jangle

en-noun

jangle (countable and uncountable, plural jangles)

Bob Dylan
Mr. Tambourine Man
R.E.M.
The Beatles

From Middle English jangle (“gossip, idle talk; a dispute”), from Anglo-Norman jangle and Old French jangle (“gossip, idle talk; a dispute”), from Old French jangler (“to chatter, gossip; to argue noisily; to bawl”): see further at etymology 1. Later uses are derived directly from the verb.
Sense 3 (“sound typified by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars”) is said to derive from a line in the song Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan (born 1941): “Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me / In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.”

der

/ˈd͡ʒæŋɡ(ə)l/

E'en as she spake they heard the musical jangle of sleigh-bells, / First far off, with a dreamy sound and faint in the distance, […]

1873 August, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[I. Tales of a Wayside Inn.] The Theologian’s Tale. Elizabeth.”, in Aftermath, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, stanza II, page 45:

Jessamy tugged the scrolled iron bellpull which hung down on one side of the gate. Somewhere behind, she could hear an answering jangle.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, “The Holiday Aunt”, in Jessamy, 1st US edition, Indianapolis, Ind., Kansas City, Mo.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 8:

дрънчене

rattling metallic sound — see also clang

(figuratively)
The sound of people talking noisily.

If you like ‘jangle guitar’—where the guitar parts are chordal, arpeggiated and rhythmic—listen to players like Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, Peter Buck with R.E.M. (Life’s Rich Pageant) or Johnny Marr with The Smiths (The Queen Is Dead).

2008, Rikky Rooksby, Play Great Guitar: Brilliant Ideas for Getting More out of Your Six-string, Oxford, Oxfordshire: The Infinite Ideas Company, →ISBN, page 228:

(music, attributively) A sound typified by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars, played in a droning chordal style, characteristic of 1960s folk rock and 1980s indie rock music.


mouth music

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

Calque of Scottish Gaelic puirt à beul (“tunes from a mouth”).

cal

She herself or one of the other crofter women of the townland would sing to us the mouth music.

1877, Angus Macleod (speaker), “The Reciters' Lament, and Their Story”, in Alexander Carmichael, transl., edited by W.Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, →ISBN, page 115:

‘Mouth music’ evolved in those parts of the country where poor people had no instruments but still wanted to dance.

1996, George Odam with Joan Arnold and Alison Ley, Sounds of Music (Teacher's Book), →ISBN, page 61:

Listening to flamenco, or to English Gypsy or Russian Gypsy folk song, or to the “babba-deep-babbaa-doop” mouth music of the Hungarian Roma, one would be hard put to identify a commonality.

2002, Charles Keil, Angeliki V. Keil, “Foreword”, in Bright Balkan Morning: Romani Lives & the Power of Music in Greek Macedonia, →ISBN, page xxiii:

The vocal imitation of instrumental music.


aerial ladder

(firefighting) A mechanically-extendable ladder mounted to a fire engine.


ripple

A sound similar to that of undulating water.

ромон

(electronics) A small oscillation of an otherwise steady signal.


ripple

en-verb

ripple (third-person singular simple present ripples, present participle rippling, simple past and past participle rippled)

ripples (present singular third-person)
rippling (participle present)
rippled (participle past)
rippled (past)

(intransitive) To make a sound as of water running gently over a rough bottom, or the breaking of ripples on the shore.

ромоля

to make a sound as water running across shallows


polychord

(music) Two or more chords, each constructed in a different manner, one on top of the other; multiple chords.

(music) A musical instrument having ten strings.

(music) A device, attached to a keyboard, for coupling two octave notes.


Christmas carol

en-noun

Christmas carol (plural Christmas carols)

So also when he was born into the World, the holy Angels came down to sing his Christmas Carol, and at once to proclaim and celebrate his Nativity.

(music) A carol (song or hymn) whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas.

تَرْنِيمة عِيد اَلْمِيلَاد

hymn whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas


tetrad

From Ancient Greek τετράς (tetrás), analysable as tetra- + -ad.

(music) A chord comprised of four notes; a tetrachord.


boogie-woogie

boogie-woogie (countable and uncountable, plural boogie-woogies)

/ˌbʊɡiˈwʊɡi/

Reduplication of boogie (“party”), of unknown origin.


polyphony

polyphony (countable and uncountable, plural polyphonies)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πολυφωνία (poluphōnía); equivalent to poly- + -phony.

lbor

(music) Musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).

gjâmë

musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices


bootleg

From boot + leg. Originally a nickname given to smugglers in King George III's reign, derived from the smugglers' custom of hiding packages of valuables in their large sea-boots when dodging the king's coastguardsmen.

(music) An unauthorized recording, e.g., of a live concert.

(music) A remix or mashup that is a combination of two songs but that is not authorized and audited for copyright use; primarily in the electronic music scene.


firebomb

A Molotov cocktail is a simple firebomb.

The firebombs were small, and burst into flames when they hit the ground.

2005, Jennifer Worth, Shadows of the Workhouse, Weidenfeld & Nicholson (2009), page 269:

A weapon that causes fire; an incendiary weapon.


clanger

From clang (“loud ringing sound”) + -er.

(Australia, entomology) A cicada, Psaltoda claripennis, of New South Wales and Queensland, having an upper body of green and brown and clear wings with green veins.


starlight

en-noun

starlight (usually uncountable, plural starlights)

Nor walk by moon, / Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.

1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

Bright starlight enabled us to see much of the country.

1944 January and February, Major J. C. F. Lloyd Williamson, “Ambulance Trains in Algeria and Tunisia”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:

Light emitted from stars other than the Sun.

звездна светлина

light emitted from stars other than the Sun


avgas

avgas (countable and uncountable, plural avgases or avgasses)

Cylinder cracks are nothing new, however, and there is no reason to expect autogas-burning engines to have a higher incidence of head cracking than avgas-users

1988, Kas Thomas, Fuel and oil systems: basic and advanced light plane maintenance:

In the area of autogas volatility, a Reid vapor pressure of 9.0 to 15 is very common, compared to the vapor pressure of avgas, which is 5.5 to 7

1994, Michael J. Kroes with Thomas W. Wild, Aircraft powerplants:

Autogas can be obtained for a fraction of the cost of avgas, but its use is not without controversy.

2006, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, The AOPA pilot: voice of general aviation, volume 49:

(aviation) Gasoline fuel for piston-engined aircraft.


colly

From Middle English *colien, variant of *colwen (attested in Middle English colwed and colwinge), from Old English *colgian. More at collow.

besmeared with soot , colly

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


spinthariscope

From Ancient Greek σπινθαρίς (spintharís, “spark”) + -scope.

der

(historical) An early device for observing individual nuclear disintegrations.


fission

en-noun

fission (countable and uncountable, plural fissions)

Borrowed from Latin fissiōnem, accusative singular of fissiō (“the act of breaking up”), from findō (“split, divide”).

(nuclear physics) Short for nuclear fission: The process of splitting the nucleus of an atom into smaller particles.


walking

From Middle English walkynge, walkinge, walkinde, walkende, walkand, walkande, from Old English wealcende (attested as Old English wealcendes), from Proto-Germanic *walkandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *walkaną (“to roll, trample, walk”), equivalent to walk + -ing.

der

a walking bass, or walking bassline

(music) Being a style of bass accompaniment or line, common in Baroque music (1600–1750) and 20th century jazz, blues and rockabilly, which creates a feeling of regular quarter note movement, akin to the regular alternation of feet while walking.


descant

From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus.

(music) A counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme.


descant

en-verb

descant (third-person singular simple present descants, present participle descanting, simple past and past participle descanted)

descants (present singular third-person)
descanting (participle present)
descanted (participle past)
descanted (past)

(intransitive, music) To sing or play a descant.


thunderbolt

(heraldry) A charge in the form of two joined bundles with four rays of lightning emerging from them, resembling the thunderbolt of Jupiter.


compressor

From compress + -or, or from New Latin compressor.

(audio, sound engineering) A device that reduces the dynamic range of an audio signal.

kompressori

device that reduces the range of an audio signal


alpha emitter

(physics) a radioactive substance that decays by emitting alpha particles


incendiary

en-adj

incendiary (comparative more incendiary, superlative most incendiary)

more incendiary (comparative)
most incendiary (superlative)

ĭnsĕn´dĭĕ'rē

From Middle English incendiarie, from Old French incendiaire, from Latin incendiārius (“setting alight”), from incendium (“destructive fire”), from incendō (“I set on fire, kindle”), from in- (“into, in, on, upon”) + candeō (“I am hot”).

Earlier that year Italian Jews had come under serious attack when an incendiary publication, Gli ebrei in Italia (The Jews in Italy), had flooded the bookshops. The author, Paolo Orano, was a Fascist publicist whose book helped to harden Italian public sensibility against the Jews and pave the way for their eventual persecution.

2014, Ian Thomson, Primo Levi: A Life, Metropolitan Books, →ISBN, page 123:

(figurative) Intentionally stirring up strife, riot, rebellion.

تَحْرِيضِيّ

intentionally stirring up strife, riot, rebellion


luminary

From Late Middle English lūminārī, lūminārīe (“lamp; source of spiritual light, example of holiness; glory”), borrowed from Old French luminarie (“lamp, lights, lighting; candles; brightness, illumination”), variant of luminaire (“light fixture”) (modern French luminaire), from Medieval Latin lūminārium, from lūmināre (“that which gives light; light; lamp; body giving light, especially a heavenly body”), from lūmen (“light; brightness”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine”)) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to). Doublet of luminaire.

der

[…] then firſt adornd / With thir bright Luminaries that Set and Roſe, / Glad Evening & glad Morn crownd the fourth day.

1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 384–386:

The first eye of consequence (under the invisible Author of all) is the visible luminary of the universe.

1711 December 28 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, December 17, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 250; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 246:

The Intercourſe between God and his Soul was as conſtant and periodical as the Riſing and Setting of the Great Luminary of Heaven; […]

1741, John Pinsent, “The Character of Andrew Barker, Esq; …”, in [John Wilford], editor, Memorials and Characters, together with the Lives of Divers Eminent and Worthy Persons. […], London: Printed for John Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 287:

For all things, even Celestial Luminaries, much more atmospheric meteors, have their rise, their culmination, their decline.

1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Symbols”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 155:

(archaic) A body that gives light; especially, one of the heavenly bodies.


lemony

en-adj

lemony (comparative lemonier, superlative lemoniest)

lemonier (comparative)
lemoniest (superlative)

The walls were painted a lemony yellow colour.

