bandura

Borrowed from Ukrainian банду́ра (bandúra), possibly through Italian pandura and Polish bandura, from Late Latin pandura (“musical instrument with three strings”), from Ancient Greek πανδοῦρα (pandoûra, “three-stringed lute; zither”), perhaps from Lydian.

der

He touches the strings and pours forth a song descriptive of his live, his wanderings, his anguish, and is discovered by the magic tones of the bandura, his adventures, above all, by his voice and passionate fire.

1871, [Nikolai Nikolaevich] Muraviev, “Return”, in Philipp Strahl, W[illiam] S[tephen] A[lexander] Lockhart, transl., Muraviev’s Journey to Khiva through the Turcoman Country, 1819–20. Translated from the Russian […]; and from the German […], Calcutta: Printed at the Foreign Department Press, […], →OCLC, page 81:

The whole night passed amid shouts, songs, and rejoicings; and the rising moon gazed long at troops of musicians traversing the streets with bandouras, flutes, round balalaikas, and the church choir, who were kept in the Setch to sing in church and glorify the deeds of the Zaporozhtzi.

1886, Nikolaï Vasilievitch Gogol, chapter III, in Isabel F[lorence] Hapgood, transl., Taras Bulba [...] Translated from the Russian, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Co. […], →OCLC, page 75:

I have an old bandura hanging up on the wall in the hut. Opanás taught me to play on it, but there is no one to play it after me; and when I die, and that may be soon, perhaps nowhere in the wide world will one be found to play the bandura.

1887, Vladímir Korolénko, “The Forest Soughs. A Forest Legend.”, in Aline Delano, transl., The Vagrant and Other Tales, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Co. […], →OCLC, page 50:

'Thank you, master, for your lesson. I will sing you a song if you will listen;' and he touched a string of the bandura.

1913, Bernard Pares, Maurice Baring, Samuel N[orthrup] Harper, editors, The Russian Review: A Quarterly Review of Russian History, Politics, Economics and Literature, volume 2, Paris, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Nelson and Sons, →OCLC, page 177:

It was only at this time that bandura players emerged from underground. They had been banned from playing under the Tsar, and then they emerged and began to remind everyone openly about their Cossack past and to awaken feelings of nationalism in young children.

1988, Commission on the Ukraine Famine, quoting Oleksander Honcharenko (interviewee), “Appendix I: Translations of Selected Oral Histories [Case History LH38: Translated from Ukrainian by Darian Diachok]”, in Investigation of the Ukrainian Famine 1932–1933: Report to Congress […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 337:

In the Ukraine of Russia the large bandoura with its almost circular face and as many as thirty strings (combining a zither function with fingered lute technique) is a popular short-necked lute, [...]

1997, David [Benedict] Reck, Music of the Whole Earth, New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press, →ISBN, page 133:

The bandura, a kind of zither, is unique to Ukraine and is considered the national instrument.

1999 November, Alexis Kochan, Julian Kytasty, “Ukraine: The Bandura Played On”, in Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, and Richard Trillo, with Orla Duane and Vanessa Dowell, editors, World Music: Volume 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East (The Rough Guide), London: Rough Guides, published October 2000, →ISBN, page 309:

The classical bandura is tuned diatonically and has 20 strings and wooden pegs; the Kharkiv bandura is tuned diatonically or chromatically and has a single string mechanism and 34 to 65 strings; and the Kyiv bandura, which has 55 to 64 strings, is tuned chromatically.

2007, John Radzilowski, “Bringing Ukrainian Traditions to North America”, in Robert D. Johnston, editor, Ukrainian Americans (The New Immigrants), New York, N.Y.: Chelsea House, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 91:

A Ukrainian plucked stringed instrument with a tear-shaped body, like an asymmetrical lute or a vertical zither, which is played with both hands while held upright on the lap.

uk:Мельничук Олександр Савич


one-man band

A musician who plays several musical instruments at once.


burn-clearing

Slash and burn (technique in agriculture where plant matter is roughly cut down and then burned over to prepare fields for the next crop)


emotronic

Blend of emo + electronic, referring to electronic music.

(music) A genre of music that fuses emo and electronic music, typically combining emotional lyrics with instruments such as synthesizers, bass guitars, and sequencer.


mean

From Middle English meene, borrowed from Old French meien (French moyen), Late Latin mediānus (“that is in the middle, middle”), from Latin medius (“middle”). Cognate with mid. For the musical sense, compare the cognate Italian mezzano. Doublet of median and mizzen.

cog

Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.

1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 147:

(music, now historical) The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.


duplet

(music) A tuplet of two notes played in the time of three.


dawnlight

It came from the southeast, a distant hissing, a sandwhisper. Presently he saw the faraway outline of the creature’s track against the dawnlight and realized he had never before seen a maker this large, never heard of one this size. It appeared to be more than half a league long, and the rise of the sandwave at its cresting head was like the approach of a mountain.

1965, Frank Herbert, “Book Three: The Prophet”, in Dune (Science Fiction), New York: Ace Books, →OCLC, page 402:


mixing console

(sound engineering) An electronic device to combine and route audio signals from many sources to various destinations.


rose quartz

en-noun

rose quartz (usually uncountable, plural rose quartzes)

rose quartz:

A light rosy pink color like that of the gem.


heliophyte

(botany) Any plant that thrives in bright sunlight


contrafact

A new musical composition built out of an already existing one, most often a new melody overlaid on a familiar harmonic structure. An important part of the development of bebop. Contrafacts are not to be confused with musical quotations, which borrow rhythms or melodies from an existing composition.


photohydrolysis

photohydrolysis (countable and uncountable, plural photohydrolyses)

(chemistry, physics) photochemical hydrolysis


photoreversible

(physical chemistry) Describing any compound or system that can exist in two forms, and can be changed from one to the other by the appropriate influence of light


radiochemical

(physics, chemistry) Of or pertaining to radiochemistry


broken consort

(music) an instrumental ensemble that developed in Europe during the Renaissance.


CNG

(petrochemistry) Initialism of compressed natural gas.

КПГ

комприми́рованный приро́дный газ

СПГ

сжа́тый приро́дный газ, can also mean LNG - сжи́женный приро́дный газ


transplutonium

en-adj

transplutonium (comparative more transplutonium, superlative most transplutonium)

more transplutonium (comparative)
most transplutonium (superlative)

(physics, chemistry) Describing elements having an atomic number greater than that of plutonium (94)


mareel

From an unattested Norn term *mareld, from Old Norse mǫrueldr, from marr (“sea”) + eldr (“fire”). Compare Icelandic maurildi, Swedish mareld.

Coordinate term: milky sea

This is especially the case in late summer when the sea is aflame with mareel and the boats come and go with illumined wakes while the ghostly fire drips from the oar-blades.

1956, The Scots Magazine, volume 65, page 200:

(Shetland) Phosphorescence on the ocean.


sintir

Playing the sintir (a long-necked, resonant lute), Mr. Hakmoun leads spellbinding trance ceremonies, and with castanets around his ankles, performs acrobatic dances.

2007 January 12, The New York Times, “Rock/Pop Listings”, in New York Times:

(music) A three-stringed, skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco.


tonguing

(music) A technique used with wind instruments to enunciate different notes using the tongue on the reed or mouthpiece.


Stradivarius

en-noun

Stradivarius (plural Stradivariuses or Stradivarii)

Stradivariuses (plural)
Stradivarii (plural)

/ˌstɹadɪˈvɛəɹɪ.əs/

Named after the Stradivari family (Latin Stradivarius), an Italian surname either from the plural of Lombard stradivare (“toll-man”), or from strada averta (“open road”) in the Cremonese dialect.

(music) A stringed instrument built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari.

斯特拉迪瓦里琴

(music) A violin made by another manufacturer, named to capitalise on the fame of the instruments made by Antonio Stradivari.

A Bath boat is the Stradivarius of destroyers!

(figuratively) A name invoked as a standard of excellence in unrelated fields.


canzonet

From Italian canzonetta, from canzone (“song”) + -etta (“-ette: forming diminutives”), from Latin cantiō. Doublet of canzonetta. Cf. canzone.

Besides what I have said of one of their warlike songs, I have another amorous canzonet, which beginneth in this sence […].

A short song, now especially one which is light and breezy.


ribattuta

ribattuta (plural ribattutas or ribattute)

(music) A musical ornament consisting of a trill on a long-short dotted rhythm accelerating to end on either a tremolo or a regular trill.


bimeter

A sophisticated variant of the bimeter in Figure 7 occurs when the values in the right-hand part are not even, but nevertheless establish a feeling of meter opposed to that in the bass (Figure 8).

