in time

behind time

antonym(s) of “at or before the time assigned”

late

antonym(s) of “sufficiently early (for)”


attacco

(music) A short musical phrase treated as a point of imitation, for example as the subject of a fugue.


songbook

From Middle English song boke, from Old English sangbōc (“a music book; songbook”), equivalent to song + book. Compare Saterland Frisian Songbouk (“songbook”), West Frisian sjongboek (“songbook”), Dutch zangboek (“songbook”), German Low German Sangbook (“songbook; hymnbook; hymnal”), German Gesangbuch (“songbook; hymnbook; hymnal”), Danish sangbog (“songbook”), Swedish sångbok (“songbook”), Faroese songbók (“songbook”), Icelandic söngbók (“songbook”).


pitchy

en-adj

pitchy (comparative pitchier, superlative pitchiest)

pitchier (comparative)
pitchiest (superlative)

[…] “Auto Tune”—digital voice processing initially designed to correct a “pitchy” (out-of-tune) singer's voice.

2014, Mellonee V. Burnim, Portia K. Maultsby, African American Music, page 381:


petrodollar

/ˈpɛtɹə(ʊ)ˌdɒlə/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-petrodollar.wav

/ˈpɛtɹoʊˌdɑlɚ/

From petro- (prefix meaning ‘petroleum; oil export’) + dollar, possibly modelled after Eurodollar.

prefix

(oil industry, chiefly in the plural, also attributively) Money (either notionally or specifically in dollars or other currencies) earned from the sale of oil, often especially as considered among a national economy's principal revenue streams.

նավթադոլար

money (either notionally or specifically in dollars or other currencies) earned from the sale of oil


pop rock

(music) A musical genre combining elements of pop music and rock music.

poproko

genre combining pop music and rock music


vacuum energy

en-noun

vacuum energy (countable and uncountable, plural vacuum energies)

(physics) The underlying background energy of empty space associated with constant vacuum fluctuations.


humppa

humppa (countable and uncountable, plural humppas)

A type of music from Finland, related to jazz and very fast foxtrot.


bond energy

bond energy (countable and uncountable, plural bond energies)

(physical chemistry, physics) The average or typical bond dissociation energy of a particular type of bond


bond dissociation energy

bond dissociation energy (countable and uncountable, plural bond dissociation energies)

(physical chemistry, physics) The change in enthalpy that occurs when a specific chemical bond is broken; a measure of the strength of the bond


cohesive energy

cohesive energy (countable and uncountable, plural cohesive energies)

The cohesive energy is a measure of the strength of the forces that bind atoms together in the solid state and is descriptive in studying the phase stability. The cohesive energy[…]is defined as the total energy of the constituent atoms minus the total energy of the compound[…]The computed cohesive energies are 6.101 eV/atom, 4.774 eV/atom and 6.512 eV/atom for BaRh₂, BaPd₂ and BaPt₂, respectively.

2012, A. Yakoubi, O. Baraka, B. Bouhafs, “Structural and electronic properties of the Laves phase based on rare earth type BaM2 (M = Rh, Pd, Pt)”, in Results in Physics, volume 2, →DOI, pages 58-65:

(physics) The difference between the average energy of the free atoms and that of the atoms of a solid (especially a crystal).


alternative energy

alternative energy (countable and uncountable, plural alternative energies)

Energy derived from any source other than fossil fuels.

Energy derived from any renewable source, i.e other than fossil fuels or nuclear fission.


anticipation

anticipation (countable and uncountable, plural anticipations)

From Middle English anticipacioun, from Latin anticipātiō, anticipātiōnem.

(music) A non-harmonic tone that is lower or higher than a note in the previous chord and a unison to a note in the next chord.


dissociation energy

dissociation energy (plural dissociation energies)

(physical chemistry) The energy needed to break every chemical bond in a molecule and completely separate all its atoms


easy listening

A genre of music characterized by simple and laid-back melodies.

輕音樂

style of music involving simple and laid-back melodies


hi-hat

This hi-hat drum beat sounds really cute!

A pair of cymbals as part of a drum kit that clash together when actuated by the foot pedal.


red hair

red hair (countable and uncountable, plural red hairs)


hard rock

(music) A rock music genre marked by a heavy regular beat, high amplification, and usually frenzied performances.


ionization energy

ionization energy (plural ionization energies)

(physical chemistry, physics) The energy needed to remove an electron from an atom or molecule to infinity


Gibbs free energy

For Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist.

ΔG=ΔH-TΔS and G=H-TS where G is Gibbs free energy, H is enthalpy, T is temperature, and S is entropy.

absolute temperature
absolute temperature

(physics, physical chemistry, thermodynamics) The difference between the enthalpy of a system and the product of its entropy and absolute temperature: a measure of the useful work obtainable from a thermodynamic system at constant temperature and pressure.

energia lliure de Gibbs

difference between the enthalpy of a system and the product of its entropy etc.


OP

(Internet, music) Initialism of overplayed.


free energy

Helmholtz free energy
Helmholtz free energy

(physical chemistry) The energy available in a particular chemical system to do useful work. In more detail:

Helmholtz free energy, A: the internal energy of a system minus the product of its entropy and absolute temperature.

Gibbs free energy, G: the enthalpy of a system minus the product of its entropy and absolute temperature.

free energy suppression (the notion that exotic energy systems are deliberately suppressed in order to protect the fossil fuel industry and suchlike)

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see free, energy.


luminous energy

luminous energy (plural luminous energies)

(physics) The radiant energy of the visible portion of a spectrum of light


slash and burn

His slash and burn approach to management resulted in few friends and many enemies.

Rough, coarse and lacking finesse, performed with little skill.


murrey

murrey (countable and uncountable, plural murreys)

From Middle English murrey, murreye, from Middle French moré, morée, from Latin moratum, morata, from neuter and feminine respectively of moratus (“mulberry-colored”), from morum (“mulberry”) + -atus (“-ate”).

murrey:

(heraldry) A tincture, the colour of mulberries, between gules (red) and purpure (purple).


barrel organ

Poor Mrs. Cranch was bulky, and, breathing asthmatically, had the additional motive for making her remarks unexceptionable and giving them a general bearing, that even her whispers were loud and liable to sudden bursts like those of a deranged barrel-organ.

1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Middlemarch […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book (please specify |book=I to VIII):

Ragged children played in the road, and an old barrel-organ was grinding out a vulgar tune.

1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LXXXIII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

A musical instrument in which air from a bellows is admitted to a set of pipes by means of pins inserted into a revolving barrel (typically turned by a crank), originating in France.

أُرْغُن يَدَوِيّ

pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel


sonatina

Borrowed from Italian sonatina (literally “small sonata”).

bor

A sonatina usually has 2 or 3 rather short movements. While these movements provide contrasts of tempo and mood, they also complement one another, combining to fulfill the overall plan for a complete work in several parts.

2005, Willard A. Palmer, First Sonatina Book: Alfred Masterwork Edition - Piano Sheet Music Collection, Alfred Music, →ISBN, page 1:

A musical composition resembling a sonata but shorter or simpler.

sonatina

piece resembling a sonata but shorter or simpler


specific energy

en-noun

specific energy (plural specific energies)

(physics) The energy of a substance measured per unit mass


tidal energy

tidal energy (countable and uncountable, plural tidal energies)

(physics) The energy contained in a tide flowing in or out of an estuary or similar enclosed place, especially that part of the energy that can be converted to electricity.


interlunar

From inter- + lunar: compare Latin interlunis.

Of the four-day period between an old moon and a new moon, when the moon is not visible.


sidelight

He is well up to form when dealing with passenger stock, notably Victorian and Edwardian and on this and on East Coast motive power he throws many sidelights.

1962 October, “New Reading on Railways: The Flying Scotsman 1862-1962. By C. Hamilton Ellis. Allen & Unwin. 6s.”, in Modern Railways, unnumbered page:

A piece of incidental information that helps one understand a subject.


quodlibet

From Latin quod libet (“that which is pleasing”).

(music) A form of music with melodies in counterpoint.


pumpjack

(US) The ground-based drive for a submerged pump in an oil borehole.


boogaloo

boogaloo (countable and uncountable, plural boogaloos)

/ˈbuːɡəˌluː/

/ˌbuːɡəˈluː/

Attested as a style of dance since at least January 1966 (and found in the titles of many songs around that time), perhaps from boogie (for the ending, compare crackaloo, hullabaloo). (Compare Spanish bugalú, the Spanish name for the style of music and dance.) Kent Harris used the stage name "Boogaloo" in the 1950s. The sense "sequel or repetition" refers to the title of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984), a sequel which was considered to be so bad it became a cult classic. Compare the sense "black person" to boogalee, a term for a Cajun, attested since 1960 or earlier.

(music, uncountable) A genre of music that blends rhythm and blues and soul music with Cuban-style rhythms, originating in the United States in the 1960s.

Basie played boogie-woogie, and Ellington boleros and boogaloos. To see the Marsalis faction rap a standard or breakdance before the blues would bring them full-circle, in full embrace, […]

They enjoy a martini or a boogaloo in bachelorette apartments in unnamed cities. These album covers plant the seeds for my growing taste for camp and for my use of music as a space for dreaming up new selves.

2013, Francesca T Royster, Sounding Like a No-No: Queer Sounds and Eccentric Acts in the Post-Soul Era, University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 34:

(music, countable) A piece of music, or an instance of dancing, in or of this style.


musically

en-adv

musically (comparative more musically, superlative most musically)

more musically (comparative)
most musically (superlative)

From Middle English musicallye, musikili; equivalent to musical + -ly.

The wind chimes tinkled musically in the breeze.

Something might alſo be ſaid of the choice of Words, in our refined Engliſh Tongue; which are to be liked and approved according to their tone, and the ſweetneſs of their cadence, that is, as they run muſically in the Ear.

1656, T[homas] B[lount], Glossographia: Or a Dictionary, Interpreting all ſuch Hard Words, Whether Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spaniſh, French, Teutonick, Belgick, Britiſh or Saxon, as are now uſed in our refined Engliſh Tongue. […] , To the Reader:

[…] with accents muſically ſweet
A tender voice his wondring ear allur'd.

1737, R[ichard] Glover, “Book VI”, in Leonidas. A Poem., page 152:

A gentle breeze fills the huge sail of our dhow, and draws us through the water that ripples musically against her sides.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

Prill laughed musically[.]


music video

A short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.


standpipe

The water supply of a building for the use of firefighters.


sestina

From Italian sestina. Doublet of sextain.

(music) A chord comprising the first six members of the harmonic series.


cawing

Whilst the proceedings of the Rooks seemed to be regulated with order and system, their cawings were significant of a good understanding, and the musical tones mentioned by the Editor of "The Naturalist," no one could fail to distinguish.