We were served a lemony cheesecake for dessert.

[…] she guided the spirited little pair along the dusty road, and then in between the long stretches of fir-wood, whence came delicious warm breathings of that lemony aromatic scent of the growing pines brought forth by the mid-day sun.

1884, George Manville Fenn, chapter 2, in The Rosery Folk, volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, pages 17–18:

My class was wearing butter-yellow piqué dresses, and Momma launched out on mine. She smocked the yoke into tiny crisscrossing puckers, then shirred the rest of the bodice. Her dark fingers ducked in and out of the lemony cloth as she embroidered raised daisies around the hem.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 23, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 144:

“This is the lemoniest cake I’ve ever tasted!” Delores exclaimed, and Hannah could tell that her very proper mother was dangerously close to smacking her lips in appreciation.

2012, Joanne Fluke, chapter 14, in Cinnamon Roll Murder, New York: Kensington, page 142:

Resembling or characteristic of lemons, especially in terms of aroma, taste or colour.


beta emitter

A radioactive substance emitting beta particles.


ASE

Alliance to Save Energy
w:Alliance to Save Energy


damson

damson (comparative more damson, superlative most damson)

more damson (comparative)
most damson (superlative)

From Middle English damascene, damasyn, damacene, from Latin prūnum damascēnum (“Damascene plum, plum of Damascus”). Doublet of damascene.

der

damson:

The color of the fruit of this tree, a very deep purple.


greige

The adjective is borrowed from French grège and Middle French grège (“of silk: raw, unfinished; of the colour of such silk, greyish-beige”, adjective), from Italian greggio (“raw, unrefined; unbleached”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Vulgar Latin *gregius (as in lana *gregia (“untreated wool as obtained from the flock”)), from grex (“flock (of sheep, etc.)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“flock, herd; to gather”).
The noun is borrowed from French grège and Middle French grège (“raw or unfinished silk; the colour of such silk, greyish-beige”, noun), from Italian greggio: see above.
The spelling of the word is probably influenced by beige, likely because it was thought to be a blend of grey and beige.

bor

To those who still deludedly think they prefer Star Wars over Ghostbusters, all I need to ask you is this: you don't really want to be a Jedi, do you? In a greige cowl, getting off with your sister, without a single gag across three films?

2009 June 29, Caitlin Moran, “Sorry Star Wars fans, but Ghostbusters is the best film ever made”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-04-11:

Of a colour like that of unbleached or undyed fabric, between grey and beige.

harmaanruskea

of a colour like that of unbleached or undyed fabric, between grey and beige


greige

en-noun

greige (countable and uncountable, plural greiges)

greige:

Brilliant, sparkling reds will complement the bright, new beauty of Fall fashions and accent the subtle reserve of pale Priority beiges and greiges.

1943, S[idney] J[oseph] Perelman, “Bend Down, Sister”, in The Dream Department, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC, page 74:

The rise of the neutral family of greige colors has put the decorating emphasis squarely on accents. The August issue of Better Homes & Gardens, for example, features an article showing which accents look best with greiges and other popular colors.

1959, Paint, Oil and Chemical Review, volume 122, Chicago, Ill.: Trade Review Co., →OCLC, page 12, column 2:

To accessorize the server, we arranged a grouping of mahogany candlesticks in a variety of interesting shapes, a small greige-colored vase, and a platter that incorporates the colors of the candlesticks as well as the greige of the vase.

2005 September, Lauri Ward, “Views on Retirement: Moving from Coast to Coast”, in Home Therapy: Fast, Easy, Affordable Makeovers (A Perigee Book), Perigee trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Group, published September 2006, →ISBN, page 256:

Canadian colour consultants The Paint People recently reached the same conclusion, declaring on YouTube “the death of greige: a paint colour category that has absolutely dominated interior design for well over a decade”.

2022 May 25, Elle Hunt, “It’s not beige, it’s not grey: it’s greige – and it’s why all our houses look the same”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-08:

A colour like that of unbleached or undyed fabric between grey and beige, closely akin to taupe.

harmaanruskea

(textiles, archaic) Clothing, textiles, etc., which have neither been bleached nor dyed, nor otherwise fully processed; greige goods.


caramel

en-verb

caramel (third-person singular simple present caramels, present participle caramelling or carameling, simple past and past participle caramelled or carameled)

caramels (present singular third-person)
caramelling (participle present)
carameling (participle present)
caramelled (participle past)
caramelled (past)
carameled (participle past)
carameled (past)

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

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

Borrowed from French caramel, from Spanish caramelo, from Portuguese caramelo, dissimilated from Late Latin calamellus, diminutive of calamus (“reed”) (and a doublet of chalumeau and shawm). Alternatively from Medieval Latin cannamellis, which is a compound of canna + mellis.

To turn out, place the dish over the mould, and invert both together, when, if the caramelling has been complete, the pudding should slip out without any difficulty at all.

1900, M. M. Mallock, The Economics of Modern Cookery: Or, A Younger Son's Cookery Book:

(transitive, cooking, dated) To caramelize.


flambe

flambe (third-person singular simple present flambes, present participle flambeing, simple past and past participle flambeed or flambed)

flambes (present singular third-person)
flambeing (participle present)
flambeed (participle past)
flambeed (past)
flambed (participle past)
flambed (past)


radioscopy

examination of objects by the use of X-rays; radiology


diminished

en-adj

diminished (comparative more diminished, superlative most diminished)

more diminished (comparative)
most diminished (superlative)


rocker

From Middle English rokker, rockere, rokkere, equivalent to rock + -er.

It was I Sir (ſaid the Rocker) who had the honour (ſome thirty years ſince) to attend on your Highneſs in your Infancie, […]

1660, Thomas Fuller, “Trusting maketh one Trusty”, in Mixt Contemplations in Better Times, London: […] R[oger] D[aniel] for Iohn Williams, […], →OCLC, page [75]:

(UK) A member of a British subculture of the 1960s, opposed to the mods, who dressed in black leather and were interested in 1950s music.


half-moon

The moon in its first or last quarter when only half the visible face is illuminated; a quarter moon.


dissonance

en-noun

dissonance (countable and uncountable, plural dissonances)

From Latin dissonantia via Middle French; by surface analysis, dis- + son- + -ance.

surf

(music) Conflicting notes that are not overtones of the note or chord sounding.

дисхармония

conflicting notes that are not overtones of the note or chord sounding


agogo bell

From Portuguese agogô, from Yoruba agogo (“bell”).

A percussion instrument consisting of two or three small conical bells, similar to a cowbell, and typically played by striking them with a drumstick.


cantaloupe

From French cantaloup, from Italian Cantalupo (a place name), from Italian canto + lupo, literally "howl of the wolf".
Named after a former Papal summer estate near Rome, where the melons were first grown after being introduced to Europe.

Cucumis melo Cantalupensis Group, a cultivar group melon with sweet aromatic orange flesh, including two main types:

(UK, Ireland) Cantalupensis Group sensu stricto, with non- or slightly netted rind, also known as true cantaloupe or European cantaloupe, found in the Middle East and Europe.

(Australia, Canada, US) Reticulatus Group (now merged into Cantalupensis Group), with strongly netted rind, also known as American cantaloupe, muskmelon or rockmelon.

cantaloupe:

An orange colour, like that of cantaloupe flesh.


helioseismology

Helioseismology, like terrestrial seismology, provides information about the interior of the body under study by using observations of slight motions on the surface.

1989, John N. Bahcall, Neutrino Astrophysics, Cambridge University Press, page 104:

Helioseismology provides unique information about the global dynamics of the Sun and local flows in active regions in the upper convection zone.

2003, Alexander Kosovichev, “Helioseismic Observations of Plasma Motions in the Solar Convection Zone”, in R. Erdélyi, K. Petrovay, B. Roberts, Markus Aschwanden, editors, Turbulence, Waves and Instabilities in the Solar Plasma: Proceedings of the NATO Research Workshop, Kluwer Academic, page 57:

2012, T. L. Duvall, Jr., S. M. Hanasoge, Subsurface Supergranular Vertical Flows as Measured Using Large Distance Separations in Time-Distance Helioseismology, Solar Physics, reprinted in 2014, Nagi N. Mansour, Alexander G. Kosovichev, Rudolf Komm, Dana Longcope (editors), Solar Dynamics and Magnetism from the Interior to the Atmosphere, Springer, page 71,
We find that the large-separation travel times associated with supergranulation cannot be studied using the standard phase-speed filters of time–distance helioseismology.

The study of the propagation of pressure waves in the Sun.

helioseismologia

the study of the propagation of pressure waves in the Sun


once in a blue moon

See blue moon. First use appears c. 1833. See cite below.

Coordinate term: once in a purple moon

We are no advocates for the eternal system of producing foreign operas to the exclusion of the works of English composers, but once in a blue moon such a thing may be allowed.

1833, J. Lection (publisher), The Athenæum, page 780:

[T]ime expanded and space contracted, and the name Blue Moon took on a symbolic meaning, as if the future, so delicately plausible, were of a kind that might happen once in a blue moon only.

1933, James Hilton, Lost Horizon, published 1973, page 133:

(idiomatic) Very rarely; very infrequently.


Ionian

en-adj

Ionian (comparative more Ionian, superlative most Ionian)

more Ionian (comparative)
most Ionian (superlative)

* (Hellenic, Ionia, architecture): Ionia + -n
* (moon of Jupiter): Io + -n- + -ian

(music) Designating the Ionian mode or scale; the name of the major key in modal theory.


jewellery

en-noun

jewellery (usually uncountable, plural jewelleries)

From Middle English juelrye, from Old French juelerye, equivalent to jewel + -ery.

The rig simply retrieves the old pipe and runs a new pipe back in the hole (the completion string). Any special items on the string other than the pipe itself are referred to as "jewellery". These can be any number of things, from down-hole motors to mandrels and radioactive sources for survey purposes.

2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 44:

(oil industry, informal) Any tools, instruments, devices, etc., placed within a drill pipe.


brushfire

A large fire in a scrubland or prairie, as opposed to a forest fire, which happens in forests.

It may be a brushfire operation or an operation on the scale of the Korean war; it will certainly not involve the home territories of the United States and Soviet Russia as theaters of hostilities.