1973, Roland Nadeau, “The Grace and Beauty of Classic Rags: Structural Elements in a Distinct Musical Genre”, in Music Educators Journal, volume 59, number 8:

(music) The setting of one meter against another.


prog

prog (countable and uncountable, plural progs)

He listens to a lot of prog.

Progressive rock
progressive rock#English

(uncountable, informal, music) Progressive rock.


romanesca

The ninth piece in the manuscript is a romanesca, untransposed.

1985, John Caldwell, English Keyboard Music Before the Nineteenth Century, page 97:


sabin

From Wallace Clement Sabine (1868-1919), US physicist.

Sabine gave his name to the sabin, the standard unit that is ‘equal to the sound absorption of a square foot of a perfectly absorbing surface such as an open window’.

2012 Sep, Rupert Christiansen, “Quiet, Please”, in Literary Review:

(acoustics) A unit of measurement that measures a material's absorbance of sound. A material that is 1 square meter in size that can absorb 100% of sound has a value of one metric sabin.


polymodality

(music) The use of multiple modes in a piece if music


polyrhythmic

en-adj

polyrhythmic (comparative more polyrhythmic, superlative most polyrhythmic)

more polyrhythmic (comparative)
most polyrhythmic (superlative)

(music) Having multiple, simultaneous rhythms.


supergroup

In 1974, David Geffen, Asylum's main man, applied his negotiating abilities to creating a country-rock supergroup along the lines of Crosby, Stills & Nash.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 365:

A supergroup is a rock and pop music term for a group whose members are already successful and well known, either as solo performers or part of other groups. It was first applied in 1968, to Cream, whose three members had already achieved prominence, […]

[2017, Norman Abjorensen, Historical Dictionary of Popular Music, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 487:

(music) A group of musicians, each a star of another band (especially in rock music).

supergroep

group of star musicians, from other bands


remastering

(music) The production of a new version of a recording by remixing the original master recordings.


recordist

Once the materials arrived at the stage, a dozen recordists and mix technicians required a half an hour to load the three or four dozen tracks a predub might require.

2014, Nicolae Sfetcu, The Art of Movies:

Audio Devices, Inc., announce two prize contests, one for Home Recordists, and the other for Church Recordists.

1954, Kansas Music Review - Volumes 16-18, page 23:

A Concert for Three Recordists by Matthew Locke was the program piece.

1960, The American Recorder - Volumes 1-2, page 19:

The more our young recordists can be encouraged to play among themselves in groups with and without piano accompaniment, in their own homes, the better.

1961, Watkins Shaw, Music in the Secondary School, page 71:

For that matter Somary doesn't lack name performers: John Wilbraham is the trumpet soloist and one of the recordists is David Munrow.

1981, Arthur Cohn, Recorded Classical Music:


remaster

en-verb

remaster (third-person singular simple present remasters, present participle remastering, simple past and past participle remastered)

remasters (present singular third-person)
remastering (participle present)
remastered (participle past)
remastered (past)

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

(music) To produce a new version of a recording by remixing the original master recordings.


timbales

(music) A pair of tunable single-headed, metal-shelled cylindrical drums, used in Latin American music


multiphonics

(music) The sounding of two or more pitches simultaneously, either with the voice, or on an instrument that normally sounds only single notes.


Minimoog

(music) An early monophonic analog synthesizer.


metalcore

(music) A subgenre of rock music which fuses extreme metal and hardcore punk.


chorine

Their theatrical performances consisted of buxom chorines, weepy soubrettes, vaudeville acts, and a piano-pounding "professor".

1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 40:

A female chorus line dancer; a chorus girl.


chiptune

From chip + tune, referring to a computer's sound chip; see chip (“electronic circuit”). Initially in the meaning of modules, as an antonym to 'real' chip music, then generalized/recontextualized.

Composers of chiptune and demoscene music practice the art of game music in vitro, with no particular commercial endeavor.

2007, Mark J. P. Wolf, The Video Game Explosion:

[…] it has been so popular with chiptune musicians […]

(music) A piece of computer music in which the sounds are generated and mixed in realtime, common before the advent of mass storage for prerecorded sound.

(music) A style of music that samples or emulates the audio capabilities of older sound chips, but ignores certain hardware or software limitations inherent to them.

(music, demoscene) Tracker modules simulating the sound of early 8-bit computers, like Commodore 64, usually small in size and often used in cracktros.


coalfield

The amount of coal despatched in the Western Region is about 24,000,000 tons a year, nearly all from South Wales, though the Region includes the Forest of Dean, N. Somerset, and part of the N. Wales coalfields.

1961 August, “New traffic flows in South Wales”, in Trains Illustrated, page 492:

Any region containing deposits of coal that may be mined.


caxixi

Borrowed from Portuguese caxixi, which is probably borrowed from an African language.

(music) A small, indirectly struck idiophone filled with seeds, commonly used in Brazil.


berimbau

/ˌbɛɹɪmˈbaʊ/

From Portuguese berimbau, ultimately from Kimbundu mbirimbau.

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music) A percussion instrument, consisting of a gourd (as resonator) and a single wire stretched along a pole, used in Brazil, has a pivotal role in capoeira ensembles.


sit in

sit in (third-person singular simple present sits in, present participle sitting in, simple past and past participle sat in)

sits in (present singular third-person)
sitting in (participle present)
sat in (participle past)
sat in (past)

(music) To take part in a group musical performance, especially a jazz session, as a temporary guest.


unlistenable

en-adj

unlistenable (comparative more unlistenable, superlative most unlistenable)

more unlistenable (comparative)
most unlistenable (superlative)

Many older adults find rap music unlistenable.

'[…] you'd prefer some Stravinsky or Stockhausen. Something unlistenable.'

1997, Keith Topping, Martin Day, chapter 6, in The Devil Goblins from Neptune, page 69:

(music, acoustics) Of a sound quality or characteristic that a person cannot long listen to.


acoustic emission

en-noun

acoustic emission (plural acoustic emissions)

(uncountable, engineering, acoustics) A phenomenon wherein external stimuli such as mechanical loading generate physical vibrations.


four-four time

(music) A meter or rhythm with four beats to a measure and four beats to a whole note. Specifically simple quadruple time or common time.


chroma

chroma (countable and uncountable, plural chromas)

From Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma, “color”).


gas tank

(US) A fuel tank for gasoline built into equipment, especially vehicles.


scenester

One of those nights was recorded and, with production by local scenester Chris D., is now seeing the light of day.

1986 January 5, Cary Darling, “Australian Rock: Boiling from Down Under”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2009-04-18:

Their job is to deny entry to those who don't belong, the wannabe scenester as opposed to the real scenester.

2014, Dirk Wittenborn, Jazz Johnson, The Social Climber's Bible:

Some scenesters told me of their manic daily life, made of entire days and nights spent without any sleep or food, focusing on the music until exhaustion.

2019, Stefano Barone, Metal, Rap, and Electro in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia: A Fragile Underground, →ISBN:

(music) A non-musician who is active in a particular musical scene, especially one whose involvement carries social status.


arioso

(music) A musical style, in opera and oratorio, that is more melodic than recitative, but less so than aria


chiroptic

en-adj

chiroptic (comparative more chiroptic, superlative most chiroptic)

more chiroptic (comparative)
most chiroptic (superlative)

(physical chemistry, physics) Describing any of the optical techniques for investigating chiral substances


coalification

en-noun

coalification (usually uncountable, plural coalifications)

(geology) The formation of coal by the gradual heating and compression of organic matter, normally via peat.


figural

en-adj

figural (comparative more figural, superlative most figural)

more figural (comparative)
most figural (superlative)

From Old French figural, from late Latin figūrālis, from figūra (“figure”).


illuminance

en-noun

illuminance (countable and uncountable, plural illuminances)

(physics) The luminous flux incident on unit area of a surface; measured in lux or lumens.


surdo

A type of percussion instrument used in Brazil.


ariose

en-adj

ariose (comparative more ariose, superlative most ariose)

more ariose (comparative)
most ariose (superlative)

From Italian arioso (“airy, breezy”) (from aria (“air; aria, song”) (from Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr, “air; wind”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- (“dawn; east”)) + -oso) + -ose.

der

Much easy-listening music is light and ariose.

AR′IŌSE, a. [From arioso.] Characterized by melody, as distinguished from harmony; as, the ariose beauty of Handel.

[1863, John Ogilvie, “ARIOSE”, in The Imperial Dictionary, English, Technological, and Scientific, on the Basis of Webster’s English Dictionary, […], volume I, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh: Blackie and Son, […], →OCLC, page 29:

In the promise of Jesus, "Upon this rock will I build my church," the recitative is succeeded by ariose, and then by the triumphant base aria of Peter, the dramatic being reached in the C major chorus, "The Church is built." […] In the opening passages [of the second scene] of mingled recitative and ariose Peter is forewarned that he shall deny his master, and his half-indignant remonstrance is seconded by the voices of the other disciples.