1858, The Naturalist, volume 8, page 147:


belting

I could hear you perfectly all the way in the back of the audience! I wish my belting were as good as yours.

Traditionally belting was used by certain character roles in musicals, usually the funny, quirky or feisty female roles.

2015, Gillyanne Kayes, Singing and the Actor, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 156:

Kristin Vigard was originally chosen to play Annie, but after only a few performances, she was replaced by Andrea McArdle, who gave the role a tougher veneer (reminiscent of the Our Gang kids) while conveying vulnerability without sentimentality. And McArdle's belting exceeded everyone's wildest imagination. She transformed the writers' initial conception of Annie as a spirited but vocally average little girl into a Broadway diva.

2020, James Leve, “Little girls, big voices: Annie”, in Donelle Ruwe, James Leve, editors, Children, Childhood, and Musical Theater, Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN, page 121:

(music, uncountable) The act of singing in chest voice above one's vocal break in a higher range typically sung in head voice.


quads

(music) A set of four tenor drums played by a drummer, typically in a marching band or drum corps.


mewling

I heard a faint mewling from under the house.


sho

A Japanese free reed musical instrument similar to the sheng.


eighth note

(Canada, US, music) A note having one-eighth the duration of a whole note; a quaver.


solmization

en-noun

solmization (countable and uncountable, plural solmizations)


solfege

solfege (usually uncountable, plural solfeges)


solmisation

solmisation (countable and uncountable, plural solmisations)

From French solmisation, from solmiser, from sol + mi.

Mnemonic association of syllables with musical scale degrees.


concertmaster

From concert + master, as a calque of German Konzertmeister.

(music, US) The first violin in a symphony orchestra; normally plays violin solos

канцэртма́йстар

the first violin in a symphony orchestra


coppery

en-adj

coppery (comparative more coppery, superlative most coppery)

more coppery (comparative)
most coppery (superlative)

coppery:

That night I dreamed I had a very disagreeable taste in my mouth, which caused me to spit all the time. I awoke and found my mouth full of saliva, with a coppery taste, and sure enough, I was obliged to spit.

2002, E. P. Anshutz, New, Old and Forgotten Remedies, page 380:

Venetian women who wanted coppery hair colors applied bleaching mixtures, such as one that contained alum, sulfur, soda, and rhubarb. Then they sat in the sun, where heat produced a chemical reaction that developed the color.

2006, Victoria Sherrow, Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History, page 155:

Resembling the metal copper, especially in color.


headshell

(music) A component of a record player that is attached to the end of a turntable arm. The cartridge is bolted to it.


solfeggio

en-noun

solfeggio (countable and uncountable, plural solfeggios or solfeggi)

Borrowed from Italian solfeggio. Doublet of solfège.


solfège

solfège (usually uncountable, plural solfèges)

Borrowed from French solfège. Doublet of solfeggio.

Her note is F – F in the German naming convention, fa in the solfege system we use in Russia.

2020, Ben Creed, City of Ghosts, London: Welbeck Publishing, →ISBN, page 264:

(music) A method of sight singing that uses the syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (or so), la, and si (or ti) to represent the seven principal pitches of the scale, most commonly the major scale. The fixed-do system uses do for C, and the moveable-do system uses do for whatever key the melody uses (thus B is do if the piece is in the key of B). The relative natural minor of a scale may be represented by beginning at la.


punker

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-punker.wav

1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
Four big hippie bikers were out there drinking & eyeing up the punkers.

And famous punker Joe Strummer figures prominently in Mercury's life.

1988 July 29, Diana Spinrad, “Burnin' With the 8 Ball”, in Chicago Reader:

She was a crack-up, she thought she was such a punker. She always had some punk group on her headset.

2006, John De Herrera, The Kingsnake in the Sun, page 72:

(music, dated slang) Synonym of punk (“a musician known for playing punk rock or a fan of the genre”)


flattop

From flat + top. Sense of “aircraft carrier” attributed to the message, “Scratch one flattop,” radioed during the Battle of the Coral Sea by LCDR Robert E. Dixon to the USS Lexington, whose commanding officer credited the pilot with coining the standard USN slang.

(music) A type of stringed instrument, most often an acoustic guitar, with a flat top (as opposed to an archtop), with strings held in place with pins, and with a complex system of bracing struts on the top.


fluorescently

en-adv

fluorescently (comparative more fluorescently, superlative most fluorescently)

more fluorescently (comparative)
most fluorescently (superlative)

Fully air-conditioned and fluorescently lit, it is strikingly decorated and there is a magnificent outlook through the wide windows.

1960 December, “Modern lightweight coaches of the Swiss Federal Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 745, photo caption:

In a fluorescent manner; using fluorescence.


wind band

A musical group consisting solely of woodwind and brass instruments.


wind power

wind energy

broadly synonymous despite precise differentiability of energy from power (energy per time unit)


renewable energy

en-noun

renewable energy (countable and uncountable, plural renewable energies)

Finally, I have the impression that there’s an element of tough-guy posturing involved — real men don’t use renewable energy, or something.

2018 November 27, Paul Krugman, “The Depravity of Climate-Change Denial”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, page A22:

Energy that is collected from renewable resources, such as wind, water, or the sun, usually and especially as applied to a category of electrical generation.

bərpa olunan enerji

energy collected from renewable resources


guiro

The house band consisted of gigantic guitars, fiddles, trumpets, and accordion, with rhythms provided by a batería including timbales, guiros, and congas.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 721:

(music) A musical instrument, a shaker, made of a hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side, and played by rubbing a stick or scraper ("pua") along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound.

刮瓜

musical instrument made of a hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side

(music) A genre of traditional Cuban music, used in santería rituals.


traverso

Borrowed from Italian traverso (or flauto traverso). Doublet of transverse.

The historical range will be confined basically to the 17th and 18th centuries, Mr. Polisi added, because the Baroque and Classical repertory allows students to transfer their skills between instruments, with, say, conventional string players adapting to gut strings and Baroque bows, and modern flutists to wooden traversos.

2007 October 29, James R. Oestreich, “Early-Music Maestros Juilliard Plans”, in New York Times:

(music) A transverse flute of the Baroque period, made in three or four sections with a conical bore from the head joint down.


alizarin

alizarin (countable and uncountable, plural alizarins)

Borrowed from French alizarine, corresponding to alizari + -in.

glass headed pins,
oil-golds and copper greens,
anthracite blues, alizarins,

1946, Elizabeth Bishop, “Roosters”, in North and South:

In 1883, the German output of alizarin, the brilliant red chemical that imitated natural carmine, reached twelve thousand tons, dwarfing the amount being produced by Perkin's factory in London.

2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of all Maladies, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 82:

(organic chemistry) A red substance, 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone, extracted from madder root and used as a dye.


rhythm stick

The kids in the courtyard played with a rhythm stick so that they could learn rhythm.

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music) One of a set of cylindrical hardwood sticks used as a percussion instrument, especially by children learning the rudiments of rhythm


croaky

en-adj

croaky (comparative croakier, superlative croakiest)

croakier (comparative)
croakiest (superlative)

a croaky voice


carnotite

en-noun

carnotite (countable and uncountable, plural carnotites)

(mineralogy) A yellow mineral that is a potassium uranyl vanadate that is a major ore of uranium, with the chemical formula K₂(UO₂)₂(VO₄)₂·3H₂O.


dead of night

Write loyal cantons of contemnèd love / And sing them loud even in the dead of night.

c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

I was feeling just as I had felt in the old Malvern House epoch when I used to sneak down to [the schoolmaster]'s study at dead of night in quest of the biscuits he kept there in a tin on his desk, and there came back to me the memory of the occasion when, not letting a twig snap beneath my feet, I had entered his sanctum in pyjamas and a dressing-gown, to find him seated in his chair, tucking into the biscuits himself.

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII:

Blackbird singing in the dead of night / Take these broken wings and learn to fly

1968, “Blackbird”, in Paul McCartney (lyrics), The Beatles, performed by The Beatles:


polyvalence

polyvalence (countable and uncountable, plural polyvalences)

(uncountable, music) A quality of music that is played in more than one harmonic function in the same key.


zhu

The atonal pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 筑 (zhù or zhú).

(music, historical) An ancient Chinese string instrument thought to have had a rectangular zither-like body with silk strings played with a bow.


qing

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 磬 (qìng), ultimately onomatopoeic.

A group of bronzes of the late Western Chou were uncovered in Chingshan County, Hupeh Province, and 25 pieces of stone ching (musical chimes) with a painted design of the State of Chu were found in Chiangling County of the same province.

[1971, “Historical Relic Unearthed During the Cultural Revolution”, in Eastern Horizon, volume X, number 5, Hong Kong: Eastern Horizon Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26, column 2:

A sounding stone, a Chinese musical instrument.


bluey

bluey (countable and uncountable, plural blueys)

‘Doc’ […] shouldered his bluey and whistled up his lame fox-terrier before formally wishing them all well.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 318:

(Australian slang) A collection of clothes and other belongings rolled up into a bundle for carrying; a swag.

(Australian slang) A blue cattle dog, especially a blue heeler.

(Australian slang) A person with ginger hair.


bis key

(music) A key using alternative fingerings for certain notes on woodwind instruments.


Floydian

en-adj

Floydian (comparative more Floydian, superlative most Floydian)

more Floydian (comparative)
most Floydian (superlative)

I have my own notions, though I hesitate to expound too deeply lest anyone accuse me of taking things Floydian too seriously.

2005, Russel Reising, Speak To Me: the legacy of Pink Floyd's The dark side of the moon, page xiii:

The new Gilmour-led Floyd sounds infinitely more ‘Floydian' than Roger Waters' dirge-like solo albums.

2003, Peter Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock, page 7:

The unmistakable "Floydian" sound is captured in all its glory on this LP: the use of hypnotic slow tempos, the lush textures of the instruments, the gorgeous guitar and saxophone solos, and the dark lyrical vision courtesy of Mr. Waters.

1998, Tim Morse, Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time, page 184:

Although far from a Floydian concept album, ‘The Division Bell' has a general theme of communication gone wrong.

1995, Andy Mabbett, The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd, page 119:

A ten-minute Floydian trip from the London rockers’ forthcoming ninth album [subtitle]

2021 July 23, Ellie Robinson, “Coldplay shoot for the stars with their cinematic new track ‘Coloratura’”, in NME:

(music) Of, related to, or similar to the band Pink Floyd or their music; psychedelic.


foxfire

Possibly from fox + fire, though the semantic connection is unclear. Alternatively, the first element may be ultimately from Old French fols (“false”), or the term may derive by folk etymology from phosphor.