1958, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Foreign Trade Policy, Foreign Trade Policy: Hearings, Eighty-fifth Congress, page 651:

I grant you it may not be in the actual application of mechanical devices, but if you have the volume to have supremacy in a major war it is obvious you would have the volume to take care of a brushfire war.

1959, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations, Financial statements of field commanders, page 251:

If a brushfire conflict does threaten superpower interests, or the general peace, a superpower may intervene in an unusual way.

1963, Philip Van Slyck, Peace: the Control of National Power, page 14:

(politics, attributive) A war that does not directly involve the world's superpowers.


Phrygian

/ˈfɹɪ.d͡ʒɪ.ən/

From Latin Phrygiānus + English -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Phrygianus is derived from Phrygia + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’); and Phrygia is from Ancient Greek Φρῠγῐ́ᾱ (Phrugíā, “region in Anatolia”), from Φρῠ́ξ (Phrúx, “person from Phrygia”) (further etymology unknown, possibly from Phrygian or related to Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to ascend, rise up; to be elevated, up high”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns).


trump

Shortening of Jew's-trump, which may be from French jeu-trump, jeu tromp, jeu trompe (a trump, or toy, to play with).

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


contrafactum

(music) The substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music.

(music) The use of a secular melody with a religious text.


Gregorian chant

en-noun

Gregorian chant (countable and uncountable, plural Gregorian chants)

Named after Pope Gregory I (540–604), and certainly dating back to that time in some form, but the exact origin is a matter of ongoing research.

(music) A style of unaccompanied monophonic singing in the Catholic Church.


clink

en-verb

clink (third-person singular simple present clinks, present participle clinking, simple past and past participle clinked)

clinks (present singular third-person)
clinking (participle present)
clinked (participle past)
clinked (past)

From Middle English clinken, from Old English *clincan (compare clynnan, clynian (“to sound; resound”)), from Proto-Germanic *klinganą (“to sound”). Cognates include Middle Dutch klinken and German klingen. Related to cling (sound) and clang. May be further related to call.
Perhaps of onomatopoeic origin, as metal against metal.

The hammers clinked on the stone all night.

The broken sheds look'd sad and strange, / Unlifted was the clinking latch, / Weeded and worn the ancient thatch / upon the lonely moated grange.

1830 June, Alfred Tennyson, “Mariana”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, stanza I, page 10:

On the other side: the rich, beautiful tapestry of WASP culture that constituted Levis's life—friends playing horseshoes at backyard cocktail parties, where girls swanned in chaise longues, clinking their gin and tonics.

2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:

(transitive, intransitive) To make a clinking sound; to make a sound of metal on metal or glass on glass; to strike materials such as metal or glass against one another.


resound

resound (third-person singular simple present resounds, present participle resounding, simple past and past participle resounded)

resounds (present singular third-person)
resounding (participle present)
resounded (participle past)
resounded (past)

From both of the following:
* From Late Middle English resounen (“to return with an echo, resound; to make a sound, to sound; of speech or writing: to announce a theme”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman resoner, resouner [and other forms], Middle French resoner, and Old French resoner (“to make a (deep or echoing) sound; of sounds: to echo; to ring; of one’s name or actions: to be frequently recounted; of a place: to re-echo or ring with sound”) (modern French résonner), from Latin resonāre, the present active infinitive of resonō (“to ring or sound again, re-echo, resound; to call repeatedly; to give back the sound of (something), re-echo or resound (something)”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + sonō (“to make a noise, resound, sound; to sound (something); to speak or utter (something); to call, cry out; to celebrate; to extol, praise; to sing”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- (“to sound”)).
* From re- (prefix meaning ‘again, anew’) + sound (“to produce a sound”).
cognates
* Catalan ressonar
* Italian resonare (obsolete), risonare
* Old Occitan resonar
* Portuguese ressoar, ressonar, resonar (obsolete)
* Spanish resonar

nb...

reson, resoun, resound, resoune, resounnen, resown, resowne, resownen

prefix

This is the famous Promontory of Sigeum, honored vvith the ſepulcher of Achilles, vvhich Alexander (viſiting it in his Aſian expedition) couered vvith flovvers, and ranne naked about it, as then the cuſtome vvas in funerals: ſacrificing to the ghoſt of his kinſman, vvhom he reputed moſt happie, that had ſuch a trumpet as Homer, to reſound his vertues.

1615, George Sandys, “The First Booke”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC, page 19:

The Warrier his deere skarres no more reſounds, / But ſeems to yeeld Chriſt hath the greater wounds, / Wounds willingly endur'd to work his bliſſe, / Who by an ambuſh loſt his Paradiſe.

[1633], George Herbert, “The Church Militant”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 185:

[B]oth Heav'n and Earth ſhall high extoll / Thy praiſes, with th' innumerable ſound / Of Hymns and ſacred Songs, wherewith thy Throne / Encompaſs'd ſhall reſound thee ever bleſt.

1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 146–149:

The Man, for VViſdom's various arts renovvn'd, / Long exercis'd in vvoes, oh Muſe! reſound.

1725, Homer, “Book I”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 3:

To praise or spread the fame of (someone or something) with the voice or the sound of musical instruments; to celebrate, to extol; also, to declare (someone) to be a certain thing.

[W]hen thoſe pittifull outcries he [Proteus] heard, / Through all the ſeas ſo ruefully reſovvnd, / His charett ſvvifte in haſt he thether ſteard, […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30, page 520:

[T]hou haſt nothing ſayd, / That ſeems, vvith none of thẽ [them] thou fauor foundeſt, / Or art ingratefull to each gentle mayd, / That none of all their due deſerts reſoundeſt.

1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature C2, verso:

Sternly he pronounc'd / The rigid interdiction, which reſounds / Yet dreadful in mine eare, […]

1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 970–972:

Famine and peſtilence, her firſt-born ſon, / Attend to finiſh vvhat the ſvvord begun, / And ecchoing praiſes ſuch as fiends might earn, / And folly pays, reſound at your return.

1782, William Cowper, “Heroism”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 360:

These words, which resounded far through the streets, were accompanied by as many fierce blows, dealt with good effect among those whom the armourer assailed.

1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume I, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 102:

[S]he owned the motor car, a vehicle adapted to her own requirement; it had a horn which could be worked from the back seat; her weekly journey to church resounded through the village like the Coming of the Lord.

1938 May, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 2, in Scoop: A Novel about Journalists, uniform edition, London: Chapman & Hall, published 1948 (1951 printing), →OCLC, book I (The Stitch Service), page 17:

Of a sound, a voice, etc.: to reverberate; to ring.

The sound of the brass band resounded through the town.

Full of iron mines it is in ſundry places, […] to vvhich purpoſe divers brookes in many places are brought to runne in one chanell, and ſundry medovves turned into pooles and vvaters, that they might bee of power ſufficient to driue hammer milles, vvhich beating upon the iron, reſound all over the places adjoyning.

1610, William Camden, “Sussex”, in Philémon Holland, transl., Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC, page 306:

Betvveen the upright ſhafts of vvhoſe tall elms / VVe may diſcern the threſher at his taſk. / Thump after thump, reſounds the conſtant flail, / That ſeems to ſvving uncertain, and yet falls / Full on the deſtin'd ear.

1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, pages 19–20:

Then through the dell his horn resounds, / From vain pursuit to call the hounds.

1810, Walter Scott, “Canto I. The Chase.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza X, page 13:

Especially of a musical instrument: to make a (deep or reverberating) sound; also, to make sounds continuously.

ressoar

especially of a musical instrument: to make a (deep or reverberating sound; to make sounds continuously


resound

en-noun

resound (countable and uncountable, plural resounds)

From Late Middle English resoun, reson (“echoing or reverberating sound; clangour, din, noise”), from Old French reson, and from its etymon Latin resonus (“echoing, resounding”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + sonus (“sound; noise; pitch; speech; (figuratively) character, style, tone; tongue, voice”) (from sonō (verb) (see further at etymology 1) + -us (suffix forming nouns)).
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ɹɪˈsaʊnd/, /-ˈzaʊnd/
*
 Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)
 Audio: (file)
* (General American) IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ɹəˈsaʊnd/, /ɹi-/, /-ˈzaʊnd/
*
 Audio (General American): (file)
 Audio: (file)
* Rhymes: -aʊnd
* Hyphenation: re‧sound

IPA

Presently, out of the turmoil, the fighting of horses, the resound of blows, the murky cloud of dust and sand, he crawled, in time to see the Corinthian and Byzantine go on down the course after Ben-Hur, who had not been an instant delayed.

1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter XIV, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book fifth, pages 375–376:

(countable) An echoing or reverberating sound; a resounding.


resound

From re- (prefix meaning ‘again, anew’) + sound (“to produce a sound”).


Brigid

/ˈbɹɪ.d͡ʒɪd/

From Irish Brighid, from Old Irish Brigit, from Proto-Celtic *Brigantī (“high, exalted”).

der

A female given name from Irish, equivalent to English Bridget, sometimes borrowed from Irish.


forest fire

If the forest fire is not contained soon the town will be at risk!

A fire, often large, that consumes a forest or woodland.


changes

/ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒɪz/

Jazz musicians do that as they play the changes, improvising their way through a sequence of chords that gives stability, shape, and direction to the tune they play.

2015, Gregory Clark, Civic Jazz, The University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 142:


blow out

en-verb

blow out (third-person singular simple present blows out, present participle blowing out, simple past blew out, past participle blown out)

blows out (present singular third-person)
blowing out (participle present)
blew out (past)
blown out (participle past)

From Middle English blow out, blowe out, dissimilated forms of earlier Middle English outblowen, ut-blawen (> English outblow), equivalent to blow + out. Compare West Frisian útblaze (“to blow out”), Dutch uitblazen (“to blow out”), German ausblähen and ausblasen (“to blow out”), Danish blæse ud (“to blow out”), Swedish blåsa ut (“to blow out”).

A steam cock or valve sometimes blows out.

(intransitive) To be driven out by the expansive force of a gas or vapour.


ding

The high-pitched resonant sound of a bell.


ding

ding (third-person singular simple present dings, present participle dinging, simple past and past participle dinged)

dings (present singular third-person)
dinging (participle present)
dinged (participle past)
dinged (past)

The fretful tinkling of the convent bell evermore dinging among the mountain echoes.

1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:

These were succeeded by anchor and chain-cable forges, where sledgehammers were dinging upon iron all day long.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

(intransitive) To make high-pitched sound like a bell.


ding

(Hong Kong) An indigenous inhabitant of the New Territories entitled to the building a village house under the Small House Policy.


luminosity

en-noun

luminosity (countable and uncountable, plural luminosities)

From French luminosité or luminous + -ity.