1873 May 17, “Mr. Paine’s Oratorio. (From the New York World, March 31.) ST. PETER; An Oratorio. The Words Selected from the Bible, and the Music Composed by John Knowles Paine. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co. 1873.”, in [John Sullivan Dwight], editor, Dwight’s Journal of Music, volume XXXIII, number 3 (number 837 overall), Boston, Mass.: Oliver Ditson & Co., →OCLC, page 21, column 1:

He tried to speak in an ariose, teasing manner, not wanting to offend his charge.

2016, Bill Broun, Night of the Animals: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Ecco Press, →ISBN:

The question becomes why certain settings in music, and a certain playing of simple against more complex lyrics, can remake debased language and restore the innocence of emotional expression. (Opera singers know this, in the ariose transformations of "Un bel dì" [One fine day] or "O mio babbino caro" [Oh my dear papa]. But then opera criticism, too, has a long-standing problem with lyrics.)

2016, Mark Greif, “Radiohead, or the Philosophy of Pop”, in Against Everything: Essays, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books, →ISBN, section III, page 112:


puccoon

en-noun

puccoon (countable and uncountable, plural puccoons)

Borrowed from Powhatan poughkone. Doublet of poke.

The puccoon dye was used as a sort of body rouge; it rubbed off on English linen quite easily, as Byrd's men discovered.

2002, Stephen G Ausband, Byrd's line, page 62:

(countable, botany) Any one of several plants yielding a red pigment which is used by the North American Indians, such as the bloodroot and two species of Lithospermum, Lithospermum hirtum and Lithospermum canescens.


canzona

Mr. Milnes had a turn in the spotlight with a canzona for solo organ by Johann Caspar Kerll.

2007 January 15, Steve Smith, “Classic Viennese Music, the Prequel”, in New York Times:

(music) A type of instrumental composition based on multipart vocal settings of canzoni, produced chiefly in the 16th and 17th centuries


radioenzymatic

(biochemistry) Describing any investigation into an enzyme by the use of a radioactive substrate.


radiorelease

(chemistry) The release of a radioactive substance during a chemical reaction.


radioiodination

radioiodination (countable and uncountable, plural radioiodinations)

(chemistry) The incorporation of any radioiodine into a compound or tissue.


radiogravimetric

en-adj

radiogravimetric (comparative more radiogravimetric, superlative most radiogravimetric)

more radiogravimetric (comparative)
most radiogravimetric (superlative)

(chemistry) Describing a form of gravimetric analysis in which the radioactivity of a product is measured instead of its mass


QSS

quasi-stellar source
quasi-stellar radio-source#English

(astronomy, obsolete) Initialism of quasi-stellar source.


Dvořák

/dɪˈvɔːʒɑːk/

(music) Antonín Leopold Dvořák, Czech composer


Nanna

Borrowed from Sumerian 𒀭𒋀𒆠 (ᵈnanna /Nanna/).

bor+

The god of the moon in Sumerian mythology.


accentus

Coordinate term: concentus

(music) A style of church music that emphasizes spoken word.


benna

(music, Antigua and Barbuda) A calypso-like genre of traditional music from Antigua and Barbuda.


radiometal

Any radioactive isotope of a metal, especially one used as a biochemical label


radiopure

en-adj

radiopure (comparative more radiopure, superlative most radiopure)

more radiopure (comparative)
most radiopure (superlative)


radiophysics

(physics) The physics of ionizing radiation


radiohalogen

(chemistry, physics) Any radioactive isotope of a halogen


radioscan

A scan for the presence of radioactive material in a sample; especially for a radioactive tracer in an organ


Amaterasu

/ɑːmətɛɹˈɑːsuː/

Borrowed from Japanese 天照 (Amaterasu), from 天 (ama, “sky, the heavens”) + 照らす (terasu, “to illuminate something”).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) The Japanese sun goddess, and most important Shinto deity; she is the daughter of Izanagi and Izanami and the sister of Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, Ōyamatsumi, and Kagutsuchi.


risoluto

(music) (To be played) boldly, resolutely


lacmus

From Dutch lakmoes, from lak (“lac”) + moes (“pulp”).


kalimba

(music) A type of thumb piano, similar to the mbira.


mbira

(music) A thumb piano, a musical instrument having a small sound box fitted with a row of tuned tabs that are plucked with the thumbs, originating among the Shona of southern Africa; any type of plucked lamellophone of the same type as the Shona instrument.


pedal steel guitar

en-noun

pedal steel guitar (plural pedal steel guitars)

(music) The elements of an electric steel guitar, mounted horizontally on a stand and played by a standing musician, using a combination of a steel bar and foot pedals to vary the pitch of the instrument.


British racing green

British racing green (countable and uncountable, plural British racing greens)

Any of a range of dark green colours, originally associated with British racing cars.


radiobismuth

Any radioactive isotope of bismuth, especially when used in metabolic studies


detune

en-verb

detune (third-person singular simple present detunes, present participle detuning, simple past and past participle detuned)

detunes (present singular third-person)
detuning (participle present)
detuned (participle past)
detuned (past)

Some avant-garde composers request that performers detune their instruments before playing.

(music) To intentionally lower or raise the pitch produced by a musical instrument. Often done to produce sounds not normally possible, or in the case of stringed instruments to reduce tension for the purposes of shipping or maintenance.


uptempo

en-adj

uptempo (comparative more uptempo, superlative most uptempo)

more uptempo (comparative)
most uptempo (superlative)


boppy

boppy (comparative boppier, superlative boppiest)

boppier (comparative)
boppiest (superlative)

Panic excursions to tribal Jazz wombs and transfusions
 Heroin nights of birth/ and soaring/ over boppy new ground.

1965, Bob Kaufman, Walking Parker Home (poem):


txalaparta

A traditional Basque percussion instrument.


terzetto

From Italian terzetto, diminutive of Italian terzo (“the third”), from Latin tertius. See tierce.

(music) A composition in three voice parts.

(music) A vocal (or, rarely, instrumental) trio.


pyrokinetic

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of pyrokinesis.


kontra

(music) A large instrument, similar to a viola but with three strings and a flat bridge, originating in the traditional music of Transylvania.

(music) The harmonic and rhythmic part of certain Hungarian folk music, as opposed to the melodic part.


blues-rock

(music) A musical genre combining elements of blues and rock and roll


heliolatry

en-noun

heliolatry (usually uncountable, plural heliolatries)

The sun […] had a curious sentient, personal look, […] his present aspect […] explained the old-time heliolatries in a moment.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles:

worship of the sun as an actual religion/mythos


soft rock

CSN&Y didn't shy away from politics, but many artists who followed in their footsteps used the new soft rock synthesis to warble inoffensive pop to a nation tired of controversy. […] Subsequently, many artists rode the soft rock formula all the way to the bank—or at least their labels did.

2010, Christopher Knowles, The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

(music) A comparatively unaggressive, melodic rock music genre in which the arrangement and lyrics are emphasized more than the beat; a reaction against hard rock.


ferruginous

en-adj

ferruginous (comparative more ferruginous, superlative most ferruginous)

more ferruginous (comparative)
most ferruginous (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin ferrūgineus, from ferrūgo (“rust”).


ariette

From French ariette, from Italian arietta.

a military ariette

1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:


berde

A stringed instrument (chordophone) of Bosnian origin, a large guitar-shaped instrument that is played upright, using a plectrum.


green energy

en-noun

green energy (countable and uncountable, plural green energies)


bandleader

A musician who conducts or leads a band of musicians.


recording artist

recording artist (plural recording artists)

A person who records music for distribution to the public.


ballabile

ballabile (plural ballabiles or ballabili)

A dance performed by the corps de ballet, or by the chorus in an opera.


burn down

en-verb

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

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

A fire which started in the bedroom caused the cottage to burn down.

The first Earl's Court station (1871) was a wooden hut in the middle of a market garden. It served a District connection between West Brompton and the West London Line. It managed to burn down in 1875, and the Earl's Court of today dates from 1878.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 79:

(intransitive, of a structure) To burn completely, so that nothing remains.


belter

From belt (“sing forcefully”) + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (patient suffix). Compare West Frisian balter (“screamer, shouter”).


fusion bomb

An atomic bomb that uses nuclear fusion as a source of energy; a hydrogen bomb


bifora

A type of double reed instrument from Sicily in the oboe family.


five-finger exercise

en-noun

five-finger exercise (plural five-finger exercises)

It was the singular room which Carlyle had constructed in the hopes that he could shut out all the noises of the universe, the crowing of cocks, and the jingling of a young lady's five-finger exercise in particular.