The foxfire,—as the country people call it,—glowed hideously from the cold and matted bosom of the marsh; and, far from us, in the depths of darkness, the screech-owl sat upon his perch, brooding over the slimy pool, and whooping out a dismal curfew, that fell upon the ear like the cries of a tortured ghost.

1832, Mark Littleton [pseudonym; John Pendleton Kennedy], “The Goblin Swamp”, in Swallow Barn, or A Sojourn in the Old Dominion. In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey & Lea, […], →OCLC, page 311:

Perhaps you've seen a foxfire in the woods. Well, in the dark, it looks like a live, burning coal; but when you go to it, and take it up, it's only a piece of rotten wood.

1874 June, Philip Quilibet, “Drift-wood. A Famous Evangelist.”, in The Galaxy. […], volume XVII, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Sheldon & Co., →OCLC, page 842, column 2:

[Nathaniel] Hawthorne in one of his books records a remarkable personal encounter with this weird fox-fire, and one which cost him dearly. He was on a journey by canal-boat, which had stopped en route for a brief period at midnight. During the interval he had stepped ashore, and was decoyed into a neighboring wood by the bright glow, which proved to be a fallen tree ablaze with phosphorescence. In his surprise and interest he lost all account of time, and thus missed his boat, [...] Almost any damp woods, especially after a rain, is likely to disclose its fox-fire, but it occasionally appears under circumstances where we little expect it.

1894 January 9, William Hamilton Gibson, “Foxfire”, in Harper’s Young People, volume XV, number 741, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 189, column 1:

People calls this "spunk," but it's foxfire. You see this hole in it? You see where I sawed it in two with the chain saw? See, this grows in hollow trees in a maple or a oak. No, it ain't mushroom; it's just really foxfire.

1911, Patsy Moore Ginns, quoting Stanley Hicks, “Ghosts, Haints, and Witches”, in Snowbird Gravy and Dishpan Pie: Mountain People Recall, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, published 1982, →ISBN, page 185:

The rain stopped falling. They passed, leaving a trail of foxfire shuffled up out of the wet leaves like stars plowed in a ship's wake.

1965, Cormac McCarthy, The Orchard Keeper, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC; republished London: Picador, 2010, →ISBN, page 201:

Curiously enough, there were fluorescent displays underground that could be enjoyed without benefit of an ultraviolet lamp. One of these was fox fire, the spectral glow given off by fungi on decaying timber. In the damp darkness of the mine, pine planks 3 inches thick could become feather light and crumbly in a year.

1983, Manuel Robbins, “Collecting Fluorescent Minerals”, in The Collector’s Book of Fluorescent Minerals, New York, N.Y., London: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, →DOI, →ISBN, page 50:

(mycology, chiefly US) Bioluminescence created by some types of fungus, particularly those growing on rotting wood.

فوكسفيري

bioluminescence created by some types of fungus


HIP

historically informed performance
w:historically informed performance

(music) Acronym of historically informed performance.


andantino

en-adv

andantino (comparative more andantino, superlative most andantino)

more andantino (comparative)
most andantino (superlative)

From Italian andantino, the diminutive of andante.

(music) Of a tempo that is slightly faster than andante but slower than moderato.


capriccio

en-noun

capriccio (plural capriccios or capricci)

/kəˈpɹiːt͡ʃoʊ/

Borrowed from Italian capriccio. Doublet of caprice.

The friar and Matilda had often sung duets together, and had been accustomed to the baron’s chiming in with a stormy capriccio, which was usually charmed into silence by some sudden turn in the witching melodies of Matilda.

1822, [Thomas Love Peacock], Maid Marian, London: […] T[homas] Hookham […], pages 66–67:

The stillness returned, save for the little voices of the night—the owl's recitative, the capriccio of the crickets, the concerto of the frogs in the grass.

1909 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Renaissance at Charleroi”, in Roads of Destiny, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC:

(music) A piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character.


ruan

Borrowed from Mandarin 阮 (short for 阮咸, ruǎnxián).

(music) A Chinese long-necked fretted round-bodied plucked lute which has, since the mid-20th century, been produced in a family of five sizes (from low to high).


bhangra

bhangra (countable and uncountable, plural bhangras)

From Punjabi ਭੰਗੜਾ (bhaṅgṛā) / بَھن٘گْڑا (bhaṉgṛā), from ਭੰਗ / بَھن٘گ (bhaṉg, “hemp”) + ـڑا (-ṛā).

suffix

ਭੰਗ / بَھن٘گ

Any style of electronic dance music (EDM) influenced by the musics of the Indian subcontinent.


percussionist

A trained musician who plays percussion instruments, as opposed to a drummer who lacks formal training.


cetane number

A performance rating of diesel fuel corresponding to the percentage of cetane in a mixture with isocetane (or, formerly, methylnaphthalene) that would have the same performance.


xiao

Borrowed the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 簫／箫 (xiāo).

Chou studied violin and erhu (a two-stringed Chinese fiddle) and tried to emulate his second brother by dabbling in the harmonica, mandolin, xiao (a vertical Chinese flute), and the musical saw.

2006, Peter M. Chang, Chou Wen-Chung: The Life and Work of a Contemporary Chinese-born American Composer:


great octave

(music) The octave that begins on the C that is two ledger lines below the staff of the bass clef


xun

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 塤／埙 (xūn).

(music) A globular vessel flute made of clay or ceramic originating from China.


contra-octave

(music) The octave directly below the great octave.


LH

en-noun

LH (countable and uncountable, plural LHs)

(music, knitting) Initialism of left hand.


courante

(music) An old French dance from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era in triple metre.

(music) The second movement of a baroque suite (following the allemande, and before the sarabande)


qin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 琴 (qín).

... there was no longer anyone worth playing his qin for, so he broke his instrument and never played again. The guqin was also a means of expressing love.

1989, Zhongguo fu li hui, Chung-kuo fu li hui, China Reconstructs:

He makes his qin students take calligraphy with him, and calligraphy and painting students play the qin.

2006, Dana Standridge, Lessons in Essence: A Novel:

Knowing that we play the qin, they told us that there was a qin in the teahouse, but only for decoration – no one there actually knew how to play it.

2016 December 30, “Oral history book explores true meaning of tradition by recounting the revival of qin”, in Shanghai Daily:

(music) Any of several traditional Chinese musical instruments, most commonly the seven-stringed instrument more specifically called the guqin.


vigoroso

Borrowed from Italian vigoroso. Doublet of vigorous.

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played with emphasis, spirit, vigour or energy.


vigoroso

(music) Of a passage: (to be) played in this style.


tintinnabulum

From Latin tintinnābulum (“a small monastic bell”).

uder

A set of bells or metal plates used as a musical instrument or as a toy.


yue

The atonal pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 籥 (yuè).

(music, historical) An ancient Chinese wind instrument thought to have been a long piece of bamboo with holes drilled in


bird's-eye

en-noun

bird's-eye (countable and uncountable, plural bird's-eyes)

(music, colloquial) A fermata (notation).


nai

(music) A Romanian diatonic pan flute used since the 17th century.


gusli

(music) A plucked psaltery-like string instrument, usually played on the lap and sometimes created with table legs so that the musician can play it seated next to the instrument, originating in ancient Russian music.


cold wave

cold wave (countable and uncountable, plural cold waves)

Not so much forgotten as little heard in the first place, cold wave – and its dancier, synth-powered cousin, minimal wave – finds its roots in early 80s France.

2009 July 13, Louis Pattison, “Scene and heard: Cold wave”, in The Guardian:

(uncountable, music) Alternative spelling of coldwave (“European post-punk music sub-genre”)


kantele

From Finnish kantele. Ultimate etymology contested; see Proto-Finnic *kandël for theories.

With his fingers Väinämöinen played / with its strings the kantele rang out […].

1989, Elias Lönnrot, translated by Keith Bosley, The Kalevala, section XLIV:

(music) A plucked string instrument (a zither) of the Baltic psaltery family, traditionally with five strings but now more widely varying, originating in the folk music of Finland, where it is seen as a national symbol.


Cantopop

Earlier, a venerable British guitarist in wonderful tweeds had opined as how they hadn't really expected the next Hendrix to emerge from Taiwanese Canto-pop, but then again they hadn't actually been expecting the first one, had they?

1996, William Gibson, Idoru (Bridge trilogy; book 2), New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 131:

Mandopop and its Cantonese equivalent, Cantopop, are subsets of Chinese pop, or C-pop, whose roots stretch back almost 100 years.

2024 January 20, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, “An Asian megastar who fills arenas in Europe–so who is he?”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 14:

(music) Cantonese pop music, originating from Guangdong and Hong Kong.


tin whistle

(music) A small, high-pitched metal whistle with six holes that is blown using a fipple.


ney

A few weeks later Adille phoned me to say that he had just met a person who had begun to make neys from special reeds that he found on an island in the Yarra River in Melbourne, of all places.

2013, Helen Cox, Peter Roberts, The Harp and the Ferryman:


grandioso

Borrowed from Italian grandioso, from Latin grandis (“great, grand”) (English grand). Doublet of grandiose.

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a grand and noble style


grandioso

en-adv

grandioso (comparative more grandioso, superlative most grandioso)

more grandioso (comparative)
most grandioso (superlative)


grandioso

(music) describing a passage having this mark


homophony

(music) a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords.


hoarseness

en-noun

hoarseness (usually uncountable, plural hoarsenesses)

From Middle English hosnesse, from Old English hāsnes; equivalent to hoarse + -ness.

The hoarseness of her voice was caused by years of smoking.

The quality of being hoarse, of having a dry harsh voice.


pyknon

From Ancient Greek πυκνόν (puknón), form of Ancient Greek πυκνός (puknós, “dense, compressed”).

der

(music) The lower part of a tetrachord in Ancient Greek music, consisting of a composite interval (two successive intervals) that is less than the remaining (incomposite) interval.


ophicleide

From ophi- (variant of ophio-) + Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís).

affix

(music) A keyed brass baritone bugle, now replaced by the tuba in orchestral music


octobass

From octo- + bass.
The name "octobass" comes from "octo-" meaning "eight" in Latin and "-bass", which is general name for any bass instrument (like "double bass", "contrabass" etc.). "Octo" is used because its range extending more than an octave below that of the double bass - it is tuned to A0, compared to the C1 that a double bass can stretch to, which makes octobass the lowest chordophone ever created.

(music) A very large double bass requiring two musicians, one to finger and one to bow.


contrabass clarinet

en-noun

contrabass clarinet (plural contrabass clarinets)

The largest musical instrument in the clarinet family, sounding two octaves below the soprano clarinet.


combustibleness

The state or quality of being combustible.


bluesy

en-adj

bluesy (comparative bluesier, superlative bluesiest)

bluesier (comparative)
bluesiest (superlative)

When he entered the kitchen, Vida was folding clothes and singing along to some bluesy country music on the radio.