(uncountable) the state of being luminous, or a luminous object; brilliance or radiance


Romanticism

(art, music) An artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, peaking from 1800 to 1850, characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical.


back-to-back

"He's been standing-by in town for the last week, talk to his back-to-back on the rig in the morning." ("Back-to-back" is the man on the rig who does your job when you're not there.

2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 101:

(oil industry) One of a pair of rig workers who are rostered on alternately.


first quarter

(astronomy) The waxing lunar phase, from new moon to half way between new moon and full moon.


last quarter

the waning lunar phase halfway between full moon and new moon.


barbershop quartet

barbershop quartet (plural barbershop quartets)

(music) A group of four musicians who sing barbershop music. Usually contains high and lead tenors, baritone and bass.


gibbous moon

A bat, against the gibbous moons,
Danced, implike, with its lone delight;
The glowworm scrawled a golden rune
Upon the dark; and, emerald-strewn,
The firefly hung with lamps the night.

(astronomy) A lunar phase either side of the full moon when the moon's disc as seen from the Earth is larger than a semicircle.


lunar phase

(astronomy) Any of the near-monthly cyclically occurring aspects or appearances presented by a moon as seen from its planet (unless otherwise specified, the Moon as seen from Earth).

fase lunar

any one of the aspects presented by the moon

harvest moon

these are recurrent but less frequently than near-monthly


lunation

The irregular period from one new moon until the next.

lunacja

the name of term given the irregular period from one new moon until the next


backspin

backspin (countable and uncountable, plural backspins)


backspin

en-verb

backspin (third-person singular simple present backspins, present participle backspinning, simple past and past participle backspun)

backspins (present singular third-person)
backspinning (participle present)
backspun (participle past)
backspun (past)

(music) To play a section of a record in reverse, as a disc jockey; to apply spinback.


modulator

(music) A chart in the tonic sol-fa notation on which the modulations or changes from one scale to another are shown by the relative position of the notes.


lyrics

The words to a song (or other vocal music).

เนื้อร้อง

nʉ́ʉa-rɔ́ɔng


light spectrum

en-noun

light spectrum (plural light spectrums or light spectra)

light spectrums (plural)
light spectra (plural)

From light (“visible”) + spectrum (“range of electromagnetic wavelengths”).

compound

(physics) The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to humans.


flameproof

en-adj

flameproof (comparative more flameproof, superlative most flameproof)

more flameproof (comparative)
most flameproof (superlative)

One hundred and fifty miles of flameproof wire have been used in the signalboxes and relay rooms.

1952 December, “Brighton Line Resignalling, Southern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 830:


fire-retardant

fire-retardant (comparative more fire-retardant, superlative most fire-retardant)

more fire-retardant (comparative)
most fire-retardant (superlative)


fire-retardant

A substance that makes an object resistant to burning.


modulation

en-noun

modulation (countable and uncountable, plural modulations)

/ˈmɑː.d͡ʒə.ˌleɪ.ʃən/

From Middle French modulation, from Latin modulatio. By surface analysis, modulat(e) + -ion

The variation and regulation of a population, physiological response, etc.


fireproof

en-adj

fireproof (comparative more fireproof, superlative most fireproof)

more fireproof (comparative)
most fireproof (superlative)

The fireproof safe will protect documents inside for up to four hours in a standard house fire.


radiation poisoning

en-noun

radiation poisoning (usually uncountable, plural radiation poisonings)

radiation sickness
radiation sickness#English


hydrogen economy

hydrogen economy (plural hydrogen economies)

A hypothetical future economy in which the primary form of stored energy for mobile applications and load balancing is hydrogen (H₂), and, in particular, hydrogen replaces fossil fuels in automobiles.

vetytalous

an economy based on hydrogen as primary form of stored energy


radiation sickness

radiation sickness (countable and uncountable, plural radiation sicknesses)

(medicine, pathology) Any illness produced by ionizing radiation with symptoms ranging from nausea to death.


deceptive cadence

deceptive cadence (plural deceptive cadences)

(music, US) a falling cadence in which the ear expects a dominant chord to resolve to the tonic, but it resolves to something else (usually a submediant chord) instead.

harhalopuke

falling cadence the dominant chord resolves to something other than the tonic (usually the submediant)


inaudible

Dogs can hear this whistle, but for people it is inaudible.

At first his voice was almost inaudible; but soon the spirit mastered the body, and his hollow but distinct tones gained a supernatural strength.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 267:

Unable to be heard or not loud enough to be heard.


modal

en-adj

modal (comparative more modal, superlative most modal)

more modal (comparative)
most modal (superlative)

From Middle French modal, from Medieval Latin modālis (“pertaining to a mode”), from Latin modus (“mode”); equivalent to mode + -al. Compare to French, Spanish, and Portuguese modal and Italian modale.

der

(music) Of, relating to, or composed in the musical modi by which an octave is divided, associated with emotional moods in Ancient — and in medieval ecclesiastical — music.

modaal

music: of, relating to, or composed in the musical modi by which an octave is divided

(of music, by extension) In a mode which is not major or minor scale, the standard modes used in the Western musical tradition.


flamethrower

/ˈfleɪmˌθɹəʊ.ə/

From flame + thrower, calque of German Flammenwerfer.

A device that projects a flame for starting fires, and sometimes also additional fuel to help ignition. Used either as a weapon or a tool.


undulation

en-noun

undulation (countable and uncountable, plural undulations)

From undulate + -ion, or borrowed from Medieval Latin undulātiō; compare French ondulation.

(music) A tremulous tone produced by a peculiar pressure of the finger on a string.

aaltomaisuus

a tremulous tone produced by a peculiar pressure of the finger on a string


lyricist

A person who writes the lyrics of a song.


sustained

en-adj

sustained (comparative more sustained, superlative most sustained)

more sustained (comparative)
most sustained (superlative)


absorbed dose

(physics) The amount of energy imparted by nuclear (or ionizing) radiation to unit mass of absorbing material. Units of measure include the gray, the rad, and their derivatives (e.g., centigray, millirad).

geabsorbeerde dosis

amount of energy imparted by nuclear radiation

gray

the SI unit of measurement of this phenomenon


folk song

(music) A song, in any folk style, originating among ordinary people, usually non-professional musicians, and handed down by oral tradition.

أُغْنِيَّة شَعْبِيَّة

song originating among the working people

Before my father, Hasidic music was mere folksong. He raised it to the level of art.

2017, Velvel Pasternak, Behind the Music, Stories, Anecdotes, Articles and Reflections, page 190:

(music) A song in the style of folk music, a modern genre of popular music.


bones

A percussive folk musical instrument played as a pair in one hand, often made from bovine ribs.


DDD

en-noun

DDD (countable and uncountable, plural DDDs)

(music) A designation on prerecorded compact discs indicating a "full digital recording" (recorded, mixed and mastered in digital).


Established in the United Kingdom as the first emergency service number in the world, initially chosen because of its suitability at a time of rotary-dial telephones.

(UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, colloquial, metonymically) Emergency services; emergency service personnel.


nightclub

A public or private establishment that is open late at night to provide entertainment, food, drink, music or dancing.


thumbstroke

(music) a stroke of the strings (of a guitar for example) made with the thumb


compression

compression (countable and uncountable, plural compressions)

Borrowed from Middle French compression, from Latin compressiō.

(music) The electronic process by which any sound's gain is automatically controlled.

компреси́ране

(music) the electronic process by which any sound's gain is automatically controlled


taiko

Borrowed from Japanese 太鼓 (たいこ taiko), from 太 (tʰàj, “great”) + 鼓 (kú, “drum”).

(music) A Japanese drum or a performance of several drummers in an ensemble (also called kumi-daiko).


taiko

The taiko, a gadfly petrel from the Chatham Islands near to New Zealand, was well known to islanders during the nineteenth century, being used by them as a food resource.

2000, Errol Fuller, Extinct Birds, Oxford, page 61:

Chatham Island taiko
Chatham Island taiko

Pterodroma magentae
Pterodroma magentae#Translingual

The Chatham Island taiko (Pterodroma magentae).


keep shtum

en-verb

keep shtum (third-person singular simple present keeps shtum, present participle keeping shtum, simple past and past participle kept shtum)

keeps shtum (present singular third-person)
keeping shtum (participle present)
kept shtum (participle past)
kept shtum (past)

If I tell you, you have to promise to keep shtum about it.

Charlie Blüthner is the shmatte king of Panama, and he wouldn't be where he is today if Benny hadn't kept shtum for him just like you did for me.

1996, John le Carré, The Tailor of Panama, London: Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 978-0-340-68478-8; republished New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-345-42043-5, page 104

His only chance of survival was to keep schtum. His only way of saving the others was to keep schtum and the only chance of actually keeping schtum was not to be around to do any talking. He must escape. Now.

2010, M. T. McGuire, chapter 62, in Few Are Chosen (K'Barthan Series; part 1), United Kingdom: Hamgee University Press, →ISBN:

This evening, at a thinly attended meeting of the parliamentary party, Jim Sheridan demanded to know why ministers were interfering in the strike by the BA cabin crew – both Andrew Adonis and Gordon [Brown] denounced the strikers over the weekend. 'How have we got ourselves into this situation?' asked Ken Purchase, pointing out that there had been two ballots, the last of which came out 80 per cent in favour of strike action. 'We should either be keeping shtum or back the workers.'

2010, Chris Mullin, Decline & Fall: Diaries 2005–2010, London: Profile Books, →ISBN:

And I would plead that the situation is not unusual. It's just one of those things you're supposed to keep shtum about.

2012, Kevin Barry, Dark Lies the Island: Stories, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 12:

Reggie is another one who keeps shtum about things. But one Christmas, when I was over here and called in to wish them seasonal good cheer, we had a few whiskies and he got loquacious.

2013, Ann Granger, Bricks and Mortality (Campbell and Carter Mystery; 3), London: Headline Publishing Group, →ISBN:

(intransitive, colloquial, idiomatic) Not tell anyone; especially, keep silent about something that may be sensitive or secret.


glove box

There's a map in the glovebox.

So I went for the shotgun in the Hilux, but could only find one rat-shot shell in the glove box.

2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 25:

(automotive) A small compartment with a door on the dashboard of a car, usually on passenger side, used to store (and sometimes lock) items.