1899, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 20, in A Duet:

(music) A musical composition for the piano, designed to require the use of all the fingers of the hand for the purpose of skill development.


acid rock

(music) A rock music genre originating from the late 1960s, heavily inspired by drug-induced experiences.


hydraulicon

An ancient musical instrument, the water organ.


ektara

Ektara ektara (canonical)
ektaras (plural)

The fingers of her right hand were strumming an ektara.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 131:

A single-stringed string instrument of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.


electric violin

electric violin (plural electric violins)

A violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound.


birl

(music, bagpipes) A type of grace note movement that quickly switches between low-A and low-G several times, producing a low rippling sound.


ride cymbal

(music) A type of cymbal, the function of which is to maintain a steady rhythmic pattern.


God Save the King

It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during “God save the King” than of stealing from a poor box.

1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:

The national anthem of the United Kingdom when the current monarch is a king.


IDM

IDM (countable and uncountable, plural IDMs)

intelligent dance music
intelligent dance music#English

(music) Initialism of intelligent dance music.


radium dial

The dial of a watch or clock on which the hours have been marked with a radium compound to make them luminous


junkanoo

junkanoo (countable and uncountable, plural junkanoos)

From John Canoe, the older name of the festival, perhaps named after folk hero John Canoe.

Rafael sang from his stuffings, the beat swirled, the brass blasted, and in a three-month period, America bought a bargeful of the Munings' "junkanoo" sound.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 274:

Junkanoo also became established among expatriate Bahamian communities, notably in Miami and Toronto, where Junkanoo bands were to be seen at the Orange Bowl and Caribana parades respectively.

2000, Michael Craton, Gail Saunders, A History of the Bahamian People, University of Georgia Press, →ISBN, page 490:

(music) A style of goombay traditionally played on goatskin drums and cowbells during the parade.


unburnable

en-adj

unburnable (comparative more unburnable, superlative most unburnable)

more unburnable (comparative)
most unburnable (superlative)


choro

en-noun

choro (usually uncountable, plural choros)

Borrowed from Portuguese choro (“lament”).

(music) A genre of Brazilian popular music


flanging

flanging (countable and uncountable, plural flangings)

(music) A time-based audio effect produced when two identical signals are mixed together, but with one signal time-delayed by a small and gradually changing amount, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds.


supergranulation cell

supergranulation cell (plural supergranulation cells)

(astronomy) A large region of convection in the photosphere of the sun; a supergranule


terawatt-hour

A unit of electrical energy equal to that done by one terawatt acting for one hour.


solo concert

A public musical performance given by just one person.


dulciana

(music) An organ stop with a sweet tone.


bassetto

(music) A tenor viol or small bass viol.


crumhorn

(music) Any of several related simple woodwind instruments having a bent horn


archlute

A fretted and double-necked stringed musical instrument with a large body, double courses in the bass, and two sets of tuning pegs.

liuti attiorbati

a small version of the standard archlute


sarrusophone

/səˈɹuːsəˌfəʊn/

From Pierre-Auguste Sarrus, French bandmaster.

(music) Any of a family of wind instruments intended to replace the oboe and bassoon in bands.


dulcian

From German Dulzian, or a variant of dulciana.

(music) A Renaissance bass woodwind instrument, with a double reed and a folded conical bore


charango

/t͡ʃəˈɹæŋɡəʊ/

From Spanish charango, onomatopoeic, or perhaps a corruption of charanga.

One song the group performed on Thursday, “La Partida,” featured lovely bell harmonics from the guitars, a shifting pattern of cross‐rhythms on the guitar‐like charango, and a quena lead.

1978 April 14, “Music: Inti‐Illimani, From the Andes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A small guitar-like stringed instrument with five courses of eighteen to fifteen strings, originating in traditional Andean folk music.


upright piano

(music) A piano whose strings are vertical.


punkster

From punk + -ster, with connections to youngster.

Someone, especially a young person, associated with the punk subculture or a performer of punk-influenced music.


ska punk

ska punk (countable and uncountable, plural ska punks)

Thus, ska punk managed to revitalize punk through the popularization of a more unusual genre.

2019, Kevin L. Ferguson, Pop Goes the Decade: The Nineties, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 126:

(uncountable, music) A style of music combining ska and punk rock popular in the 1990s.


clairaudience

clairaudience (countable and uncountable, plural clairaudiences)

Modelled on clairvoyance; from French clair (“clear”) + French audience (“hearing”).

(parapsychology) The power to perceive auditory stimuli beyond the realm of normal hearing.


radiodiagnosis

radiodiagnosis (countable and uncountable, plural radiodiagnoses)

(medicine) diagnosis by means of X-rays or radiochemical tracers


transfermium

(physics, chemistry) Describing any element that lies beyond fermium in the periodic table; having an atomic number greater than 100.


musical box

There was a battered brass speaking-trumpet, very discoloured, a tambourine, a musical-box, and a number of smaller objects.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

Beneath the clothes [of the poupard] a squeaker would be concealed, and more elaborate ones would have a musical-box, the music being played by twirling the doll around.

1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 38:

(music) Any of various devices that play tunes by means of pins, on a rotating disk or revolving drum, that strike or pluck metal teeth; a music box.


sub-light

"We are about to test sub-light engine disengage."

2017, A.K. Brown, Humans on the Menu (Champagne Universe Series: Book 2), page 36:

(science fiction) At less than the speed of light.


Typically far more complex than the songs of the 8-bit games, songs in Amiga games had a highly varied structure, but usually followed the same basic principles seen in the 8-bit games (shorter loops with fewer distinct sections for battle music, and longer loops with more distinct sections for in-game music).

2008 January 1, Karen Collins, Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design, MIT Press, →ISBN:

Much of La-Mulanas 8-bit' aesthetic is tied to its self-imposed graphical limitations. To start, the native resolution of 256 × 192 pixels is (as we would expect) much less than that of contemporary standards[…]

2008 November 12, Brett Camper, “Retro Reflexivity: La-Mulana”, in Bernard Perron, Mark J.P. Wolf, editors, The Video Game Theory Reader 2, Routledge, →ISBN:

(computer graphics, music) Originating from or resembling the art or music of the 8-bit computer era.


parent nuclide

(physics) the nuclide whose radioactive decay product is a specific daughter nuclide


daughter nuclide

daughter nuclide (plural daughter nuclides)

(physics) a nuclide (often one of several) that is the product of the radioactive decay of a specific parent nuclide


EBM

A number of nights now steer away from the EBM of yesteryear. The scene is alive and kicking with plenty of new bands that aren't reliant on synths.

2005, "oldgoth", Theaving Goths (on newsgroup uk.people.gothic)

Modern industrial music subgenres and fusion-genres include EBM, futurepop, power-noise, aggrotech (terror-EBM), coldwave, elektro, dark-electro, and industrial-metal. Yes, it can be quite confusing.

2007, Raven Digitalis, Goth Craft: The Magickal Side of Dark Culture, page 37:

electronic body music
electronic body music#English

evidence-based medicine
evidence-based medicine#English

(medicine) Initialism of evidence-based medicine.


yellow-haired

I was down at the New Amsterdam / Staring at this yellow-haired girl

1993, “Mr. Jones”, performed by Counting Crows:


perfect fifth

The perfect fifth has a pitch ratio close to 3:2.

(music) An interval equal to that of between the second and third harmonics of the harmonic series. In twelve-tone equal temperament, it spans seven semitones or five degrees of the diatonic scale.

čistá kvinta

interval between the first and second overtones or of seven semitones


broad daylight

From broad (“(archaic) to the full extent”) + daylight.

compound

VVhen half a dozen ingenous Men are got together over a Glaſs of VVine, by a chearful Fire, in a Room vvell lighted, vve baniſh vvith eaſe all the Spectres of Fancy or Education, and are very clear in our Deciſions. But, as I vvas taking a ſolitary VValk before it vvas broad Day-light in yonder Grove, methought the Point vvas not quite ſo clear; nor cou'd I readily recollect the Force of thoſe Arguments, vvhich uſed to appear ſo concluſive at other Times.

1732, George Berkeley, “The Fourth Dialogue”, in Alciphron: Or, The Minute Philosopher. […], volume I, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, section III, page 211:

Broad daylight illumined the apartment, for the sun was high in heaven, though obscured by rolling masses of autumnal vapour.

1848, Acton Bell [pseudonym; Anne Brontë], “The Retreat”, in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. […], volume III, London: T[homas] C[autley] Newby, […], →OCLC, page 121:

Whilst they had been speaking, she had opened the door, a narrow iron one well hung, for it had opened easily and closed tightly without any creaking or sound of any kind. Within all was dark; but she entered as freely and with as little misgiving or restraint as if it had been broad daylight.

1911, Bram Stoker, “Exit Oolanga”, in The Lair of the White Worm, London: William Rider and Son, […], →OCLC, page 170:

We're gonna rock around the clock tonight, / We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight, / We're gonna rock, gonna rock around the clock tonight.