2003, Toni Morrison, Love, Vintage (2016), page 46:

(music, informal) Characteristic of, or similar to, the blues (a genre of music).


page-turner

She's a famous soloist today, but she did her time as a page-turner, just as many others have done.

(music) A person who is responsible for turning the pages of another musician’s (especially a pianist or organist’s) sheet music during a performance.

tourneur de pages

person who turns another musician's pages


aeolian harp

Refers to Aeolus, who in Greek mythology was said to control the winds.

1894, Ivan Dexter, Talmud: A Strange Narrative of Central Australia, published in serial form in Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser (SA), Chapter III, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600641.txt
[…] the noise made by the beating of the waves on the land and the sighing of the wind amongst the pendulous leaves—or rather pendant fringe of the casuarina or she-oak, those aeolian harps of the Australian bush, almost drowned their voices.

(music) An open box over which strings are stretched that sound when the wind passes over them.


butternut

en-noun

butternut (countable and uncountable, plural butternuts)

Juglans cinerea
Juglans cinerea#Translingual

A North American walnut tree, Juglans cinerea.

A dye made from the fruit of this walnut tree.

He made a delicious butternut soup.

Butternut squash
butternut squash#English

(informal outside South Africa) Butternut squash.


burnable

en-adj

burnable (comparative more burnable, superlative most burnable)

more burnable (comparative)
most burnable (superlative)


blowtorch

/ˈbləʊˌtɔːtʃ/

When the firecan jockeys have flown their blowtorches some 100,000 miles, the doctors take over for the ground physical.

1949, Popular Science, volume 155, number 6, page 120:


quirister

Upon the highest spray of every mounting pole,
Those Quirristers are pearcht with many a speckled breast.

1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 13 p. 214:

'You are a tweake, aren't you, Nantwich?' said Morgan, a fat, ugly, Welsh quirister, reviled by the others but being allowed, too, into the menacing conpiracy against me.

1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 110:


radium hydroxide

(inorganic chemistry) The strong base Ra(OH)₂ obtained when radium reacts with water; it has no commercial use


positron emission tomography

en-noun

positron emission tomography (countable and uncountable, plural positron emission tomographies)

(medicine) A medical imaging technique which detects the gamma rays produced by positrons emitted from injected radionuclides.

正电子发射计算机断层扫描

zhèngdiànzǐ fāshè jìsuànjī duàncéng sǎomiáo


bandoneon

From Spanish bandoneón, from German Bandoneon, named after Heinrich Band.

a. 1989, Paul Honigsheim, “Governmental Control of Music in Hitler Germany”, in Paul Honigsheim (auth.), K. Peter Etzkorn (ed.), Sociologists and Music: An Introduction to the Study of Music and Society, Second Edition, Transaction Publishers (1989), →ISBN, page 203,
Another indication of these changes in musical practice was the emphasis given to instruments that had either been eliminated from symphonic orchestras or had never been so used, such as mandolins of all classes (including mandolas and mandacellos with had lower ranges) and the bandoneon in all of its ranges. These instruments had always been popular with the German people, and with Hitler’s rise to power were included in various public bands.

Piazzolla studied piano in New York with Rachmaninoff and went to France to study with Nadia Boulanger, but his first and favorite instrument was the bandoneon, an accordion-like instrument invented in 1854 by Heinrich Band that has a series of buttons instead of piano keys.

2002, Alexander J. Morin, editor, Classical Music, Backbeat Books, →ISBN, page 700:

Created as an aggressive dance, expressing the dancers’ sexual instincts more than their feelings, and with the addition of the bandoneon as a predominant musical instrument, the tango acquired its characteristic, definitive rhythm and sound.

2004, Carlos G. Groppa, The Tango in the United States, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 15:

(music) A small Latin American accordion played with buttons which is frequently used in tango ensembles.


sound box

(music) The open chamber (resonator) of a stringed musical instrument, which intensifies its tone.

резонатор

resonant chamber of a stringed musical instrument


matchbox

A small cardboard box in which matches are kept.


aerophone

Any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes, and without the vibration of the instrument itself adding considerably to the sound.


mandola

From Italian mandola. Doublet of pandura.

(music) A stringed musical instrument resembling the mandolin, but of larger size and tuned lower.


rebab

Compare Arabic رَبَابَة (rabāba), Middle French rebec, Persian رباب (robâb).

A last cricket scratched mournfully at its rebab.

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 62:

(music) A stringed musical instrument, related to the lute, used especially in Islamic countries


strophic

en-adj

strophic (comparative more strophic, superlative most strophic)

more strophic (comparative)
most strophic (superlative)

through-composed

antonym(s) of “having each stanza set to the same music”

(music) Of a song, composed so that every stanza is set to the same music.


galliard

en-noun

galliard (countable and uncountable, plural galliards)

(music) The triple-time music for this dance.


sables

Argent, a fesse between 3 cressauntes Sables. Sables, a sunne Argent.

1899, Thomas Abingdon, A Survey of Worcestershire, page 465:

[…] this letter H sables and to the Creast upon the Healme on a wreathe silver & sables a Turtle-dove azure manteled gules doubled silver. Fifthly the Greke Reader the field silver & sables & perty^([sic]) per cheveron in the first these two Greke letters Α Alpha and Ω Omega sables & in the second a Cicade or Grasshoper silver […] Rob: Cooke alias Clarencieulx Roy D'Armes / The foregoing is taken from Baker's transcript of the original grant (v. Baker's MSS. in the University Library, Cambridge, vol. xxvi., p. 27).

1899, The Genealogical Magazine, page 126:

The arms of his father, John Smith, were ratified and confirmed by Christopher Barker, Garter King of Arms, on March 12, 1545, and according to the description of them given in the dead, his crest was "an eagle rysing sables, holding in his right claw a pen argent, issuing thereout flames of fyer set upon a wreath argent and azure, mantelles gules, lined argent, botoned gold."

1900, Ex Libris Society (London, England), Journal, page 33:

(uncommon) Alternative form of sable (“heraldry: black”)


sing along

(colloquial, singing) A gathering or event where participants are encouraged to add their voices in song.


sing along

en-verb

sing along (third-person singular simple present sings along, present participle singing along, simple past sang along, past participle sung along)

sings along (present singular third-person)
singing along (participle present)
sang along (past)
sung along (participle past)

If you know the song, sing along with me!

(idiomatic, music) To sing some music while someone else is singing or playing the same piece of music or while it is being broadcast or performed


tasto

(music) A key or similar part of a musical instrument that is touched to produce a sound


forecastle lamp

en-noun

forecastle lamp (plural forecastle lamps)

(nautical) A lamp hung in the forecastle of a ship to allow sailors to work and relax after dark.


burn up

en-verb

burn up (third-person singular simple present burns up, present participle burning up, simple past and past participle burned up or burnt up)

burns up (present singular third-person)
burning up (participle present)
burned up (participle past)
burned up (past)
burnt up (participle past)
burnt up (past)

From burn + up. Compare Middle English upbrennynge, upbrennende (“burning up”, present participle), German Low German upbrannen (“to burn up”).

cog

Near-synonym: go up in smoke

The rocket may burn up on reentry.

(intransitive) To catch fire and burn until destroyed.

She felt the child's forehead and discovered that he was burning up!

(intransitive) To feel overly hot or inflamed.

(intransitive, specifically) To experience a high fever.

To feel overly hot or inflamed.
To experience a high fever.

(intransitive, bowling, of a ball) To use up too much energy when first bowled and to therefore not finishing strongly.


crystal violet

A dye, derived from gentian violet, that is used as an acid-base indicator and as a biological stain.


fallboard

(music) The hinged cover which protects the keyboard of a piano when not in use


coal ball

A nodule of plant material permeated with minerals found mostly in bituminous and anthracite coal seams


timple

Borrowed from Spanish timple, from tiple, of uncertain etymology.

A traditional musical instrument of the Canary Islands and Murcia, having four or more commonly five strings, and similar in size to a ukulele but with a distinctive semi-round back.


grupetto

(music) A group of notes played together that are added to the melody, also known as the "turn" or grace notes.


green belt

From green (adjective) + belt (“band worn around the waist; thing resembling a belt, a strip or stripe”).

compound

Senses relating to an area of land with plants on it.

A strip of land with plants in a place which is otherwise bare.

kasveja kasvava alue

A strip of land on which trees are planted to protect against desertification, soil erosion, etc.

suojametsäalue

A strip of land next to a building, open space, road, etc., with plants on it, intended for exercise or recreation.

viheralue

The LCC [London County Council] would initiate the campaign for the Green Belt, which the men at the top of London Transport would support.

2012, Andrew Martin, “Enter Yerkes”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, London: Profile Books, →ISBN, page 149:

(chiefly British) An area of agricultural land around an urban area that is protected from large-scale building.

حزام أخضر

When the club is fully developed and has a reasonable spectrum of ranks in it, the training schedule should be stable to encourage the habit of training. […] The advanced (above green belt) class meets for an additional hour, three times per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).

1995, Elmar T. Schmeisser, “The University Dojo: Teaching a Traditional Martial Art in a Nontraditional Setting”, in Carol A. Wiley, editor, Martial Arts Teachers on Teaching (Io Series; 53), Berkeley, Calif.: Frog, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 129:

He estimates it was around 1964 when the Japanese stylists of karate brought in the green belt to bridge the gap between white and brown.

2011, Yvonne Cruz, “Cruz Karate Studios”, in Grandmaster Freddie G. Cruz: Biography of a True Legend in the Martial Arts World, [S.l.]: Bookemon, →ISBN, page 217:

Any green belt martial artist could've done that. Because they were just ordinary goons, hired guns.

2014 October, Sharit Sinha, “The Revelation”, in Blood Rush, 3rd edition, [S.l.]: Sharit Sinha, published December 2017, →ISBN, page 36:

A belt which is green in colour worn by a person who has achieved a certain (usually intermediate) level of skill in a martial art, especially judo or karate; also, the level of skill represented by this belt.

vihreä vyö

belt which is green in colour worn by a person who has achieved a certain (usually intermediate) level of skill in a martial art; the level of skill represented by this belt

After a month I distinctly remember one of the ‘green belts’ giving me a thorough but gentle working over in one of the sparring sessions, I was impressed not just with his ability to defeat me, but with the ease with which he did it.

2012, Noel C., “What Karate Means to Me”, in Tom Hill, editor, Essays for Black Belt, Luton, Bedfordshire: Andrews UK, →ISBN, page 22:

Develop a career progression ladder for black belts and green belts.