A plastic box or similar enclosure containing a controlled environment, with rubber gloves fastened around holes in the front of the box through which a person can manipulate things in the box without introducing outside contamination; an isolator.

hansikaskaappi

plastic box with rubber gloves fastened around holes


x

Taska Black x DROELOE, Steve Aoki x Lauren Jauregui, etc.

(music) Used in place of and in artist collaborations.


tinnitus

en-noun

tinnitus (countable and uncountable, plural tinnituses)

From Latin tinnītus (“a jingling, ringing”).

(otolaryngology, pathology) The perception of noise, such as a ringing or beating sound, which has no external source.


phosphorescence

phosphorescence (countable and uncountable, plural phosphorescences)

From phosphorescent.
Morphologically phosphoresce + -ence.

We saw a round red sun rise over the City, paint the glassy towers with phosphorescence and, as it brightened and lost its shape, sprinkle across the sky feathers of pink and lilac.

2002, Barbara Vine, Grasshopper, page 138:

The emission of light without any perceptible heat; the quality of being phosphorescent.


suspended

(music, of a chord) Having had its third omitted and replaced with a major second or perfect fourth.


chops

Inflected forms. The jazz slang sense “musical ability” is a reference to the use of the lips to blow instruments.

Although the bass player had no experience playing in New Orleans, the crowd's enthusiastic response showed that he had the chops to make it in the very particular Crescent City jazz scene.

Recently, I have taken up the double bass again, but because time and neglect erode ability, calluses turn soft, and muscle memory fades, I need to woodshed (practice) to get back into shape and build up my chops.

1999 June, Al Stevens, “Jukebox: Covering the Basses”, in Dr. Dobb's Journal, volume 24, number 6, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman, Inc., →ISSN, page 115:

(originally US jazz slang) One's skill at musical interpretation and delivery; musical performance ability.


pianoforte

pianoforte (plural pianofortes or pianoforti)

pianofortes (plural)
pianoforti (plural)

/piˌænəʊˈfɔːteɪ/

/piˌænəʊˈfɔːt/


blackbody

(physics) a theoretical body, approximated by a hole in a hollow black sphere, that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation and reflects none; it has a characteristic emission spectrum

黑體

an idealized object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation that falls on it


radiology

magnetic resonance imaging
magnetic resonance imaging

(medicine) The specialty of medical imaging and its interpretation, originally and especially radiography but now including all imaging modalities, including ones that use no radiation (such as ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging).


replicate

/ˈɹɛpləˌkət/

From Latin replicātus, past participle of replicāre (“to fold or bend back; reply”), from re (“back”) + plicāre (“to fold”); see ply. Doublet of reply and replica.

(music) A tone that is one or more octaves away from a given tone.


aak

Borrowed from Korean 아악(雅樂) (aak). Doublet of gagaku and yayue.


recorder

Recorder (musical instrument)
recorder (disambiguation)

From Middle English recorder, from record (“to practice (music)”); ultimately cognate with Etymology 1.

Recorders are made in various sizes, from the high soprano or descant recorder to the low bass recorder.

Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

[…] he beheld
The city fronted with bright fires, and heard
Pipes, and recorders, and the hum of war;

1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book 10.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 242, lines 12-14:

On his [Hamlet’s] taking the recorders—very like a little black flute that had just been played in the orchestra and handed out at the door—he was called upon unanimously for Rule Britannia.

1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XII, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 201:

And when they paused on a hilltop for lunch, he whipped out his battered recorder and commenced to tootling “Greensleeves,” scaring off all living creatures within a five-mile radius—which may have been his intention.

1982, Anne Tyler, chapter 5, in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, New York: Knopf, page 133:

[…] he had huffed into his white plastic recorder while scowling at the sheets of music that lay open on the wobbly stainless-steel stand.

2017, Daniel Mendelsohn, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic, New York: Penguin Random House:

(music) A musical instrument of the woodwind family; a type of fipple flute, a simple internal duct flute.


bass note

(of a chord or sonority) The lowest note played or notated.


fade in

en-verb

fade in (third-person singular simple present fades in, present participle fading in, simple past and past participle faded in)

fades in (present singular third-person)
fading in (participle present)
faded in (participle past)
faded in (past)

(music, audio, transitive, intransitive) To commence with silence in a song and then slowly increase the volume of the music until the intro of the song is over.


rapping

en-noun

rapping (countable and uncountable, plural rappings)

(music) Musical speech accompanied by a rhythm, most commonly as part of hip-hop music.


fade out

en-verb

fade out (third-person singular simple present fades out, present participle fading out, simple past and past participle faded out)

fades out (present singular third-person)
fading out (participle present)
faded out (participle past)
faded out (past)

(music, audio, transitive, intransitive) To decrease in volume, such as at the end of a song, until there is only silence.


rumble

rumble (third-person singular simple present rumbles, present participle rumbling, simple past and past participle rumbled)

rumbles (present singular third-person)
rumbling (participle present)
rumbled (participle past)
rumbled (past)

From Middle English rumblen, romblen, rummelyn, frequentative form of romen (“to roar”), equivalent to rome + -le. Cognate with Dutch rommelen (“to rumble”), Low German rummeln (“to rumble”), German rumpeln (“to be noisy”), Danish rumle (“to rumble”), all of imitative origin.

The trembling streams which wont in channels clear
To rumble gently down with murmur soft,[…]

c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, “The Tears of the Muses”, in Complaints, published 1591:

(obsolete, intransitive) To murmur; to ripple.


nonet

From Italian nonetto, from nono (“ninth”).

The small-group sides are the best, with the nonet in particular coming through as a sparkling unit that deserves an LP to itself.

1955 January 15, The Saturday Review, Recordings Reports: Jazz On LPs, page 38:

(music) A composition for nine instruments or nine voices.


yowl

From Middle English youlen, goulen, from Old Norse gaula (“to low, bellow, howl, scream”), related to Icelandic gaula (“to yell, howl, roar”), Faroese geyla (“to bawl, squall, shout, yell, bellow”), Norwegian gaule (“to roar, howl, whine, weep noisily”), dialectal Swedish gjöla, Scots gowl (“to howl, yell, roar”), Shetlandic Scots gjol. Initial y- possibly influenced by Middle English yollen, yellen (“to yell”).

cog

A prolonged, loud cry, like the sound of an animal; a wail; a howl.


fallout

en-noun

fallout (countable and uncountable, plural fallouts)

It was 5 February 2010 and Safdar had already dealt with the fallout of one explosion that day: an hour before, a motorbike laden with explosives had slammed into a bus carrying Shia Muslims to a religious procession.

2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in the Guardian:

The event of small airborne particles falling to the ground in significant quantities as a result of major industrial activity, volcano eruption, sandstorm, nuclear explosion, etc.

uitval

event of airborne particles falling to the ground


quasihemidemisemiquaver

Telemann's ‘Gulliver’ suite for two violins includes a Lilliputian chaconne in quasihemidemisemiquavers and a Brobdignanian^([sic]) gigue in semibreves.

2004, Paul Griffins, The Penguin Companion to Classical Music, →ISBN:

(music, principally UK) A note having a time value half as long as a hemidemisemiquaver or 64th note; a 128th note.


barbiton

From Latin barbiton, from Ancient Greek βάρβιτον (bárbiton).

an ancient stringed musical instrument, apparently a type of lute or lyre


cabaletta

An Italian variant of coboletta, diminutive of cobola (“stanza, couplet”), from Old Occitan cobla, from Latin copula. Doublet of couplet.

1980, to bring the proceedings to an end and enable him to perform his salvatory mission, he swung into a cabaletta which summed up the argument against Arius — Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers


polyrhythm

polyrhythm (countable and uncountable, plural polyrhythms)

(uncountable, music) Music with multiple rhythmic elements played simultaneously.

(countable, music) A rhythm or set of rhythms performed as part of a piece of music with multiple rhythmic elements played simultaneously, typically equally spaced in time and coprime.

(countable, music) Music containing such a rhythm.


anacrusis

Modern Latin, from Ancient Greek ἀνάκρουσις (anákrousis, “pushing up”), from ἀνακρούω (anakroúō, “I push up”), from ἀνά (aná, “up”) + κρούω (kroúō, “I strike”).

uder

Then Etheridge poised his baton, jerked an upbeat, and made the violinists speak the low G and A of their anacrusis.

(music) An unstressed note or notes before the first strong beat (or downbeat) of a phrase.

anacrusi

(music) an unstressed note (or notes) before the first strong beat of a phrase


barbitos

From Latin barbitos, from Ancient Greek βάρβιτος (bárbitos).

The singer prepares his tone and rhythm on the barbitos before he adds his voice to the melody.

An ancient stringed musical instrument from Greece, apparently a type of lute or lyre.


jasmine

en-noun

jasmine (countable and uncountable, plural jasmines)

Etymology tree
Middle Persian yʾsmn'
Classical Persian یَاسَمِین (yāsamīn)bor.
Arabic يَاسَمِين (yāsamīn)bor.
French jasminbor.
English jasmine
Borrowed from French jasmin, from Arabic يَاسَمِين (yāsamīn).

etymon

National Museum of Singapore
William Farquhar
jasmine

Italian jasmine

Chrysojasminum humile, syn. Jasminum humile


berceuse

What was in my mind as I waited for sleep and the engines thundered their ineffectual berceuse was the chapter, a brief one, about the Jews.

(music) A composition that resembles a lullaby, often in 6/8 time.


cimmerian

en-adj

cimmerian (comparative more cimmerian, superlative most cimmerian)

more cimmerian (comparative)
most cimmerian (superlative)

/sɪˈmɪəɹ.ɪ.ən/

There, under ebon shades... in dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.

As ragged as thy locks,
In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.

1740, George Frideric Handel, Charles Jennens, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato:

...the darkness of antiquated barbarism, in which he buries himself like a mole, to throw up the barren hillocks of his Cimmerian labours.

1820, Thomas Love Peacock, The Four Ages of Poetry:

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 VI, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600641.txt
The glimpse of blue vault far above only heightened the cimmerian gloom of the canyon, and the frowning rocks, which rose abruptly gave one the impression that they were on the point of crashing into the ravine.

The source of man’s unhappiness is his ignorance of Nature.... To remove this Cimmerian darkness... requires the clue of Ariadne.

1770, Baron D'Holbach, The System of Nature:


bourdon

Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“accompaniment”), from Old French bordon, from Medieval Latin burdō, burdōnem (“drone”). The modern pronunciation is influenced by modern French bourdon.

der

The earth tremors resumed and made a bourdon to the loud psalms that they sang, interspersed with the odd ode of Horace recited by Silas.

