglo-Norman",
    "English terms derived from Medieval Latin",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *keh₂n-",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
    "Rhymes:English/ænt",
    "Rhymes:English/ænt/2 syllables"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "xno",
        "3": "descaunt"
      },
      "expansion": "Anglo-Norman descaunt",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ML.",
        "3": "discantus"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin discantus",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "descants",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "descanting",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "descanted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "descanted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "descant (third-person singular simple present descants, present participle descanting, simple past and past participle descanted)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad",
          "text": "… This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. I am sure, Lord Stranleigh, that he has been descanting on the distraction of the woods and the camp, or perhaps the metropolitan dissipation of Philadelphia, …",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 121",
          "text": "Involving some interesting, intellectual trips, she was descanting lightly to right and left."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To discuss at length."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "discuss",
          "discuss"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To discuss at length."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "en:Music"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To sing or play a descant."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, music) To sing or play a descant."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɛskænt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ænt"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-descant.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-descant.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "discant"
    }
  ],
  "word": "descant"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.