[2012, T. M. Kubiak, “Mentoring Black Belts and Green Belts”, in The Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt Handbook, Milwaukee, Wis.: ASQ Quality Press, →ISBN, part V (Mentoring Responsibilities), page 306:

A person who has earned the rank of green belt in a martial art.


drawbar

(music) A sliding bar on a Hammond organ, controlling the volume of a waveform.


sideman

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sideman.wav

(music) A soloist playing with a band or group of which he is not a regular member.

I link for the peng, then I go link for the mud / I just stepped on the ends, sideman don't give me no spud

2016, “DPMO”, in Gunna Grimes (lyrics), #FingsOnThings, performed by 86:

(MLE, derogatory) Somebody who is unimportant or irrelevant.


fair-haired

en-adj

fair-haired (comparative more fair-haired or fairer-haired, superlative most fair-haired or fairest-haired)

more fair-haired (comparative)
fairer-haired (comparative)
most fair-haired (superlative)
fairest-haired (superlative)

Not noticeably belonging to any one group is often upsetting, and these feelings of isolation, of not fitting in, easily carry over into adolescence—a time when everyone, even the fairest-haired among us, must struggle awfully hard just to seem seminormal.

1997, Sandra Scarry, John Scarry, The Writer’s Workplace: Paragraphs to Essays; Building College Writing Skills, Fort Worth, Tex.: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, →ISBN, page 531:


falloff

Jazz symbols include many contoured articulations and inflections, such as doits, fall-offs, and scoops.

1995, Music & Computers, volume 1, numbers 2-4, page 57:

(music) A note immediately followed by a rapidly descending group of notes.


footlight

Blinded to the astonishment of a thousand spectators by the force of the footlights, [Derek] Jacobi realised he'd dried.

2024 June 1, John Phipps, “The lamentable true history of the Red Hamlet”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 18:

A stage light located at the front edge of the stage that illuminates the actors from foot level up.


fill-in

The following abbreviations are used for all drum solos and fill-ins.

2005, Ted Reed -, Drum Solos and Fill-Ins for the Progressive Drummer:

Fill-ins usually happen at the end of a four or eight-measure musical phrase.

2011, Rob Leytham, Rock Drumming & Soloing Methods, page 9:

(music) A musical embellishment (usually percussion) that is added to connect musical phrases.


grand piano

(music) A large piano in which the strings are strung horizontally in a heavy frame shaped like a harp


amethystine

amethystine (comparative more amethystine, superlative most amethystine)

more amethystine (comparative)
most amethystine (superlative)

His cubic forms phosphoric Fluor prints, / Or rays in spheres his amethystine tints.

1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 80:

Certainly […] no spot more dazzlingly becircled with blue seas, amethystine peaks, and islets magically scattered on pellucid water, could have been chosen for the greatest naval battle of modern times.

1881, James Albert Harrison, Spain, page 499:

Like amethyst, especially in colour; violet-purple.


top 40

en-noun

top 40 (countable and uncountable, plural top 40s)

(music, countable) A list of the current 40 songs that are most popular with the general public (variously measured).

Coordinate term: CHR

I was listening to a top 40 radio station.

Nearly every history of Top 40 launches from an anecdote about how radio station manager Todd Storz came up with the idea sometime between World War II and the early 1950s, watching with friends in a bar in Omaha as customers repeatedly punched up the same few songs on the jukebox.

2014, Eric Weisbard, Top 40 Democracy […] , University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 4:

(music, radio, uncountable) A radio format for popular music, usually including the 40 most popular songs at a given time.


Beatle

Any of the four members of the Beatles quartet; or a person associated with the Beatles


Beatlemania

BEATLEMANIA caught up with Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon last week.

1964 July 12, “The Beatles meet Margaret”, in The Straits Times, page 3:

London calling, now don't look to us / Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust

1979, “London Calling”, The Clash (music):

Berlin's six-decade career began before the advent of radio and ended during the height of Beatlemania.

2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 2, 51-52:

Intense fanatical enthusiasm for The Beatles.

бітлама́нія

intense fanatical enthusiasm for The Beatles


polyphon

A wooden-cased music box of a kind typically manufactured in Germany.


multi-instrumentalist

A musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency.

მულტიინსტრუმენტალისტი

one who plays more than one musical instruments


chemoluminescent

en-adj

chemoluminescent (comparative more chemoluminescent, superlative most chemoluminescent)

more chemoluminescent (comparative)
most chemoluminescent (superlative)


fire dog

(archaeology) Bronze Age artifact used in worshipping either bulls or the moon, or as a holder for wooden logs to be used in a fire altar.


probationer

(UK, music) A chorister in their training period before full admission to a choir, whether or not that period is probationary.


violer

(archaic) A musician who plays the viol.


testaceous

testaceous (comparative more testaceous, superlative most testaceous)

more testaceous (comparative)
most testaceous (superlative)

Of a dull orange or brownish colour, like brick.


volume CT

(medicine) A medical-imaging modality, similar to traditional computed tomography imaging, which acquires data via a two-dimensional detector array and reconstructs the images directly into a volume representation of the patient.


low-dose CT scanning

(medicine) A CT system (computed tomography) that limits the radiation exposure to the patient and produces high-resolution three-dimensional images.


fioritura

/fjɒɹɪˈtjuːɹə/

He groped for his loafers and walked aimlessly for some times among the trees of the coppice where thrushes were singing so richly, with such sonorous force, such fluty fioriture that one could not endure the agony of consciousness, the filth of life, the loss, the loss, the loss.

1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 228:

(music) A musical embellishment or ornamentation.


girandole

/ˈd͡ʒɪɹəndəʊl/

From French girandole, from Italian girandola, from girare (“to turn, gyrate”).

1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII
As I sat in my usual nook, and looked at him with the light of the girandoles on the mantelpiece beaming full over him...

It was a scene of gaiety, glitter, and show; of richly–dressed people, handsome mirrors, chalked floors, girandoles and wax–candles; and in all parts of the scene, gliding from spot to spot in silent softness, bowing obsequiously to this party, nodding familiarly to that, and smiling complacently on all, was the sprucely–attired person of Angelo Cyrus Bantam, Esquire, the Master of the Ceremonies.

1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers 35

An ornamental branched candle holder, sometimes with a mirror behind.


chordophone

(music) Any musical instrument that produces sound from one or more vibrating strings; a string instrument.

cordòfon

chordophone — see also stringed instrument


pulsatile

pulsatile (comparative more pulsatile, superlative most pulsatile)

more pulsatile (comparative)
most pulsatile (superlative)

From post-classical Latin pulsatilis, from the participle stem of Latin pulsāre (“to pulse”).

(music) Of a musical instrument: played by striking or beating.


drum kit

From a train operator's viewpoint, the ideal passenger travels with nothing more than a coat and small case or backpack, and one has sympathy with Lumo when it was confronted with a passenger wishing to travel with a full drum kit.

2023 August 23, Anthony Lambert, “Expanding the family and disabled markets”, in RAIL, number 990, page 55:

A collection of drums and other percussion instruments designed to be played together.

طَقْم الطُّبُول

collection of drums and other percussion instruments played together


modal scale

(music) A tonal scale used in most forms of Western music.


griot

Griots may be the chroniclers of an important family or of a group of people — like the Bambara hunters’ griot — or itinerant poets and musicians who extol the praises of the person who has hired them for a special festivity.

1995, Françoise Pfaff, “Sembene, A Griot of Modern Times”, in Michael T. Martin, editor, Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality, page 118:

When ethnographers are asked to read their works to gatherings of Songhay, elders, they, too, are considered griots.
Ethnographers, however, usually consider themselves scholars, not griots. They prepare themselves for their life's work in a manner altogether different from that of the griot.

1997, Paul Stoller, Sensuous Scholarship, page 15:

I decided that it would be better for a griot to take us back into the legend, rather than me, a contemporary man. Griots have deeply marked me. I already narrated my first film, Ta Dona, in the same way that a griot would have.

2003, Melissa Thackway, “Interview I: Adama Drabo, director”, in Africa Shoots Back: Alternative Perspectives in Sub-Saharan Francophone African Film, page 183:

A West African storyteller who passes on oral traditions; a wandering musician and poet.

bàrɔ

West African storyteller, musician and poet


suona

From the Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 嗩吶／唢呐 (suǒnà), from Persian سورنا (sornâ). Doublet of zurna and horn.

zh-l

嗩吶／唢呐 (suǒnà)

(music) A traditional Chinese double-reeded horn with a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound.


round robin

/ˌɹaʊnd ˈɹɒbɪn/

From round (adjective) + robin. Sense 1 (“senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around”) is connected with the word round, while sense 2 (“senses relating to people, animals, or plants”) is connected with some English regional senses of the word robin where it is used in the names of various fish and plants which are not related to the red-breasted bird. However, apart from the alliteration, it is not clear why the two words came to be linked together in compounds. It is possible that the term was first used to refer to sense 1.13.1 (“consecrated host”) which appears to be the earliest attested sense, and then extended to other senses either having the sense of round or robin.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a corruption of French ruban rond (literally “round ribbon”), referring to the practice in 17th-century France of signing on ribbons which were then attached to petitions of grievances in a circular manner: see sense 1.1. However, this etymology does not explain the senses of the term unrelated to a signed document.

der

If you load a saxophone sound, for example, the library gives you the entire range of the instrument, with round robins, and a depth of velocity-triggered samples for each note.

2019 August 15, L. J. Howard, Tommy Gordon, “Computing Resources (CPU) Tips”, in Music Production Tips, Tricks, and Secrets, [United States]: Fretboard Media Group, →ISBN:

(also attributive) Senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around.

(music) The MIDI technique of using different sampled versions of the same sound for successive notes, to avoid an unnaturally repetitive effect.


headphone

Some joggers wear only one headphone in their ears, to enjoy music while paying attention to their environment.

A cushioned speaker placed on, over, or inside the ear, normally used in left/right pairs.


volti

From Italian voltare (“to turn a page”).


metamict

(mineralogy) A mineral with a disrupted crystal structure due to radiation damage.


saltato

(music) A "springing" stroke in playing the violin.


chicha

From a popular song entitled La Chichera (“the chicha seller”), referring to the fermented beverage.

/ˈt͡ʃiːt͡ʃə/

(music) A genre of popular Peruvian music related to cumbia and native Peruvian huayno.


tremando

(music) Played in a trembling, wavering manner.


tremando

(music) A passage played in a trembling, wavering manner.


scherzino

en-noun

scherzino (plural scherzinos or scherzini)


scherzando

en-adv

scherzando (comparative more scherzando, superlative most scherzando)

more scherzando (comparative)
most scherzando (superlative)

(music) In a playful or sportive manner.


scherzando

en-noun

scherzando (plural scherzandos or scherzandi)

scherzandos (plural)
scherzandi (plural)

(music) A piece of music to be played in a playful or sportive manner.