1952 (date written), Max C[harles] Freedman, Jimmy De Knight [pseudonym; James Edward Myers] (lyrics and music), “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock”, performed by Bill Haley & His Comets, Philadelphia, Pa.: Myers Music, published 1953, recording released 20 May 1954, →OCLC, page 2:

Abundant natural illumination in daytime, producing clear visibility; hence, daytime.

大白天

abundant natural illumination in daytime


BGM

en-noun

BGM (countable and uncountable, plural BGMs)

From Japanese BGM (BGM), an initialism of English background music.

background music
background music#English

(music) Initialism of background music, occasionally used with reference to Japanese media (video games, television, etc.).


futurepop

Despite—or more likely, because of—futurepop's sudden and visible popularity within the global industrial scene, it was subject to harsh criticism in the early and mid-2000s.

2013, S. Alexander Reed, Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music, page 296:

Music festivals that feature futurepop bands include Infest, Wave Gotik Treffen and M'era Luna.

[…] a substantial offering of futurepop (e.g., Covenant, Wolfsheim, VNV Nation, Apoptygma Bezerk), a smattering of aggrotech (e.g. Suicide Commando, Combichrist), and a number of other subgenres.

2015, Isabella van Elferen, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture:

(music) A genre of electronic dance music with influences from synthpop, trance, and EBM.


bebopper

For its French readers, Paris' Le Jazz Hot review was trying to explain the artistry of U.S. bebopper Charlie ("Yard-bird") Parker.

1949 May 23, “Do You Get It?”, in Time, retrieved 2014-02-11:

A bebopper whose spare, rhythmic style was shaped by his love of Thelonious Monk, he performed at countless clubs, bars and cafes in North Beach and other San Francisco neighborhoods.

2008 September 7, Jesse Hamlin, “Influential jazz pianist BJ Papa dies in S.F.”, in San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2008-10-02:

A musician or aficionado of the bebop genre.


tucket

From tuck (“a blow, a drum beat”), from Old French touchet (“stroke, blow”). Compare toccata. Compare also Middle French toquer from Old French *toquer (“to strike”).

[T]hen let the Trumpets ſound / The Tucket Sonuance, and the Note to mount: / For our approach ſhall ſo much dare the field, / That England ſhall couch downe in feare, and yeeld.

c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act IV, scene ii, page 86:

But just then the dull beat of many horses on the snow suddenly arose in the hollow ear of the night, and, with incredible swiftness, drew nearer and swelled louder. At the same time, answering tuckets repeated and repeated Hatch's call
"Rally, rally!" cried Dick. "Rally upon me! Rally for your lives!"

1883 June 30 – October 20, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], published 1888, →OCLC:

(music) A fanfare played on one or more trumpets, bugles or similar.


instrumentalize

en-verb

instrumentalize (third-person singular simple present instrumentalizes, present participle instrumentalizing, simple past and past participle instrumentalized)

instrumentalizes (present singular third-person)
instrumentalizing (participle present)
instrumentalized (participle past)
instrumentalized (past)

(music, transitive) To transcribe for instrumental execution a piece of music written for the human voice


clacker

(music) A percussion instrument that makes a clacking noise.


timoroso

(music) (To be played) in a timid, hesitant manner.


largando

(music) (To be played) gradually slower and broader.


xylorimba

(music) A pitched percussion instrument corresponding to a xylophone with an extended range.


pitch pipe

(music) A device much like a harmonica, used to supply a sought pitch.


apricity

From the Latin aprīcitās, noun of quality from aprīcus (“warmed by the sun”).

Apricity, the warmenes of the Sunne in Winter."

1626, H. C. Gent, The English Dictionarie, London: Isaac Iaggard:

APRICITY [Apricitas, L.] Warmth in the Sun, Sun-ſhine. L."

1749, Nathan Bailey, An universal etymological English dictionary, London:

In the midst of this suspense the lady's maid entered. An apricity seemed to illume her countenance. "Well, Frances, have you found it?"

1856, George Raymond, Drafts for Acceptance, London:

(obsolete) The light or warmth of the Sun.


stertor

en-noun

stertor (countable and uncountable, plural stertors)

stertorous respirations

(biology, medicine) A snoring sound, as for example even during wakefulness in infants with breathing difficulties.


radiorespirometry

(biology, chemistry) A technique in which a substance radioactively labelled with ¹⁴₆C is introduced into a closed environment, and any radioactive carbon dioxide subsequently detected is used as evidence for the presence of life


lick

From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”).
See also Saterland Frisian likje, Dutch likken, German lecken; also Old Irish ligid, Latin lingō (“lick”), ligguriō (“to lap, lick up”), Lithuanian laižyti, Old Church Slavonic лизати (lizati), Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō), Old Armenian լիզեմ (lizem), Persian لیسیدن (lisidan), Sanskrit लेढि (léḍhi), रेढि (réḍhi).

There are some really good blues licks in this solo.


dohol

A type of percussion instrument used in Iran, Afghanistan and Kurdistan.


aleatoric

en-adj

aleatoric (comparative more aleatoric, superlative most aleatoric)

more aleatoric (comparative)
most aleatoric (superlative)

/eɪliːəˈtɔəɹɪk/

From Latin āleātōrius (see aleatory) + -ic.

aleatoric music

Some artists, like John Cage, have adopted aleatoric methods of composition in order to remove any trace of authorial expression from their work.

2005, Noël Carroll, “Formalism”, in The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, eds. Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes (Master e-book IBSN 0203991923), page 89

(art, music, not comparable) Of or pertaining to works that have been produced with an element of chance (aleatoricism).


surla

A variant of Turkish zurna (“woodwind instrument”), from Classical Persian سرنا (surnā); see there for more. Cognate with English horn, Latin cornu (“horn”).


rasgado

en-noun

rasgado (countable and uncountable, plural rasgados)


supermajor

(music) An interval larger in size than a major interval but smaller than the next largest minor interval.


barology

/bəɹˈɒlədʒi/

The barology is realised through the subtle agogic placement of beats and bars relative to each other in the hierarchy of the pypermeter; in other words, some beats sound late and some early; and some bars sound early and some late.

2022, Graham J. McPhail, Knowledge and Music Education:

(music) A method of analyzing music according to hypermeter, deriving a structure of strong and weak bars and then phrases.


dissonate

en-verb

dissonate (third-person singular simple present dissonates, present participle dissonating, simple past and past participle dissonated)

dissonates (present singular third-person)
dissonating (participle present)
dissonated (participle past)
dissonated (past)


can man

August 29 2002, Jim Dwyer, "How the Fire Commissioner Saw It" [book review of Strong of Heart by Thomas Von Essen], The New York Times,
Mr. Feehan would reflect on the role of the "can man," the raw young firefighter assigned to haul an extinguisher up the stairs.

In ten seconds, I was dressed and walking out the door of my room at the station. . . . By the time two minutes passed,, Caesar was driving the engine onto the streets of Upper Darby; Paulie and Red were the can man and the hydrant man, riding behind.

2004, Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper, →ISBN, page 141:

Douglas Oelschlager was the can man, bringing up extinguishers.

2006, Jim Dwyer, Kevin Flynn, 102 Minutes, →ISBN, page 199:

(informal) A firefighter whose task is to haul a fire extinguisher.


superactinide

(chemistry) Any of the undiscovered chemical elements from unbiunium (121) to perhaps unpentseptium (157), following the transactinides. These will presumably go below the actinides in the periodic table.


licorice stick

A long thin cylindrical confection flavored with licorice.


cobalt therapy

en-noun

cobalt therapy (countable and uncountable, plural cobalt therapies)

(medicine) radiation therapy that uses radioactive cobalt-60 as a source


fughetta

(music) A short, condensed version of a fugue.


go up in smoke

en-verb

go up in smoke (third-person singular simple present goes up in smoke, present participle going up in smoke, simple past went up in smoke, past participle gone up in smoke)

goes up in smoke (present singular third-person)
going up in smoke (participle present)
went up in smoke (past)
gone up in smoke (participle past)


graveyard shift

en-noun

graveyard shift (plural graveyard shifts)

By association of the spooky, cold and silent properties of both the night and graveyards.

Near-synonym: night shift (sometimes synonymous; sometimes coordinate)

I had to work the graveyard shift for most of that year, and at first I hated it, but eventually I even kind of liked it, in some ways.

Now she's workin' the graveyard shift at the hospital. She'll be comin' home in less than an hour and a half. Make your phone calls, talk to your people, then get the fuck out of my house.

1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Jimmie (Quentin Tarantino):

It is generally believed that when rotating shifts are necessary the rotation should move clockwise (that is, day shift first, then swing shift, then graveyard shift, then back to day shift, and so on)

2006, Roberto Refinetti, Circadian physiology, volume 1, page 580:

A work shift late at night, especially one from midnight to 8 AM on a three-shift schedule.