1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

(music, archaic) The burden or bass of a melody.


hootenanny

Unknown; potentially Scottish. Use is tied to the Appalachian culture in the US.

Coordinate term: jam session

It bespoke country’s devotion to realism, to songs about Saturday night’s hootenanny and Sunday morning’s moral reckoning, not to mention the kitchen-table truths of Monday through Friday.

2013 August 11, Jody Rosen, “Jody Rosen on the Rise of Bro-Country”, in New York Magazine:

(music) An informal, festive performance by folk singers, often including audience participation with the use of acoustic instruments.


caprice

Borrowed from French caprice, from Italian capriccio, from caporiccio (“fright, sudden start”). Doublet of capriccio and chevron. Ultimately from Latin caper (“goat”).


avaz

(music) An unmetered vocal section of a mode in Persian music.


cantilena

Borrowed from Italian or Latin cantilēna.

He played a lazy tune that sinuated from C sharp down to G natural and back again. Astonishing that he could flute so lazy a cantilena while chasing nymphs.

1964, Anthony Burgess, The Eve of St Venus:

The sounds of insects, of which I am seldom conscious unless I have not heard them in some time, resumed, with a noise that reminded me of the tuning of the strings in the Blue Hall before the first cantilena began, a noise I sometimes used to listen to when I lay on my pallet near the open port of the apprentices' dormitory.

1982, Gene Wolfe, chapter 27, in The Sword of the Lictor (The Book of the New Sun; 3), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, pages 203-204:

(music) A vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style.


thud

en-verb

thud (third-person singular simple present thuds, present participle thudding, simple past and past participle thudded)

thuds (present singular third-person)
thudding (participle present)
thudded (participle past)
thudded (past)

From Middle English thudden (“to strike with a weapon”), from Old English þyddan (“to strike, press, thrust”), from Proto-Germanic *þuddijaną, *þiudijaną (“to strike, thrust”), from Proto-Germanic *þūhaną, *þeuhaną (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *tūk- (“to beat”). Cognate with Old English þoddettan (“to strike, push, batter”), Old English þȳdan (“to strike, stab, thrust, press”), Old English þēowan (“to press”), Albanian thundër (“a hoof, talon, a shaft", figuratively, "oppression, torment”).

cog

At the same instant two arrows thudded into the carcass of the deer over which he knelt, passing but a few inches from his head.

1849, George Frederick Ruxton, Life in the Far West (non-fiction), New York: Harper & Brothers, page 183:

[…] while the tears streamed from his eyes, and his tail waved and thudded in perfect time on the sanded floor. But for the said thudding of the tail, I would have stopped, fancying the poor animal's nerves had been set on edge.

1874, Mrs George Cupples, “Mrs Glen and the Aberfoyle Orphanage”, in The Poetical Remains of William Glen, Edinburgh: William Paterson, page 47:

(intransitive) To make the sound of a dull impact.


disc jockey

Disc refers to the flat, circular shape of the traditional medium for recorded music. Jockey refers to a diminutive of jock, the Northern English or Scots colloquial equivalent of the first name John, which is also used generically for “boy, or fellow” (compare Jack, Dick), at least since 1529. So, disc jockey / DJ etymologically refers to a young person playing (discs holding) music.
Coined by journalist Walter Winchell in 1935 to describe Martin Block. Appeared in print in Variety in 1941.
Previously also called record man.

coin

A person who plays, and sometimes mixes, recorded music at nightclubs, dances, parties, or some other social event; and/or as a backup musician for spoken word, or hip hop performers.

platejoggie

person who plays recorded music in nightclubs etc.


uranium nitride

en-noun

uranium nitride (plural uranium nitrides)

(chemistry) an insoluble binary compound or uranium and nitrogen, (UN)ₙ, used as fuel rods in nuclear reactors


taxi yellow

taxi yellow (usually uncountable, plural taxi yellows)

taxi yellow:

“No,” Emma said, “this could be important. Not taxi yellow, so what kind of yellow did it seem?”

1999, Gillian Roberts, Time and Trouble:

The car was painted an authentic “taxi-yellow” and featured an off-white or red interior, complete with driver.

“I remember. The walls were taxi yellow,” she added, hoping he might smile.

A bright yellow color used for New York taxicabs.


cochineal

cochineal (countable and uncountable, plural cochineals)

/ˌkɒt͡ʃɪˈniːl/

The noun is borrowed from Middle French cochenille (modern French cochenille), from Italian cocciniglia or Spanish cochinilla; further etymology uncertain, possibly from Latin coccineus, coccinus (“scarlet-dyed; scarlet in colour”) (whence Italian coccineo (“scarlet in colour”)) + Italian -iglia (suffix forming collective nouns), Spanish -illa (“diminutive suffix”). Coccinus is derived from Ancient Greek κόκκῐνος (kókkinos, “scarlet; (figurative) blushing”, adjective), from κόκκος (kókkos, “kermes oak (Quercus coccifera); insect of the genus Kermes living on the oak; scarlet dye made from crushed kermes insects”) (possibly from Pre-Greek) + -ῐνος (-inos, suffix forming adjectives).
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, cochineal is not derived from Spanish cochinilla (“pill bug, especially the common pill bug (Armadillidium vulgare)”), a diminutive of cochina (“female pig, sow”) (from the animal’s shape), which coincidentally has the same spelling as cochinilla (“cochineal”).
The adjective is derived from the noun.

noncog

The Cochineel is an Inſect, bred in a ſort of Fruit much like the Prickle Pear. […] The Silveſter gives a colour almoſt as fair as the Cochineel; and ſo like it as to be often miſtaken for it, but it is not near ſo valuable.

1697, William Dampier, chapter VIII, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, pages 228–229:

A prodigious quantity of insects of all sorts (but no mosquitoes) assailed us at our evening meal. […] There were some that were larger—earwigs, cochineals, a little mole-cricket, and an enormous mantis. I stuffed a number of them into my poison-bottle.

1930, André Gide, “Back Again”, in Dorothy Bussy, transl., Travels in the Congo […], red seal edition, New York, N.Y.: Modern Age Books, published 1937, →OCLC, part 2 (Back from the Chad), page 194:

The cochineal insects belong to the genus Dactylopius and are interesting not only on account of the dye, used in confectionery, that is obtained from them, but also because of the effect certain kinds have on their host-plants. The cochineals that infest certain kinds of prickly pear of the genus Monacantha have such an adverse effect on the plants, that the latter are completely destroyed. […] One of the cochineals that infest the last-named does have a killing effect at times, but by no means so marked.

1936, H. K. Munro, F. A. Fouché, “Introduction”, in A List of the Scale Insects and Mealy Bugs (Coccidae) and Their Host-plants in South Africa = ’n Lys van die Dopluise en Wolluise (Coccidae) en hul Voedsterplante in Suid-Afrika (Union of South Africa, Department of Agriculture and Forestry Bulletin; no. 158), Pretoria, South Africa: Government printer, →OCLC, page 6:

The red dye—or cochineal red as it is called—is present in the body of cochineals, as is clearly apparent if one of the bugs is accidentally squashed. Cochineals were cultivated for their dye in the New World long before the arrival of the Spaniards. When Hernán Cortés entered Mexico in 1519 he was much taken by the widespread use of red in Aztec culture, and was downright dazzled by the magnificence of Montezuma's [i.e., Moctezuma II's] robe.

2003, Thomas Eisner, “The Opportunists”, in For the Love of Insects, Cambridge, Mass.; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 318:

(countable) A scale insect of the species Dactylopius coccus, native to the tropical and subtropical Americas, which lives on prickly pear cacti (genus Opuntia).


diapason

Borrowed from Latin diapason, from Ancient Greek διαπασῶν (diapasôn), that is διά (diá, “through”) + πασῶν (pasôn, “all”) (χορδῶν (khordôn, “notes”)), “through all (notes)”.

2 to 1, which is a duple ratio, forms the [symphony] diapason

1818, Iamblichus, translated by Thomas Taylor, Life of Pythagoras, page 328:

(music) A tonal grouping of the flue pipes of a pipe organ.


arabesque

/ˌæɹ.əˈbɛsk/

/ˌæɹ.əˈbɛsk/

Borrowed from French arabesque, from Italian arabesco, from arabo (“Arab”). By surface analysis, Arab + -esque.

(music) An ornate composition, especially for the piano.


oud

From Arabic عُود (ʕūd). Doublet of lute.

Coordinate term: sintir

(music) A short-necked and fretless plucked stringed instrument of the lute family, of Arab and Turkish origin.


protostar

/ˈpɹəʊtə(ʊ)stɑː/

-əʊtəʊstɑː(ɹ)

-əʊtəstɑː(ɹ)

From proto- + star. Compare later protostellar.

(astronomy) A collection of gas and dust in space with high temperature that usually grows to the point of beginning nuclear fusion and becoming a star.


Locrian

scattered piano keys (all white, an octave on B to be exact—or H, in the German nomenclature—the notes of the rejected Locrian mode

1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

(music) Designating an ancient Greek mode, of uncertain detail.

(music) Designating a minor scale with the second and fifth scale degrees lowered by a semitone.

lokriszi

music: designating a minor scale with the second and fifth scale degrees lowered by a semitone


cacophonous

en-adj

cacophonous (comparative more cacophonous, superlative most cacophonous)

more cacophonous (comparative)
most cacophonous (superlative)

From Ancient Greek κακός (kakós, “bad”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice”).

[…] Huple had rescued them just in time by seizing the controls back from Dobbs and leveling the ship out almost as suddenly right back in the middle of the buffeting layer of cacophonous flak from which they had escaped successfully only a moment before.

1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Texan”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 46:

The good thing about this job is that it gives me time and space to contemplate the future at my leisure, whilst the city sleeps, free from the cacophonous curiosity of the hoi polloi.

1993, Mike Leigh, Naked, spoken by Brian (Peter Wight):

The first time I saw the NYC quartet [Sonic Youth] was in 1983 for their Confusion Is Sex album, when they filled The Venue in Victoria, London with a cacophonous maelstrom of mangled sounds that still reverberates, more than two decades on.

2006, Everett True, Nirvana: The Biography, Da Capo Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 58:

[…] and the cacophonous clatter of pots and pans accompanied the vociferous complaints of the ship's cook.