OCTG

OCTG (countable and uncountable, plural OCTGs)

(oil industry) Abbreviation of Oil Country Tubular Goods.. Tubing, casing and drill pipes manufactured according to API Specification 5CT.


gusla

Soldiers were sitting at tables among these flowers, some playing cards, some singing songs to the sound of the gusla, but very softly because it was now evening, and it had been a holiday, and everyone was tired.

1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, pages 662–3:

These were long ballads, often sung to the melancholy accompaniment of the one-stringed gusla, in which singers and listeners relived the great archetypal moments of Serbian history.

2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 22:


island of stability

island of stability (plural islands of stability)

(nuclear physics) A grouping of isotopes of some transuranic elements that are predicted to be more stable than others due to having filled shells of protons and neutrons.


gusle

Borrowed from Serbo-Croatian gȕsle／гу̏сле. Doublet of gusli.

bor+

gȕsle//гу̏сле

Songs of Brankovich's speed are sung to the strains of the gusle.

1988, Milorad Pavić, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage, published 1989, page 30:

(music) A single-stringed lute-like musical instrument with a bowl-shaped body, held vertically in the lap and played a bow, originating among the Slavic peoples in the Balkans, especially in the Dinarides region.


decani

Borrowed from Latin decānī (“of the dean”).

All the extant voices participate fully in the decani-cantoris split at that point, so one is tempted to assume that the tenors split into decani and cantoris parts as well.

1988, Gordon Paine, Howard Swan, Five Centuries of Choral Music: Essays in Honor of Howard Swan, page 105:

(music) The higher of two choral voice parts sung when a part splits into two; traditionally sung by members of the choir on the decani side.

(music) That half of the choir singing decani parts, collectively.


tune up

en-verb

tune up (third-person singular simple present tunes up, present participle tuning up, simple past and past participle tuned up)

tunes up (present singular third-person)
tuning up (participle present)
tuned up (participle past)
tuned up (past)

(intransitive, music) To tune one's instrument in preparation for performance.


toccata

(music) A piece of music (usually for a keyboard instrument) designed to emphasise the dexterity of the performer.


fioriture

/fjɔːɹɪˈtʊəɹeɪ/

From Italian, plural of fioritura (“a flowering”).

(music) flourishes in a melody by a singer or musician.


school band

A musical ensemble associated with a school, not necessarily a musical school; e.g. marching band.

skolekorps

a musical ensemble associated with a school


cambiata

(music) A pattern in a homophonic or polyphonic (and usually contrapuntal) setting of a melody where a note is skipped from (typically by an interval of a third) in one direction (either going up or down in pitch) followed by the note skipped to, and then by motion in the opposite direction, and where either the note skipped from is distinguished as a dissonance or the note skipped to is distinguished as a non-harmonic or non-chordal tone.


rigadoon

From French rigaudon. Ultimate origin unknown; perhaps related to Hebrew ריקודים or Arabic رقص.


quinticlave

From Latin quīnque (“five”) + clavis (“key”), formed as a calque of French quinte à clef.


nu metal

Sensational spelling of new + (heavy) metal

Which nu-metal song has rocked your world this year?

2004, BBC for kidz - nu-metal song of the year:

Nu metal band Korn is back with a big tour, no-name album.

2007, Post Gazette (Pittsburgh), 1 Aug 2007 (headline) https://web.archive.org/web/20071208125956/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07214/806207-388.stm

(music) A subgenre of heavy metal music from the 1990s and 2000s with some sounds and influences from grunge and hip-hop.


carillonneur

I had never played bells. Very few people have that clanging opportunity. But I could play a piano. So I said, “Shake hands with your new carillonneur.”


animato

(music) A passage to be played in a lively, animated manner.


animato

(music) (To be played) in a lively, animated manner.


portamento

en-noun

portamento (plural portamentos or portamenti)

portamentos (plural)
portamenti (plural)

/pɔːtəˈmɛntəʊ/

From Italian portamento, from portare (“bear, carry”).

The music was feral, Eastern in scale, flattened seconds and sixths, and a kind of fretless portamento between

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 945:

(music) A smooth, gliding transition from one note to another; used especially with stringed instruments, and sometimes on brass.


collabo

Audio (US)

(music, slang) A collaboration with another artist, in urban contemporary music.


collabo

en-verb

collabo (third-person singular simple present collabos, present participle collaboing, simple past and past participle collaboed)

collabos (present singular third-person)
collaboing (participle present)
collaboed (participle past)
collaboed (past)

Audio (US)

The Yohimbe Brothers are DJ Logic (the jazz-influenced turntable wizard who had collaboed with Medeski Martin And Wood and Body Count) and guitarist Vernon Reid (the dreaded fret-monster behind Living Colour and various solo excursions) […]

2004, CMJ New Music Report, number 891, page 6:

(music, slang, intransitive) To collaborate with another artist, in urban contemporary music.


doom metal

Perhaps from the 1986 album title Epicus Doomicus Metallicus or maybe from the 1970 Black Sabbath song "Hand of Doom".

Devotees of doom metal often cite as early instances of the sub-genre mid-1980s albums by Saint Vitus and Candlemass, the title of Candlemass' 1986 Epicus Doomicus Metallicus perhaps inspiring the sub-genre's eventual designation.

2016, Ronald Bogue, Deleuze's Way: Essays in Transverse Ethics and Aesthetics, Routledge, →ISBN, page 39:

(music) A subgenre of heavy metal characterised by a slow tempo and low-tuned guitars, often emphasizing despairing lyrics.


black metal

(music) A subgenre of heavy metal employing fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars, double-kick drumming, raw recording and unconventional song structure, often emphasizing antireligious and misanthropic themes.

(music, dated, 1980s and early 1990s) Any form of extreme metal having a Satanic or anti-Christian theme.


melodica

On “Seven by Seven” it was the reedy blend of two melodicas, played by Mr. Apfelbaum and Mr. Valera over a haunting drone.

2009 July 28, Nate Chinen, “From Babble to Rhythm, Cuban Style”, in New York Times:


limberjack

(music) An American folk percussion instrument consisting of a dancing wooden doll and a flexible plank.


machicotage

A similar practice in French cathedrals, called machicotage, is documented from 1391 through at least the eighteenth century.

1995, Peter Jeffery, Re-Envisioning Past Musical Cultures: Ethnomusicology in the Study of Gregorian Chant:

(rare, archaic) A style of singing, especially of sacred music, cultivated from the late Middle Ages until the 19th century, centered on Paris, and derived from the Gallican ritual; in this style vocal lines are decorated with improvised ornamentation, and differentiated from each other in a polyphonic composition also by tone color.


tremolando

en-noun

tremolando (plural tremolandos or tremolandi)

tremolandos (plural)
tremolandi (plural)

From Italian tremolando (past participle of tremolare).

bor

past participle of <i class="Latn mention" lang="it">tremolare</i>

[…] Mr. Osorio offered Albéniz’s “Suite Española” No. 1 in a reading notable for its high-energy performances of “Granada,” with its lilting melody weaving through guitarlike figuration, and “Asturias,” in which a serpentine theme is wrapped in a hypnotic tremolando figure.

2007 January 24, Allan Kozinn, “Returning to New York, Forcefully”, in New York Times:

Wolf's own Wagner paraphrases (c. 1882) often presage the piano parts of his later songs, both in their part-writing and in their transcription of orchestral effects such as string runs or tremolandos.

2011, Eric Sams, The Songs of Hugo Wolf, →ISBN:

The characteristic surface element of the dense tremolandi is immediately projected into the ensemble and conditions all the different means of sound production available, including the unpitched sound of the tam-tam.

2017, Janet K. Halfyard, Berio's Sequenzas: Essays on Performance, Composition and Analysis, →ISBN:


fondamento

Borrowed from Italian fondamento (“foundation”). Doublet of fundament.

John Frederick Peter, born in 1746, left behind him an ambitious work, dated 1763, entitled Partitur einer Freuden Music zum Friedens Dank Feste, scored for four-part chorus and strings, two flutes, two trumpets and fondamento."

1931, John Tasker Howard, Our American Music: Three Hundred Years of It, page 25:

In the same collection there appeared a quatuor with four melodic instruments: flute, oboe, violin, and cello, besides the fondamento or figured bass.

1949, Ruth Halle Rowen, Early chamber music, page 79:

Further, it is clear from the score that the "fifth horn in B-flat basso" is in reality only a fondamento part performed by the basso continuo in imitation of and to support the upper lines;

2000, Historic Brass Society Journal - Volume 12, page 152:

The Fondamento really is very basic, though the detailed fingerings are of interest.

2006, Early Music Review - Issues 111-116, page 4:

(music) An instrumental bass part that forms the basis of the melody, and against which other instruments provide harmony.


peghead

(music) The part of a stringed instrument, at the end of the neck, that holds the pegs or mechanical tuners used to control string tension.


ignis fatuus

From New Latin ignis fatuus (literally “foolish fire”).

Fiery spirits or devils are such as commonly work by blazing stars, fire-drakes, or ignes fatui; which lead men often in flumina aut præcipitia, saith Bodine[…]

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

An Ignis Fatuus, that bewitches, / And leads Men into Pools and Ditches

1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 16:


coloration

en-noun

coloration (countable and uncountable, plural colorations)

From French coloration, from Latin colōrātiō.

(music) A notational device for indicating hemiola through either use of red ink (in mensural black notation) or black noteheads (in mensural white notation).

(music) Ornamental division (also called passaggi, glosas, diminutions. etc.) employing rapid black notes.


matchbook

My company had matchbooks printed with the corporate logo as giveaway promotional items.

A small folded sheet of cardboard containing rows of cardboard matches, generally with a striker on the outside.

luciferboekje

a small folded sheet of cardboard containing rows of cardboard matches


gustoso

en-adv

gustoso (comparative more gustoso, superlative most gustoso)

more gustoso (comparative)
most gustoso (superlative)


filemot

An anglicized form of feuillemorte / French feuille-morte.

filemot:

Synonym of feuillemorte: the color of a dead or faded leaf: dull brown or yellowish brown.


venting

en-noun

venting (countable and uncountable, plural ventings)

Coordinate term: flaring

Separate research suggests a switch from the flaring of methane to venting may be behind some of these vast outpourings. […] Venting simply releases the invisible methane into the air unburned, which, until recent developments in satellite technology, had been hard to detect.

2023 May 9, Damian Carrington, “‘Mind-boggling’ methane emissions from Turkmenistan revealed”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(oil industry) The release of unwanted gas directly into the atmosphere.


ciphering

(music) A cipher (fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed).


bellowing

The cries of applause and derision from the spectators, and the formidable bellowings of the exasperated monks who surrounded Pachymius, did not tend to steady his nerves, or render the task of critical discrimination the easier.