You'll have to ask the graveyard shift — the equipment was here when we left.

A group of workers who work during this time slot.


no wave

A punning rejection of the more commercial new wave movement.

To dream that tall, mean, vegan Jeff, in turtlenecks and chinos like Sterling Morrison, was the only one I talked to at all the no wave shows I went to alone.

2020, “Jinx”, in Timmy's Unbuttoned Gen X Meditations, performed by Good Fuck:

(music) A broad musical and artistic movement originating in the mid-1970s in New York City, typified by experimentation and performance art.


tsimbl

From Yiddish צימבל (tsimbl). Doublet of cymbal.

(music) A cymbalom, or hammered dulcimer, used in klezmer music.


darkwave

From dark + -wave, meaning the “dark” counterpart of new wave.

As well as mainstream pop you'll find dance, funk and all kinds of club music, world music and even very select genres such as darkwave medieval, darkwave gothic to darkwave neofolk.

2002, Jules Brown, Dinah Gardner, Hong Kong and Macau, page 315:

Since the 1980s, several goth substyles have mixed the Batcave heritage with other musical genres into new goth substyles. New wave was gothed into darkwave, classic rock into gothic rock, and metal into gothic metal. […] The term darkwave originated in the 1980s as an indicator of the “dark” counterpart of new wave.

2015, Isabella van Elferen, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture, Routledge, →ISBN, page 25:

(music) A musical movement that originated in the late 1970s, combining elements of new wave and gothic rock with dark, thoughtful lyrics and an undertone of sorrow.

dark wave

musical movement combining elements of new wave and gothic rock


chaconne

From French chaconne, from Spanish chacona, likely from Basque chucun (“pretty”).

(music) The music for such a dance, often containing variations on a theme.


flamenco guitar

flamenco guitar (plural flamenco guitars)

(music) A type of acoustic guitar with reduced internal bracing and thinner tops. It is used mainly in the performance of toques, the guitar part of flamenco music.


kamancheh

(music) A long-necked stringed instrument (a spike fiddle) with a bowl-shaped body, traditionally featuring three silk strings but now more often four metal ones, played with a bow, common among the peoples of the Caucasus, Anatolia and the Near East.


squee

2001, Susan, “I got a hamster! Squee!”, in alt.fan.digimon (Usenet):

The new console will certainly have more powerful graphics, processor, hard drive and all those specs that really only nerdy writers for technology websites care about: “Ermahgerd, moar polygons! More frame rate! Squee!”

2013 May 17, Peter Nowak, “There will be buttons: And other truths about the next-gen Xbox”, in The Globe and Mail:

(informal) A squeal of excitement or delight.


clean coal

(dated) anthracite (a cleaner burning variety of coal, which is usually hard and bluish, with fewer impurities; making it acceptable for uses needing cleaner coal)


Chinese lantern

Chinese lantern (plural Chinese lanterns)

Alkekengi officinarum
Alkekengi officinarum#Translingual

Physalis alkekengi
Physalis alkekengi#Translingual

A bladder cherry (Alkekengi officinarum, syn. Physalis alkekengi).


junglist

(music) A dedicated listener to jungle or drum and bass music.


whalesong

whalesong (usually uncountable, plural whalesongs)

The sounds through which whales communicate.


jazzman

→ French: jazzman

→ Spanish: jazzman

I was cut out to be a jazzman the way the righteous are chosen for the church.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Don’t Cry, Ma”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 3:


ledger line

(music) A musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staves; a line slightly longer than the note is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distances as the notes within the staff.

apuviiva

notation to inscribe notes outside the musical staffs


trio sonata

a type of musical composition with two melodic parts and basso continuo


nuclear medicine

(medicine) The branch of medicine that uses radioactive isotopes in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.


psalterium

Learned borrowing from Latin psalterium, from Ancient Greek ψαλτήριον (psaltḗrion). Doublet of psalter, psalterion, and psaltery.

doublet

A psaltery (zither-like musical instrument)


betafite

en-noun

betafite (countable and uncountable, plural betafites)

From Betafo + -ite, after Betafo in the Malagasy Republic, where it was discovered.

(mineralogy) A radioactive mineral in the pyrochlore group, having chemical formula (Ca,U)₂(Ti,Nb,Ta)₂O₆(OH).


technopop

(music) An early synthpop genre with a cold, robotic sound.


frac

en-verb

frac (third-person singular simple present fracs, present participle fraccing, simple past and past participle fracced)

fracs (present singular third-person)
fraccing (participle present)
fracced (participle past)
fracced (past)

To date, Arrow has only fracced about 2.5 percent of its wells ...

2011, Arrow, “Fraccing”, in Arrow Energy (html), archived from the original on 2012-01-22:

hydraulic fracturing
hydraulic fracturing

(oil industry) To use hydraulic fracturing (fraccing)


frac

More than a million wells have been fracced in the United States since the first frac job six decades ago.

2012 January 3, Ralph Benko, “Daniel Yergin's The Quest”, in Forbes:

The drilling industry has generally spelled the word without a "K," using terms like "frac job" or "frac fluid."

2012 January 26, Jonathan Fahey, “No energy industry backing for the word 'fracking'”, in Yahoo News:

(oil industry) Relating to or denoting hydraulic fracturing


frac

A program summary showing the type and volume of fluid and the size and amount of sand that is planned for the eight fracs is shown in table 1.

1976, United States. Energy Research and Development Administration, Bartlesville Energy Technology Center, United States. Dept. of Energy. Division of Oil, Gas, and Shale Technology, United States. Division of Oil, Gas, Shale, and In Situ Technology, United States. Dept. of Energy. Division of Fossil Fuel Extraction, “NATURAL BUTTES UNIT, UINTAH COUNTY, UTAH, MASSIVE HYDRAULIC FRACTURING DEMONSTRATION”, in Contracts for cooperative and supporting research on enhanced oil and gas recovery and improved drilling methods, volumes 7-10:


(music) A meter of two quarter notes per measure.


(music) A meter of two half notes per measure.


(music) A meter of six eighth notes per measure, usually with secondary stress on the fourth eighth note.


(music) A meter of three quarter notes per measure.


common time

(music) A meter of four quarter notes per measure.


reed instrument

en-noun

reed instrument (plural reed instruments)

(music) Any musical wind instrument played by blowing air through a reed, such as the oboe or the clarinet.


setar

From Iranian Persian سهتار (se-târ). Doublet of sitar.


angélique

A plucked bowl lute with two necks and most often sixteen strings, played in the manner of a harp, and popular in Baroque Europe.


gabba

gabba (countable and uncountable, plural gabbas)


duettino

From Italian, diminutive from duetto (“a duet”).


promenader

(chiefly UK, music) An attender at, or devotee of, promenade concerts.


discomania

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

Little did Gwen [McCrae] know that the number [Rockin' Chair] would go on to sell millions, help launch the discomania of the mid-'70s, and become the very hub of her hubby's series of hits.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 324:


belt up

en-verb

belt up (third-person singular simple present belts up, present participle belting up, simple past and past participle belted up)

belts up (present singular third-person)
belting up (participle present)
belted up (participle past)
belted up (past)

(British, intransitive, colloquial, derogatory, usually in imperative) To stop talking or chattering; to shut up.


braindance

From brain + dance, from its relatively complex (i.e. intellectual) structure and use of elements of dance music. Coined by the label Rephlex Records.

For the devoted, this is a rare chance to devour an hour of box-fresh blockbuster braindance that might somehow bring them closer to their master.

2014, Piers Martin, “Aphex Twin: ‘His music is a perfect mix of mystery and adrenaline’”, in The Guardian:

(music) Synonym of intelligent dance music


intelligent dance music

It was a record that helped to launch the careers of Autechre, Aphex Twin and Richie Hawtin, birthed the genre that would later become known as intelligent dance music (or IDM), and changed the idea of electronic music as merely a tool for dancing.

2017 July 3, Ben Cardew, “Machines of loving grace: how Artificial Intelligence helped techno grow up”, in The Guardian:

(music) A genre of experimental electronic music that combines elements of techno and dance music with complex rhythmic structures and atypical melodic patterns.


dyewood

en-noun

dyewood (countable and uncountable, plural dyewoods)

He would take with him red brasilwood from the East Indies – a dye-wood that was so valued that when a few years later the Portuguese found it in the New World, they would name a country after it.