2011, Fern Michaels, To Taste the Wine, Kensington Books, published 2011, →ISBN, page 153:

A colony of pelicans can be cacophonous.

2012, Michael D. Breed & Janice Moore, Animal Behavior, Academic Press (2012), page 199 (image caption)

Containing, consisting of, or producing harsh, unpleasant or discordant sounds.

cacofònic

containing or consisting of unpleasant sounds


effected

Their palette was covered with heavily effected guitars, synthetic loops and samples, electronic drums, and cold industrial sound effects.

2000, John Joseph Thompson, Raised by Wolves: The Story of Christian Rock & Roll:


Mixolydian

From Ancient Greek μιξο-Λυδιος (mixo-Ludios, “half-Lydian”), from μιξο- (mixo-) (from base of μιγνυναι (mignunai, “to mix”)) + Λυδιος (Ludios, “Lydia (an ancient country in Asia Minor)”); named in reference to Lydian (another Greek mode).

der

Johann Jakob Froberger's piece Canzona V in G is in the mixolydian mode.

It is susceptible of nodes or modes as far apart as hyperphrygian and mixolydian and of texts so divergent as priests haihooping round David's that is Circe's or what am I saying Ceres' altar and David's tip from the stable to his chief bassoonist about the alrightiness of his almightiness.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 15: Circe]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 474:

(music) Designating the Mixolydian mode, the highest of the ancient Greek modes, and now having final G and D dominant.

miksolyydinen

designating a mode in music having (in the C scale) final G and D dominant


quindicessima

From Italian quindicessima, the feminine ordinal form of quindici (“fifteen”).

(music) Two octaves higher. Marking indicates a passage to be transposed up two octaves. Abbreviation: 15ma.


primordial

From the Latin prīmōrdiālis (“of the beginning”). Compare primordium and -al.

Of an element or isotope: occurring primordially (on Earth) (i.e. inherited from when the Earth was formed); because it is stable, or radioactive but so long-lived that some is left over from when the Earth was formed. For example, primordial radioisotopes (T = half-life in years) include uranium-235 (T = 7×10⁸), potassium-40 (T = 1.25×10⁹), uranium-238 (T = 4.5×10⁹), and thorium-232 (T = 1.4×10¹⁰).


ottava

From Italian ottava (“octave”) (also feminine form of ottavo (“eighth”), ordinal form of otto).

(music) One octave higher; as a marking, typically abbreviated 8va.


atishoo

Both onomatopoeic and a pronunciation spelling of a tissue.

[A]nd the next instant the most peculiar sounds came forth from the statue of Biggoon. "Ah-tishoo!" said the spirit voice, "Oh! Oh! ah-tish-oo!"

1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 24, column 1:


fandango

en-noun

fandango (countable and uncountable, plural fandangos or fandangoes)

/ˈfæn.dæŋ.ɡəʊ/

Borrowed from Spanish fandango, of uncertain origin. Possibly related to Portuguese fado, or of West African origin.

Coordinate term: bolero

The soldiers were oftener gambling and dancing beneath the walls than keeping watch upon the battlements, and nothing was heard from morning till night but the noisy contests of cards and dice, mingled with the sound of the bolero or fandango, the drowsy strumming of the guitar, and the rattling of the castanets, while often the whole was interrupted by the loud brawl and fierce and bloody contest.

1829, Washington Irving, chapter XXVI, in Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada:

We skipped the light fandango / Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor

1967, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, in Procol Harum, performed by Procol Harum:

I'm wearing a Spanish skirt so what's wrong with dancing a fandango.

2014, Rosie Harris, Looking For Love, page 179:

(music, dance) A form of lively flamenco music and dance that has many regional variations (e.g. fandango de Huelva), some of which have their own names (e.g. malagueña, granadina).

fandango:


naphtha

naphtha (countable and uncountable, plural naphthas)

→ Japanese: ナフサ (nafusa)

→ Korean: 나프타 (napeuta)

From Latin naphtha, from Ancient Greek νάφθα (náphtha, “naphtha”), from Old Persian *naftah, probably borrowed or assimilated from Akkadian 𒉌𒆳𒊏 (/napṭu/, “petroleum”) , from the verb 𒈾𒁀𒂅 (na-ba-ṭu /napâṭu, nabâṭu/, “to be(come) bright, to shine; to flare up, to blaze”). The Greek mediation is reflected in the spelling – ‘ph’ and ‘th’ (from ‘φ’ and ‘θ’).

der

The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

No, this is not a disentanglement from, but a progressive knotting into — they go in under archways, secret entrances of rotted concrete that only looked like loops of an underpass... certain trestles of blackened wood have moved slowly by overhead, and the smells begun of coal from days far to the past, smells of naphtha winters, of Sundays when no traffic came through...

The Common Room and the Library were lit by anbaric light, but the Scholars preferred the older, softer naphtha lamps in the Retiring Room.

(petrochemistry) Any of a wide variety of aliphatic or aromatic liquid hydrocarbon mixtures distilled from petroleum or coal tar, especially as used in solvents or petrol.


time signature

(music) A symbol or numerical sign placed on a stave to indicate the meter; in the case of a numerical time signature, the numerator is the number of beats per bar, the denominator represents the value of each beat.


orgone

en-noun

orgone (countable and uncountable, plural orgones)

Blend of organism + hormone, after German Orgon.

In the present report I shall describe the methods of quantitative measurement of the orgone by means of the electroscope and the thermometer.

1944, Wilhelm Reich, “The Discovery of the Orgone, part 2”, in Theodore P Wolfe, transl., International Journal of Sex-Economy and Orgone-Research, volume III, number 1:

So, boys, when those hot licks play over your balls and prick and dart up your ass like an invisible blue blow torch of orgones, in the words of T. J. Watson, Think.

1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press:

In the psychoanalytic theory of Wilhelm Reich, a form of sexual energy or life force distributed throughout the universe and available for collection, storage, and further use.


creamy

en-adj

creamy (comparative creamier, superlative creamiest)

creamier (comparative)
creamiest (superlative)

creamy chocolate

Of food or drink, having the rich taste or thick, smooth texture of cream, whether or not it actually contains cream.

cremós

of food or drink, having the taste or texture of cream


concert grand

(music) A large grand piano, especially one used for concert performances.


second-degree burn

en-noun

second-degree burn (plural second-degree burns)

a burn, more severe than a first-degree burn, that blisters the skin


first-degree burn

first-degree burn (plural first-degree burns)

A mild burn that causes redness of the skin but no blistering.


third-degree burn

third-degree burn (plural third-degree burns)

A severe burn that destroys skin and underlying tissue and exposes nerve endings.


toolpusher

The senior worker in charge of an oil drilling rig.


musica ficta

From Medieval Latin mūsica ficta (literally “fashioned music”).

bor

(music) The use of chromatically altered tones in the contrapuntal music of the 10th to the 16th centuries.


concerto grosso

(music) a musical form, common in the Baroque period, in which contrasting sections are played by full orchestra and by a small group of soloists.


con brio

From Italian con brio (literally “with vigor”).

She ate, drank, worked, danced, and made love in exactly the same way: con brio.

The bags were obviously heavy but she carried them con brio, her back straight, her low heels clicking briskly.

2012, Stephen King, chapter 20, in 11/22/63, page 442:

(music) with spirit, with vigor; vivaciously (used as a musical direction)


rallentando

(music) slackening; becoming slower (used as a musical direction).


Baroque period

(music) The musical period of time following the Renaissance, extending roughly between 1600-1750.


tom-tom

Alternative form of tam-tam (“a kind of flat gong”)


ritenuto

From Italian ritenuto. Doublet of retinue.

(music) (of a passage in a musical score) immediately slower, held back at a slower rate of pace.


ritornello

en-noun

ritornello (plural ritornellos or ritornelli)

ritornellos (plural)
ritornelli (plural)

Italian ritornello, diminutive of ritorno (“return”), from ritornare (“to return”): compare French ritournelle.

(music) A recurring tutti passage in Baroque music for orchestra or chorus.


baroque organ

(music) a pipe organ dating from or built to the specifications of the Baroque period at the time of J.S. Bach


snarfle

en-verb

snarfle (third-person singular simple present snarfles, present participle snarfling, simple past and past participle snarfled)

snarfles (present singular third-person)
snarfling (participle present)
snarfled (participle past)
snarfled (past)

From snarf + -le (frequentative suffix). First attested in 1985.

Wiggy, my Staffordshire terrier, loved to snarfle and root around on that hillside, and she always brought in the wonderful perfume, like a cloud of scent . . .

2004 Brigit Legere Binns - The Low-carb Gourmet: Recipes for the New Lifestyle - Page 4

. . . while we snarfle down popcorn at the Cineplex.

2007 Alan Farrell - High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans Page 246


music hall

(music) An auditorium for concerts and musical entertainments.


concertino

en-noun

concertino (plural concertinos or concertini)

concertinos (plural)
concertini (plural)

Borrowed from Italian concertino, from concerto + -ino (diminutive suffix).

(music) The group of solo instruments in a concerto grosso.

(music) A section in a concerto grosso played by three instruments.


giocoso

en-adj

giocoso (comparative more giocoso, superlative most giocoso)

more giocoso (comparative)
most giocoso (superlative)

From Italian giocoso, from Latin iocōsus.


tam-tam

(music) A flat gong (without knob) that is struck with a felt-covered hammer.


addolorato

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played sorrowfully.


grazioso

grazioso (comparative more grazioso, superlative most grazioso)

more grazioso (comparative)
most grazioso (superlative)

Borrowed from Italian grazioso (“graceful”), from Latin grātiōsus (“agreeable, popular”), from grātia (“grace”). Doublet of gracioso and gracious.


basset horn

From German Bassetthorn, translation of French cor de bassette, from Italian corno di bassetto.

(music) An alto instrument of the clarinet family, pitched in F below middle C, with a range reaching down to F below that.


basso cantante

A voice with an upper range that is more developed than that of the basso profundo.


basso profondo

From Italian basso profondo (“deep bass”).

I am normally a low baritone, almost basso profundo [sic], but under certain kinds of provocations my voice disappears into the higher registers, perhaps into the bat range.

1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 40:

(music) A singer with a bass voice of the lowest range.

(music) A bass voice of the lowest range.


musicology

en-noun

musicology (usually uncountable, plural musicologies)

(music) the scholarly or scientific study of music, as in historical research, musical theory, or the physical nature of sound.


sopranino

sopranino (plural sopraninos or sopranini)

From Italian soprano + -ino (diminutive).