1890, Richard Garnett, The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales:

Incessant bellowings fill all the earth, Mingled with inextinguishable mirth.

1892, Ambrose Bierce, Black Beetles in Amber:

With great heavings and throes, with snortings and bellowings, with scratchings and tearings of its great claws and lashings of its terrible tail, it writhed and fought to be free, and the light of thousands of fireworks illuminated the gigantic struggle.

The sound produced when someone or something bellows


chittering

From Middle English chitering, chiterynge, equivalent to chitter + -ing.

Another bird quickly learned to imitate the song of a canary that was mated with it, but as the parrakeet improved in the performance the canary degenerated, and came at last to mingle the other bird's harsh chitterings with its own proper music.

1870, Shirley Hibberd, Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste, page 170:


plainsong

plainsong (countable and uncountable, plural plainsongs)

From plain + song, calque of Latin cantus planus.

(music) A form of monophonic chant in unison using the Gregorian scale, sung in various Christian churches.

(music) A cantus firmus or theme chosen for contrapuntal treatment; so called because often an actual fragment of plain-song.

(music) The simple notes of an air, without ornament or variation.


firebrand

From Middle English fyr-brand, furbrond, equivalent to fire + brand. Cognate with German Feuerbrand (“firebrand”).

The member of the college's Communist League was a firebrand who would launch a sit-in or protest march at a moment's notice.

At the same time, Mr. Irons said, it is important to separate “this very valiant and completely kosher and clean repository of public material, which we perfectly endorse, and this kind of firebrand ‘We want to show the publishers they’re wrong’ kind of attitude.”

2011 February 22, Daniel J. Wakin, “Free Trove of Music Scores on Web Hits Sensitive Copyright Note”, in New York Times:

Both Malcolm and King were firebrands. And both were disciplined organisers of people. Malcolm was able to channel the anger of a crowd into action, but then to ensure they did not descend into violence.

2015 February 20, Jesse Jackson, “In the Ferguson era, Malcolm X’s courage in fighting racism inspires more than ever”, in The Guardian (London):

(figurative) An argumentative troublemaker or revolutionary; one who agitates against the status quo.

подстрека́тел

The crowd cheered as a firebrand was tossed onto the huge pile of wood to start the traditional homecoming bonfire.

[…] he filled all their throats with it, so that those poor wretches were by it made to cough like foxes, crying, Ha, Pantagruel, how how thou addest greater heat to the firebrand that is in us.

1807, François Rabelais, Mr. Ozell (John), Sir Thomas Urquhart, The Works of Francis Rabelais - Volume 2 - Page 182

He that is inebriated with passion is unfit for any action; like Samson's foxes, he scattereth firebrands abroad, to the hurt of all that are near him.

1868, George Swinnock, Works - Volume 2 - Page 212:

A torch or other burning stick with a flame at one end.


rinforzando

(music) A style of playing with special emphasis.


baby grand piano

baby grand piano (plural baby grand pianos)


zippo

en-verb

zippo (third-person singular simple present zippos, present participle zippoing, simple past and past participle zippoed)

zippos (present singular third-person)
zippoing (participle present)
zippoed (participle past)
zippoed (past)

Popular slang among American soldiers in the Vietnam War; from the Zippo brand of lighter.

The youth climbed off, Zippoed a wick in a glass bottle and walked towards Jake's flat.

Once the last villagers had left Ben Suc, the buildings were doused with petrol and zippoed.

I didn't want to burn 'em out, but that's policy. So we zippoed their hooch.

1987, Reuben Noel, Nancy Noel, Saigon for a song:


overproduce

overproduce (third-person singular simple present overproduces, present participle overproducing, simple past and past participle overproduced)

overproduces (present singular third-person)
overproducing (participle present)
overproduced (participle past)
overproduced (past)

(music, derogatory) To apply excess modifications to musical recordings, such as adding effects.


tap-dancer

(dance) Someone who performs a tap dance.


day and night

All the time; round the clock; unceasingly.


blee

en-noun

blee (countable and uncountable, plural blees)

From Middle English blee, ble, from Old English blēo, bleoh (“color, hue; complexion, form”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīu (“color, blee”).
Cognate with Scots ble, blee, blie (“color, complexion”), Old Frisian blī, blie (“color, hue; complexion”) (whence North Frisian bläy, Saterland Frisian Bläier), Middle Dutch blie, blye (“color”). Doublet of bly.

inh

Then the captain, young Lord Leigh, with his eyes so grey of blee,— / Toll slowly.

1850, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Rhyme of the Duchess May”, in Poems. … In Two Volumes, new edition, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly. (Late, 186 Strand), →OCLC, stanza XXVI, page 57:

IT was a Mothering Sunday ; / The sky was clear to see / Above the white, white snowdrop, / And the crocus of golden blee.

1893, “A Story of Mothering Sunday.”, in The Sunday at Home, volume 40, Religious Tract Society, page 381:

The captain wonderful to see / With eyes a-change in depth and blee; / A-change, a-change for ever and aye, / Blue, and purple, and black, and gray; / And hair like the weed that finds a home / In the depth of a trail of white sea-foam.

1896, Emily Henrietta Hickey, “The Ship from Tirnanoge”, in Poems by Emily Hickley, page 48:

1913, Francis Thompson, "Stolen Fruit of Eden-Tree (‘The Schoolmaster for God’)", in Brigid M. Boardman (ed.), The Poems of Francis Thompson: A New Edition, Continuum, 2001, lines 59 to 64.
The fruit thereof is fair and fine, / And golden of its blee, / That well the Son of God might think / It came of Paradise—tree, / Nor deem how its root with cold Pit-fire / Is suckled evilly.

"Live, live," and "Here, here," the blackbird / From the top of the bare ash-tree, / Over the acres whistles / With beak of yellow blee.

1931 October, Padraic Colum, “Before the Fair”, in Lascelles Abercrombie, editor, New English Poems: A Miscellany of Contemporary Verse Never before Published, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 14 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, →OCLC, page 142:


cornamuse

A type of double reed instrument from the Renaissance.


tambour

en-noun

tambour (countable and uncountable, plural tambours)

Borrowed from French tambour (“drum”), from Arabic طُنْبُور (ṭunbūr), from the Middle Persian ancestor of Classical Persian تنبور (tanbūr). Doublet of tabor. Compare Armenian տաւիղ (tawiġ), and tabla.

One hazard is the tambour, a buttress which juts out and causes the ball to bounce unpredictably.

2019, Simon Horobin, Bagels, Bumf, and Buses, page 150:

(sports) In real tennis, a buttress-like obstruction in the main wall.


scorrendo

(music) Gliding or passing smoothly between tones.


nucleogenic

en-adj

nucleogenic (comparative more nucleogenic, superlative most nucleogenic)

more nucleogenic (comparative)
most nucleogenic (superlative)

(physics, of an isotope etc) Produced by a natural terrestrial nuclear reaction


belly buster

The derrickman releases the "stabbing board", a pivoting plank like a diving board, then walks out to the very end and, wearing a safety harness called a "belly buster", leans out at a horrific angle to make sure the pipe is lined up straight.

2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, page 68:

(oil industry) A type of safety harness with a belt that wraps tightly around the belly.


divisi

(music) divided (within one instrumental part, simultaneous notes between two or more players)


rock group

A group of musicians who regularly perform rock music together.

مَجْمُوعَة رُوك

musical group specializing in rock music


tealight

From tea + light, since they are sometimes used to keep a teapot warm.

2004, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service https://web.archive.org/web/20071027212506/http://www.staffordshirefire.gov.uk/ccm/content/press-releases/2004/april-2004/tea-lights-pose-potential-danger.en
Candles and tealights can be hazardous and must be used in accordance with any instructions.

A small, typically circular candle encased in a thin metal cup, so that it liquefies completely when lit and burns as a wick immersed in molten wax.

茶燭

small, typically circular candle encased in thin metal cup


mordente

(music) An embellishment resembling a trill.


retrograde inversion

en-noun

retrograde inversion (countable and uncountable, plural retrograde inversions)

(music) A technique where the composer will take the inversion of the tone row, and write that backwards, thus creating a retrograded inversion of the original note row.

(music) A composition technique where the composer inverts the retrograde of a melody or makes the retrograde of the inversion of the melody, using only notes in the same key as the original melody.


string instrument

string instrument (plural string instruments)

(music) A musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings.


woodwind instrument

woodwind instrument (plural woodwind instruments)

Coordinate term: brass instrument

(music) A musical instrument in which sound is produced by blowing against an edge or by vibrating a thin piece of wood or metal known as the reed, and in which the pitch is governed by the resonant frequencies of an enclosed air column.


basso continuo

basso continuo (usually uncountable, plural basso continuos)

Borrowed from Italian basso continuo (literally “continuous bass”).

bor

(music) The continuous realization of harmony throughout a musical piece, usually by a harpsichord and/or cello, typical of the Baroque period. Abbreviation: bc.


figured bass

en-noun

figured bass (countable and uncountable, plural figured basses)

(music) A musical notation in which intervals, chords and harmonizations are indicated by numbers written below a given bass note.


singing bowl

A type of bronze bell, shaped like a bowl, related to Buddhist and pre-Buddhist religious practice.

hangtál

a type of bronze bell, shaped like a bowl, related to Buddhist and pre-Buddhist religious practice


background music

(music) Any music in a film, video game, or other medium that establishes mood and is not meant to have the audience's focus.

背景音乐

music in a film, video game or other medium


bouffe

Born as a French satiric form with the bouffes of Jacques Offenbach in the 1850s, it moved on, like most Parisian fashions, to Vienna[…].

2007 January 9, Anne Midgette, “Retrofitting Operetta for a 21st-Century Crowd”, in New York Times:


piano player

One who plays the piano (to make music); a pianist.


speedcore

(music) A very fast type of hardcore techno.


watchet

watchet (countable and uncountable, plural watchets)

From Middle English wachet, waget; compare French vaciet (“whortleberry”), Latin vaccīnium (“blueberry”).

watchet:

I was going by his Highneſs's order to my Lady Iſabellas chamber: She lies in the watchet'-coloured chamber, on the right-hand, one pair of ſtairs.

1764 December 24 (indicated as 1765), Onuphrio Muralto, translated by William Marshal [pseudonyms; Horace Walpole], chapter V, in The Castle of Otranto, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Lownds […], →OCLC, pages 175–176:


stringed instrument

stringed instrument (plural stringed instruments)

Coordinate term: wind instrument

(music) Any musical instrument in which taut strings are plucked, bowed or struck in order to produce a sound.


timbrel

Diminutive of Old French timbre, from Latin tympanum.