2002, Victoria Finlay, Colour, Sceptre, published 2003, page 198:

Any wood from which colouring matter is extracted for dyeing.


half note

(Canada, US, music) A musical note that is two beats long, which is half the length of a semibreve and equal in length to two crotchets; a minim.


cry the blues

en-verb

cry the blues (third-person singular simple present cries the blues, present participle crying the blues, simple past and past participle cried the blues)

cries the blues (present singular third-person)
crying the blues (participle present)
cried the blues (participle past)
cried the blues (past)

"Young people have forgotten how to cry the blues," said Big Bill Broonzy as he lay dying in a dark room above the littered streets of Chicago's Negro South Side.

1958 September 1, “Best of the Blues”, in Time:

(music) To sing in the style of blues music.


night shift

Near-synonym: graveyard shift (sometimes coordinate)

I prefer to work the night shift, but I take the day shift in stride.

A regularly scheduled period of work, during evening or night hours.

You'll have to ask the night shift — the equipment was here when we left.

A group of workers who work during the night.


grey-haired

Now, I'm a grey-haired git with a sense of arrogance born of surviving this long in RAIL.

2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 60:


concertmistress

Possibly a calque of German Konzertmeisterin, corresponding to concert + mistress.


wah-wah

onom

Imitative

(music) Modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice.

wah-wah

modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice


wah-wah

Imitative

(music) A wavering sound produced by means of a movable mute or by electronic means


wah-wah

en-verb

wah-wah (third-person singular simple present wah-wahs, present participle wah-wahing, simple past and past participle wah-wahed)

wah-wahs (present singular third-person)
wah-wahing (participle present)
wah-wahed (participle past)
wah-wahed (past)

onom

Imitative


sharping

(music) The raising of the pitch of a note by half a step.


sharped

(music) Raised in pitch by half a note. Made into a sharp note.


klang

(music) Any periodic sound, especially one composed of a fundamental and harmonics, as opposed to simple periodic sounds (sine tones).


wah-wah pedal

Go on Ted, go on, beat those drum! / Get in there! / Ah shit, let's give Cordell some, on that wah-wah pedal now!

1974, Betty Davis (lyrics and music), “Git In There”, in They Say I'm Different, performed by Betty Davis:

(music) A pedal for an electric guitar that mimics the sound of the human voice.


hydraulic fracturing

(oil industry) A technique in which a mixture of water and sand is forced down an oil well (or similar) in order to create fractures in the oil-bearing rock and thus release more oil.


zill

One of a set of small finger cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances.


B-bender

(music) A guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a full tone to C-sharp.


coffinite

From Coffin + -ite, after Reuben Clare Coffin, American geologist.

(mineralogy) A brown or black uranium-bearing silicate mineral.


graviphoton

(physics) a hypothetical particle that emerges as an excitation of the gravitational field but whose physical properties are virtually indistinguishable from a photon


kablam

(onomatopoeia) The sound of a loud explosion; pow, blam, bang.


kerpow

A powerful sound of impact or transformation; pow, wham.


eigentone

(acoustics) A tone liable to cause resonance in a particular space.


chorded

Afterwards, I would play jazz tunes in a chorded-melody style; the first time through one of us would play the melody and the other the chords, and then we'd switch.

2009, Ed Petkus, Someone Out There Is Listening, page 240:

This chording technique works well for learning any tune, but this is the only tune of the set that I will write out completely as a chorded version for you.

2011, Dan Levenson, Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch, page 42:

(music) Composed of or containing chords.


kerplunk

From ker- (prefix forming onomatopoeias imitating the effect or sound of a heavy object falling) + plunk (“dull thud of something landing on a surface”).

prefix

If my life were a Saturday-morning cartoon, you would have heard a loud kerplunk as my stomach dropped. My poor starving stomach. It was under such stress already, and now this.

2005, Michelle Tea, chapter 15, in Rose of No Man’s Land […], 1st Harvest edition, Orlando, Fla., Austin, Tex.: Harcourt, published 2007, →ISBN, page 125:

(informal) A sound of someone or something falling and landing heavily; a thud.


kerplunk

We flipped to see who'd go first and I won, which meant Claudia had to dial. I called the number out loud for her, and inside me my heart was suddenly going "kerplunk, kerplunk, kerplunk," heavy as an elephant's feet.

1986 November, Eva Bunting, chapter 7, in Sixth-grade Sleepover (An Apple Paperback), New York, N.Y.: Scholastic, →ISBN, page 41:


kerplunk

en-verb

kerplunk (third-person singular simple present kerplunks, present participle kerplunking, simple past and past participle kerplunked)

kerplunks (present singular third-person)
kerplunking (participle present)
kerplunked (participle past)
kerplunked (past)

(intransitive, informal) To make the sound of falling and landing heavily; to thud.


talking drum

Two men, bowed over, were beating a tune on hourglass-shaped talking drums.

2015, Chigozie Obioma, The Fishermen, ONE, page 209:

(music) Any of several drums whose pitch can be regulated by squeezing the sides.


coldwave

From cold + wave, perhaps influenced by earlier genres such as new wave and darkwave. In France the post-punk genre was called la vague froide.

Band member Azzedine Amrani reflects: “[…] Then, The Cure came to our ears; therefore we started to turn into coldwave music with brand new instruments [such as keyboards and drum machines]^([sic]).”

2014, Andi Harriman, Marloes Bontje, Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace: A Worldwide Compendium of Postpunk and Goth in the 1980s, Intellect Books, →ISBN, page 24:

(music) A European style of post-punk music in the 1980s.

Modern industrial music subgenres and fusion-genres include EBM, futurepop, power-noise, aggrotech (terror-EBM), coldwave, elektro, dark-electro, and industrial-metal. Yes, it can be quite confusing.

2007, Raven Digitalis, Goth Craft: The Magickal Side of Dark Culture, →ISBN, page 37:

(music, US) The industrial metal music genre in the 1990s.


post-punk

→ Russian: постпа́нк (postpánk)

Its tight, jabby songs, influenced equally by minimalist post-punk and sentimental white soul, end just when you think you’ve figured them out.

2008 April 4, The New York Times, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times:

(music) A rock music genre that followed punk rock and was more artistic and experimental, laying the foundations for alternative rock.


electropop

Coordinate term: synthpop

I said, I bet that you look good on the dancefloor / Dancing to electropop like a robot from 1984

2005, Alex Turner (lyrics and music), “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”, performed by Arctic Monkeys:

Electropop songs are essentially pop songs, often with simple, catchy hooks and dance beats, but they differentiated from those of electronic dance music genres in that the songwriting takes precedence over danceability.

2017, Norman Abjorensen, Historical Dictionary of Popular Music, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 160:

(music) a genre fusing electronic and pop music; technopop


nu skool

Informal respelling of new school; compare old skool.

(music) Designating various style of popular music typically incorporating breakbeats; opposed to old school.


substellar

a substellar companion

(astronomy, of an object) Having a mass less than the minimum necessary mass for hydrogen fusion


lampstand

What the fuck are you doing with a buddha as a lampstand?

1967, R. D. Laing, The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise:

A menorah or other holder or stand for a lamp.


plica

en-noun

plica (countable and uncountable, plural plicas or plicae)

From Medieval Latin, from Latin plicare (“to fold”).

(music) A neume, in the form of a tail at the end of a ligature, indicating an additional note.


meane

(archaic, music) The middle voice of a three-voice polyphonic musical composition.


antimoon

The hypothetical analog of the Moon, revolving around the antiearth.


Bussard ramjet

From Bussard + ramjet, after Robert W. Bussard.

(astronautics) A fusion rocket that gathers fuel from the interstellar medium through attraction via a magnetic field, functioning akin to a regular ramjet.


nuclear-electric rocket

nuclear-electric rocket (plural nuclear-electric rockets)

(astronautics) a rocket with an ion engine powered by a nuclear reactor


nuclear-thermoelectric rocket

nuclear-thermoelectric rocket (plural nuclear-thermoelectric rockets)

(astronautics) a rocket with a thermal ion engine, whereby the ions are ionized by electricity from a nuclear reactor, and the fluid that is the source of the ions is heated by that nuclear reactor to increase specific impulse.


nuclear rocket

(astronautics) A rocket where a nuclear process, especially an on-board fission reactor, enables thrust to be produced.


fusion rocket

(astronautics) a rocket engine that uses nuclear fusion reactions for propulsive force

(astronautics) a spacecraft having a fusion reactor that powers the rocket

nuclear-pulse rocket
nuclear-pulse rocket

(astronautics) a nuclear-pulse rocket that uses thermonuclear bombs to supply propulsive force


nuclear-pulse rocket

nuclear-pulse rocket (plural nuclear-pulse rockets)

(astronautics) a rocket that uses the impulse imparted by the detonation of nuclear bombs as the propulsive force to propel the spacecraft


fission rocket

(astronautics) A nuclear-pulse rocket that uses fission-based atomic bombs to supply propulsive force.


nuclear-thermal rocket

nuclear-thermal rocket (plural nuclear-thermal rockets)

(astronautics) a rocket with a thermal gas exhaust engine, whereby the thermal fluid is heated by the nuclear reactor


coupler

(music) A device that connects two keyboards of an organ together so that they play together.