(music) a musical instrument, especially a saxophone or recorder, that is a pitch higher than the soprano instrument of its class


pyrokinesis

(parapsychology, fantasy, science fiction) The ability to set objects or people on fire or to supernaturally project fire from one's own being through the concentration of psychic power.

pyrokinesia

the ability to set objects or people on fire


celesta

/t͡ʃəˈlɛstə/

(music) A musical instrument consisting principally of a set of graduated steel plates struck with hammers that are activated by a keyboard.


clavichord

From German Klavichord, from Renaissance Latin clavichordium, from clāvis (“key”) + chorda (“cord, string”).

(music) An early keyboard instrument producing a soft sound by means of metal blades (called tangents) attached to the inner ends of the keys gently striking the strings.


crome

(music) Alternative form of croma (“a quaver”)


remise

(music) The repetition or return of the opening material later in a composition.


reprise

From Middle English reprise (noun) and reprisen (verb), from Old French reprise, from reprendre. In some senses borrowed anew from Modern French reprise.

(music) A repetition of a phrase, a return to an earlier theme, or a second rendition or version of a song in a programme or musical.

реприз

(music) a repetition of a phrase, or a return to an earlier theme


psaltery

A learned alteration of Middle English sauterie, sautrie (rarely psautry), from Old French psalterie, from Latin psaltērium, from Ancient Greek ψαλτήριον (psaltḗrion, “stringed instrument, psaltery, harp”), from ψάλλω (psállō, “to touch sharply, to pluck, to pull, to twitch” and in the case of the strings of musical instruments, “to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and not with the plectron”). Doublet of psalter, psalterion, and psalterium. Cognate of psalm and psalmody.

doublet

And at the dedication of the wall of Ieruſalem, they ſought the Leuites out of all their places, to bꝛing them to Ieruſalem, to keepe the dedication with gladneſſe, both with thankeſgiuings and with ſinging, with cymbals, pſalteries, and with harpes.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 12:27:

(music) A zither-like musical instrument consisting of a soundboard with multiple strings, played by plucking the strings with the fingers or a plectrum.


koto

Seated on the soft carpet with their drinks, they listened to a recording of koto, Japanese thirteen-string harp.

1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 94:

(music) A Japanese stringed instrument having numerous strings, usually seven or thirteen, that are stretched over a convex wooden sounding board and are plucked with three plectra, worn on the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of one hand.


matched

(informal, uncountable, music) Short for matched grip.


celeste

en-noun

celeste (countable and uncountable, plural celestes)

Borrowed from French céleste (“heavenly”), from Latin caelestis.

(music) Alternative form of celesta, a musical instrument.

(music) An organ stop, deliberately slightly out of tune to give an undulating sound.


doo-wop

Coined by DJ Gus Gossert in the 1970s, referring to (mostly) white rock-and-roll groups of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The name is onomatopoeic, representing the nonlexical backing vocals of some songs of the genre.

The R&B groups possessed a grittiness and soulful earnestness that was soon to be emulated by street-corner doo-wop groups, some of whom would achieve commercial success with instrumentally arranged hit records.

2016, Lawrence Pitilli, Doo-Wop Acappella, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 27:

A style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that was mostly popular within Black Americans of African descent in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s that is best characterized by nonsensical backing vocals with very little to no instrumentation.


punctum

From Latin pūnctum. Doublet of point and punto.

(music) A neume representing a single tone.


shtum

Borrowed from Yiddish שטום (shtum, “mute, dumb, voiceless”), from Middle High German stum, from Old High German stum, from Proto-West Germanic *stumm. Cognate with German stumm, Dutch stom, Swedish stum. Doublet of stum.


dubonnet

en-noun

dubonnet (usually uncountable, plural dubonnets)

[…] greens, and blues through deep-toned dubonnets, grays, and greens.

dubonnet:

The reddish purple colour of the apéritif Dubonnet.


flickering

With 3,600 h.p. underfoot, acceleration was reasonably brisk, but the flickering wheel-slip indicator light showed the prudence of not putting full power through the traction motors while there were traces of early-morning dampness on the rails.

1960 August, R. K. Evans, “Railway Modernisation in Spain”, in Trains Illustrated, page 494:

shining unsteadily or varying rapidly in brightness (referring to a light or a source of light)


trashy

en-adj

trashy (comparative trashier, superlative trashiest)

trashier (comparative)
trashiest (superlative)

trashy cymbals

I needed to have a cymbal setup that allowed me the flexibility to play with a clean or trashy sound at any time.

2001, Johnny Rabb, Jungle/Drum 'n' Bass for the Acoustic Drum Set, Alfred Music Publishing, →ISBN, page 20:

(music) Having a sound like white noise.


ringing

en-noun

ringing (countable and uncountable, plural ringings)


ringing

en-adj

ringing (comparative more ringing, superlative most ringing)

more ringing (comparative)
most ringing (superlative)

They declare ringing confirmation for their theories even in the face of feeble data.

1999 March 20, Natalie Angiers, The Guardian:


traffic light

ពន្លឺចរាចរណ៍

pɔɔnlɨɨ cɑɑraacɑɑ

Turn left at the traffic lights and the hospital is on your right.

A signalling device positioned at a road intersection or pedestrian crossing to indicate when it may be safe to drive, ride or walk, using a universal colour code.

(usually in the plural) A road intersection controlled by one or more such devices.


lighthouse

A tower or other structure exhibiting a light or lights to warn or guide sailors.

vuurtoring

building containing a light to warn or guide ships


harmonic

From Latin harmonicus, from Ancient Greek ἁρμονικός (harmonikós), from ἁρμονία (harmonía, “harmony”).

(music) The place where, on a bowed string instrument, a note in the harmonic series of a particular string can be played without the fundamental present.


tone poem

Calque of German Tondichtung (Ton (“tone”) + Dichtung (“poem”)).

(music) A piece of symphonic music which, like a poem, has a narrative or descriptive theme.


G clef

(music) A clef indicating the position of one-lined G (g′ or G4) on a staff.


dancehall

en-noun

dancehall (countable and uncountable, plural dancehalls)

→ Japanese: ダンスホール (dansuhōru)

It sounded Jamaican to me, a form of dancehall, and […] I wandered over and watched the dancing.

2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 271:

(uncountable, music) A genre of Jamaican dance music derived from dub and reggae.


symphonic poem

(music) A piece of orchestral music, in one movement, based on something non-musical, such as a story or a painting.

poema simfònic

piece of music based on something non-musical


treble clef

(music) a symbol showing that the second line from the bottom of the stave represents the G above middle C


stoplight

(US, Philippines) A traffic control signal, traditionally consisting of three lights, colored green, yellow/amber, and red, meaning proceed, prepare to stop, and stop, respectively.

The rear lamps are combined with the service stoplights and are contained in stoplight part and blackout marker light assemblies at the rear of the vehicle.

1973, United States. Department of the Army, Organizational Maintenance Manual (TM-9-2320-211-20), page 2-52:

A light on the rear of a vehicle that is activated when braking; a brake light.


glimmer

glimmer (countable and uncountable, plural glimmers)

From Middle English glimeren, glemeren (“to glimmer”), equivalent to glim (“to shine”) + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with German Low German glimmern (“to glimmer”), German glimmern (“to glimmer”), Danish glimre (“to glimmer”), Swedish glimra (“to glimmer”).

cog

The glimmer of the fireflies was pleasant to watch.


glimmer

en-verb

glimmer (third-person singular simple present glimmers, present participle glimmering, simple past and past participle glimmered)

glimmers (present singular third-person)
glimmering (participle present)
glimmered (participle past)
glimmered (past)

The fireflies glimmered in the dark.

the glimmering dawn; a glimmering lamp

The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

(intransitive) To shine with a faint, unsteady light.


symphonic

en-adj

symphonic (comparative more symphonic, superlative most symphonic)

more symphonic (comparative)
most symphonic (superlative)

1923: George Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite - Finally, Mozart's most dramatic finales and concerted numbers are more or less in sonata form, like symphonic movements, and must therefore be classed as musical prose.


hot spot

пизэке

A location which has a higher temperature or amount of radiation than surrounding areas.

(firefighting, forestry) A part of a forest fire which is burning actively.

titik panas

(nuclear physics) An area of high radioactive contamination.

(figuratively) A place notable for a high level of activity or danger.

A part of an application that consumes a significant amount of execution time.


keynote

(music) The note on which a musical key is based; the tonic.


zarzuela

en-noun

zarzuela (countable and uncountable, plural zarzuelas)

Borrowed from Spanish zarzuela, probably from the Palace of Zarzuela, royal residence near Madrid where it was first performed.

(music) A form of Spanish opera having spoken dialogue and usually a comic subject.


thoric

(inorganic chemistry) relating to, or containing thorium


troubadour

From Old Occitan trobar (“to find”) via Old French troubadour. Piecewise doublet of trouveur.

Sitting in the courtroom ..., their laptops and tablets propped before them, power cables snaking through convoluted adapters, the Twitterati have sight of witnesses at all times – the troubadours, or perhaps the tricoteuses, of the digital revolution.

2014 April 24, Alan Cowell, “At Pistorius trial, Twitterati have their day in court”, in The New York Times:

An itinerant composer and performer of songs in medieval Europe; a jongleur or travelling minstrel.


flicker

flicker (countable and uncountable, plural flickers)

From Middle English flikeren (“to flutter”), from Old English flicerian, flicorian (“to flutter”).
Akin to Saterland Frisian flikkerje (“to flicker”),
West Frisian flikkerje (“to flicker”), Dutch flikkeren (“to flicker, flutter”), German Low German flickern (“to light up, flash, flicker”). Compare Old English flacor (“flickering, fluttering”), German flackern (“to flicker, flutter”), Old English flēoġan (“to fly”).

cog

the flicker of the dying candle

the flicker of an old movie


saccade

(music) The sounding of two violin strings together by using a sudden strong pressure of the bow.

saccadé

music: sounding of two violin strings together


sonata

From Italian sonata, from the feminine past participle of sonare (modern suonare), from Latin sonāre (“to make sound”). Doublet of sounded.

(music) A musical composition for one or a few instruments, one of which is frequently a piano, in three or four movements that vary in key and tempo.

sonate

a musical composition for one or a few instruments


gasohol

en-noun

gasohol (countable and uncountable, plural gasohols)

gasoline mixed with ethyl alcohol (ethanol).