Hence the soft couch, and many-colour'd robe,
The timbrel and arch'd dome and costly feast,
With all th' inventive arts that nurse the soul
To forms of beauty […]

1796, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Religious Musings:

"I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places.[…]"

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(music) An ancient percussion instrument rather like a simple tambourine.

тамбурина

a tambourine like percussion musical instrument


cauterise

en-verb

cauterise (third-person singular simple present cauterises, present participle cauterising, simple past and past participle cauterised)

cauterises (present singular third-person)
cauterising (participle present)
cauterised (participle past)
cauterised (past)

[…] Lanfrank takes Notice of Tract. 3. Doct. 3. cap. 18. ſaying, "I have ſeen many who being full of Humours, have made an Iſſue under the Knee, before due Purgation had been premis'd; whence, by reaſon of the too great Defluxion of Humours, the Legs tumified, ſo that the cauterized Place corrupted, and a Cancer (or rather cacoethic Ulcer) was thereby made, with which great Difficulty was cur'd."

1732, George Smith, Institutiones Chirurgicæ: or, Principles of Surgery, … To which is Annexed, a Chirurgical Dispensatory, …, London: Printed [by William Bowyer] for Henry Lintot, at the Cross-Keys against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet, →OCLC, page 254:

Just when you think you are extricating yourself, just when you think you are cauterised and ready to leave, it resurfaces. Once you've been infected, you're never again completely free.

1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 198:

Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of cauterize.


towheaded

en-adj

towheaded (comparative more towheaded, superlative most towheaded)

more towheaded (comparative)
most towheaded (superlative)


metastable

(physics, chemistry) Of or pertaining to a physical or chemical state that is relatively long-lived, but may decay to a lower energy state when slightly perturbed or through a quantum transition.


reentrant

(music, of a ukulele or similar instrument) Having the strings not ordered according to pitch (having a re-entry).


disrupter

(science fiction) An energy weapon in the form of a pistol.


pro-nuclear

pro-nuclear (comparative more pro-nuclear, superlative most pro-nuclear)

more pro-nuclear (comparative)
most pro-nuclear (superlative)

In favor of the use of nuclear energy and the building of nuclear power plants.


aeruginous

aeruginous (comparative more aeruginous, superlative most aeruginous)

more aeruginous (comparative)
most aeruginous (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French erugineux, from Latin aerūginōsus (“rusty”).

aeruginous:

There was definitely some aeruginous material on that door handle.

It is not possible to adequately discuss aeruginous (copper rust) corrosion products without introducing several principles of corrosion and descriptions of minerals.

2002, David A. Scott, Copper and Bronze in Art: Corrosion, Colorants, Conservation, Getty Publications, →ISBN, page 11:

Pertaining to copper rust; in particular, resembling the greenish colour of copper rust.


atrous

atrous (comparative more atrous, superlative most atrous)

more atrous (comparative)
most atrous (superlative)

Male atrous leadcolourd^([sic]) on the upper side, under side a mixture of whitish and ferruginous with cuspidate fasciae ;

1830, Jonathan Stokes, Botanical Commentaries- Volume 1:

Head atrous, viridescent on lateral frontal spaces and occiput, gulae, basal part of mentum on each side of median tooth brightly viridescent; prothorax atrous, with viridescent tints on disc and wide brassy-green basal and lateral margins.

1917, Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales:

Perithecia sparse, innate, then erumpent for apical portion, subglobose, atrous, with ostiollar portion a little enlarged.

1968, Iconographia Mycologica - Issues 22-27:

An imposing portrait of a Caucasian male holding an atrous book with a sheepish smile hung ominously over the bed.

The throng shouted, female Eligor flung flowers from the roofs as the rhythmic chiming of iron-shod riding beasts came clearer, and the first of the mighty array swung into view in the broad, atrous streets that curved round the spired Grand Union of Imperial Opal.

2014, Mark Alan Lindsley, Future Earth, page 405:


metastable isomer

en-noun

metastable isomer (plural metastable isomers)

(physics) An excited state of an isotope, often having different a spin quantum number (designated with an m)


duodene

From mediaeval Latin duodena (“dozen”), from duodeni.

(music) A schematic group of twelve notes.


drumbeat

This music has a groovy drumbeat that makes me dance!

The drumbeat of roadside bombs and suicide attacks continued all over the 2d Brigade, 10th Mountain Division's area of operations.

2010, Dale Andrade, Surging South of Baghdad, page 108:

Rycant stood close enough to catch his words despite the drumbeat of rain on the thick leaves above their heads, but only Rectoria picked up the note of relief.

2015, Alison Gardiner, The Serpent of Eridor, page 113:

What does the drumbeat of your heart say?

2020, Mark David Gerson, The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write:

(by extension) A repetitive beating sound.


pertechnetate

(inorganic chemistry) The univalent technetium anion TcO₄⁻; any salt containing this anion


mensurable

en-adj

mensurable (comparative more mensurable, superlative most mensurable)

more mensurable (comparative)
most mensurable (superlative)

/ˈmɛnt͡ʃəɹəbəl/

/ˈmɛnt͡ʃɹəbəl/

From Middle English mensurable, from Medieval Latin mensūrābilis.

Mensurable music is song measured by long and short units of time.

1998, William Oliver Strunk, Leo Treitler, Source Readings in Music History, →ISBN, page 227:


pungi

A wind instrument, traditionally made from a gourd, played by snake charmers in India and Pakistan.


mensuration

en-noun

mensuration (countable and uncountable, plural mensurations)

/ˌmɛnsjəˈɹeɪʃən/

[ˌmɛnʃəˈɹeɪʃn̩]

From Middle French mensuration, from Late Latin mensūrātiōnem (“a measuring”).

der

Different levels of mensuration have different roles in the musical structure. The most prominent one is the one corresponding to the compositional tactus. Rhythmic groups may contradict the mensuration temporarily, but in the examples in this book, they never do so throughout an entire piece.

2015, Ruth I. DeFord, Tactus, Mensuration and Rhythm in Renaissance Music, →ISBN, page 470:

(music) A 13th century system for governing rhythmic relationships in music that was a precursor to the modern use of time signatures; The use of mensural notation.


stride bass

(music) A musical device with leaping between the bass and harmony notes in the left hand part of a piano accompaniment.


cross-phrasing

en-noun

cross-phrasing (usually uncountable, plural cross-phrasings)

(music) Musical device with a syncopated effect, usually when groups of three quavers cut across the beat.


lead guitar

An electric guitar in a band that plays soloistically, usually playing melodically as opposed to strumming chords; supported by the rhythm guitar.

主音吉他

electric guitar that plays soloistically


Phrygian cadence

Phrygian cadence (plural Phrygian cadences)

(music) A type of imperfect cadence frequently found in Baroque compositions. The gesture consists of a iv⁶–V final cadence in the minor mode at the end of a slow movement or slow introduction. It implies that a fast movement is to follow without pause, generally in the same key.


Picardy third

(music) A major third in the final tonic chord of a minor-key passage.


virtuosic

en-adj

virtuosic (comparative more virtuosic, superlative most virtuosic)

more virtuosic (comparative)
most virtuosic (superlative)

(music) requiring a high level of technical skill.


supertonic

(music) The second note in a diatonic scale.


submediant

(music) The sixth note of a scale, shown as VI.


pavane

→ Welsh: pafán

From French pavane, from dialectal Italian pavana, contraction of the older padovana, feminine of padovano, meaning from the city of Padua (Italian Padova, dialectal form Pava).

[…] if the men should not agree what to play, but one would have a grave Pavane, another a nimbler Galliard, a third some frisking toy or Iigg, and then all of them should be wilful, none yield to his fellow, but every one scrape on his own tune as loud as he could: what a hideous hateful noise may you imagine would such a mess of Musick be?

1656, Robert Sanderson, Twenty Sermons, London: Henry Seile, Sermon 13, p. 267:

And he tasted in the language of memory ambered wines, dying fallings of sweet airs, the proud pavan […]

1916 December 29, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:

(music) A musical style characteristic of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Why then be merry; be merry, or I’le be
Out of humour, and then who shall dance the Pavan
With Ossorio?

1664, Thomas Porter, The Carnival, London: Henry Herringman, act II, scene 1, page 25:

From the wings I heard and watched the pavane of tragedy move steadily toward its climax.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 33, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, pages 218–219:

(music, dance) A moderately slow, courtly processional dance in duple time/meter.


kanon

From Ancient Greek κᾰνών (kanṓn, “straight rod, bar”). Doublet of cannon, canon, and canyon.

der

(music) Synonym of monochord (used mainly in reference to ancient Greek music)


kanon

(music) Synonym of qanun (used mainly in reference to Armenian music)


stringendo

en-noun

stringendo (plural stringendos or stringendi)

stringendos (plural)
stringendi (plural)

(music) A passage in music to be played gradually faster; a section of music with in which the tempo slowly increases.


stringendo

(music) Played with gradually increasing tempo.


altissimo

He could fold the full pitch range of the horn into a short solo, from altissimo to the lowest notes, and connect rarefied ideas to the rich, soulful phrasing of saxophonists like Junior Walker.

2007 January 14, Ben Ratliff, “Michael Brecker Dies at 57; Prolific Jazz Saxophonist”, in New York Times:

(music) The highest register of a woodwind instrument, or a specific note in this register


opera buffa

From Italian opera buffa (“comic opera”).

(music) A form of Italian comic opera popular in the 18th century.


part song

(music) A form of unaccompanied, often homophonic, vocal composition usually for a few voices or a small choir


gnossienne

(music, often capitalized) Any of several compositions having a dance-like quality


incipit

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-incipit.wav

Borrowed from Latin incipit (“it begins”).

(music) The first few bars of a piece of music.


yellowcake

yellowcake (countable and uncountable, plural yellowcakes)

From yellow + cake, from its colour and texture.

A concentrated form of uranium ore containing a mixture of oxides.


e-flat major

(music) Alternative spelling of E flat major


minor chord

(music) Any musical chord which has a minor third, as opposed to a major third, above its root, especially a minor triad.


raking

(music) a bass guitar playing technique in which multiple notes are played rapidly from one string to another.


musicality

musicality (countable and uncountable, plural musicalities)

Talent or sensitivity in the playing of music.


purfling

The purfling on this violin is exceptionally beautiful.

(music, chiefly lutherie) Two or more very narrow strips of black wood enclosing a lighter-coloured strip of wood set close to the edge of the top and back of a string instrument such as a violin, cello or a guitar, following its outline, or this effect simulated with paint.


blubbering

blubbering (countable and uncountable, plural blubberings)


moonless

Coordinate term: starless

(of a night) During which no phase of the Moon is visible to provide light, whether because of cloud cover or because of a new moon.


transposing

Trumpet is a transposing instrument while trombone is not.

(music) Written in a different pitch to how it sounds.

transponerend

written in a different pitch to how it sounds