ESC

Eurovision Song Contest
w:Eurovision Song Contest

(music) Initialism of Eurovision Song Contest.


diapente

From Latin, from Ancient Greek διά (diá, “through, across”) + πέντε (pénte, “five”).

uder

(music, obsolete) The interval of the fifth or the harmonic ratio 3:2.


diatessaron

en-noun

diatessaron (plural diatessarons or diatessara)

diatessarons (plural)
diatessara (plural)

From Latin, from Ancient Greek διά (diá, “through, across”) + τεσσάρων (tessárōn) (genitive plural of τέσσαρες (téssares, “four”)).

(music, obsolete) The interval of a fourth or the harmonic ratio 4:3.


fusion reactor

(theoretically), a thermonuclear reactor that relies on the controlled fusion of light elements into heavier elements, with the attendant release of enormous amounts of energy. In practice, satisfactory results have not yet been achieved.


fog light

(automotive) One of a pair of lights, mounted at the front of a car, below the headlights, usually white or yellow in colour, for increased visibility ahead in foggy driving conditions.

霧燈

one of a pair of lights, mounted at the front of a car


blue-eyed

blue-eyed soul; blue-eyed jazz

Characteristic of or pertaining to white people; Caucasian.

(music) Written or performed by white people.


tetramethylrhodamine

(organic chemistry) A rhodamine in which four hydrogens have been replaced by methyl groups. Forms such as tetramethylrhodamine dextran are often used as fluorescent tracer dyes in cell research.


radiation dose

(physics) The amount of radiation to which something is exposed.

the SI unit of measurement of this phenomenon


doomer

From doom + -er. The more recent sense was popularized via a meme, “30 Year-Old Boomer”. The derivations of which are other words that end in -oomer, describing various personality types.

Those who suggest the likely return of the four horsemen of the apocalypse (famine, pestilence, war, and death) are more vocal than ever before despite being labeled Malthusian or just "doomer."

2009, David Holmgren, Future Scenarios, Chelsea Green:

[…] while a Minnesotan in her early thirties summed up the general influence of apocalyptic popular culture: “I think it has made me more of a doomer. […]

2015, Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, Peak Oil: Apocalyptic Environmentalism and Libertarian Political Culture, page 114:

One who believes that petroleum depletion will inevitably lead to a severe recession or depression, followed by a Malthusian catastrophe.


calcein

(organic chemistry) A fluorescent dye, with chemical formula C₃₀H₂₆N₂O₁₃; related to fluorescein; used in some contexts as a calcium indicator


sulforhodamine

(organic chemistry) Any derivative of a rhodamine formed by adding one or more sulfonate groups. Often used as fluorescent dyes.


dome light

An interior cabin light with a dome-shaped cover attached to the ceiling of a car, vehicle, room or building. In a vehicle it is considered a safety feature, though usually fitted as standard.


fidelitous

en-adj

fidelitous (comparative more fidelitous, superlative most fidelitous)

more fidelitous (comparative)
most fidelitous (superlative)


diproton

A hypothetical particle consisting of two protons and no neutrons; a helium-2 nucleus. Presumably an intermediate step in the fusion of hydrogen into helium.


shock rock

(music) A genre of rock music typified by elements of theatrical shock value in live performances.


activationless

In this case, ionization is activationless, i.e. its rate constant is extemely large and independent of potential.

1986, Lev Isaevich Krishtalik, (Please provide the book title or journal name), →ISBN, page 73:

(physical chemistry, physics) Having an activation energy near 0


musical notation

en-noun

musical notation (usually uncountable, plural musical notations)

(music) A system that represents music through the use of written symbols.


arpeggiation

arpeggiation (countable and uncountable, plural arpeggiations)

(music) The act of arpeggiating, of spreading a chord out instead of playing the notes simultaneously.


bar line

(music) A vertical line in musical notation used to separate two bars or measures.


opéra comique

opéra comique (countable and uncountable, plural opéras comiques)

An opera, or genre of opera, characterised by spoken dialogue interspersed between the arias and ensemble numbers.


virtuosically

en-adv

virtuosically (comparative more virtuosically, superlative most virtuosically)

more virtuosically (comparative)
most virtuosically (superlative)

(chiefly music) In the manner of a virtuoso; with virtuosity


passagework

en-noun

passagework (usually uncountable, plural passageworks)

More octaves ensue, followed by chromatic passagework with filigree scales.

1987, Harold C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists, →ISBN, page 189:

(music) An ornamental passage in a musical work, often resembling a scale; or the performance of such a passage


bassline

bassline (countable and uncountable, plural basslines)

(music, countable) The relatively low-pitched instrumental part of a piece of popular music.

(music, uncountable) A music genre, closely related to UK garage, that originated in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands in the early 2000s, having a four-on-the-floor rhythm and a strong emphasis on bass, with chopped-up vocal samples and a pop music aesthetic.


overamplify

en-verb

overamplify (third-person singular simple present overamplifies, present participle overamplifying, simple past and past participle overamplified)

overamplifies (present singular third-person)
overamplifying (participle present)
overamplified (participle past)
overamplified (past)

Physiological thresholds can differ from behavioral thresholds by ±15–20 dB HL. Thus, without verification of behavioral responses with amplification, hearing aids may underamplify or overamplify.

2006, Patricia Spencer, Advances in the Spoken-Language Development of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children, →ISBN:

What is interesting to note here is that the 2⁄3 gain can be seen to overamplify over the curved line of the impaired ear more than underamplifies, whereas the 1⁄3 gain curve illustrates the opposite, where it tends to underamplify sound to the ear.

2014, Michael J. Metz, Sandlin's Textbook of Hearing Aid Amplification, →ISBN:

To amplify to an extent that is undesirably loud.


dubstep

→ German: Dubstep

"Genres are so boring," said Scotsman Broon, one-half of the tech-house duo, as he scanned the cover of XLR8R magazine hyping "Dubstep" while shopping at Etherea record store.

2002 July 16, Tricia Romano, “Electro Trash”, in Village Voice:

...of course, a lot of grime producers and dubstep producers freely admit to FL being their primary tool, and the software is increasingly being used...

2006, Mary Gaitskill, Daphne Carr, Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006:

...reflect broader class strategies within English society, and the same can be said for more recent genre mutations such as dubstep and grime.

2007, Michael E Veal, Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae:

Acid house, hard-core, drum 'n' bass, UK garage, grime, and dubstep are just a handful of now worldwide underground movements that developed in this way.

2008, Matt Mason, The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism:

But musical ancestry aside, the influence to which Bieber is most beholden is the current trends in pop music, which means Believe is loaded up with EDM accouterments, seeking a comfortable middle ground where Bieber’s impressively refined pop-R&B croon can rub up on techno blasts and garish dubstep drops (and occasionally grind on some AutoTune, not necessarily because it needs it, but because a certain amount of robo-voice is expected these days).

2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The Onion AV Club:

electronic dance music
electronic dance music

A subgenre of electronic dance music descended from 2-step garage that was popular in the early 2010s, characterized by its dark mood, sparse half-step and two-step rhythms, and emphasis on sub-bass.


program music

(music) A form of art music, generally without vocal parts, that attempts to convey a scene, image, or mood.


barrierless

The reaction is then barrierless, ie, ΔG* = 0, and the rate constant is a maximum for the given λ (Figure 6).

1992, R.A. Marcus, Prabha Siddarth, “Theory of Electron Transfer Reactions and Comparison with Experiments”, in Elise Kochanski, editor, Photoprocesses in Transition Metal Complexes, Biosystems, and Other Molecules, page 63:

(physical chemistry) Not requiring activation energy.


set to music

set to music (third-person singular simple present sets to music, present participle setting to music, simple past and past participle set to music)

sets to music (present singular third-person)
setting to music (participle present)
set to music (participle past)
set to music (past)

(music) To adapt a literary work by adding music (and often song)


multireedist

(music) Someone who can perform on multiple reed instruments


fusioneer

They like Sting as much as flamenco, and though the famous Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt is a strong influence, so is fusioneer Al DiMeola […]

1989, “Gipsy Kings Stay True to Musical Roots”, in Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

(music) A performer or composer of fusion music


boppish

en-adj

boppish (comparative more boppish, superlative most boppish)

more boppish (comparative)
most boppish (superlative)

The strategy of using two standard tunes and two boppish originals on the first session (23 February 1945) set the pattern for subsequent dates.

1990, John Chilton, The Song of the Hawk, →ISBN, page 226:

With the exception of the leader's boppish title tune, the album is filled with anarchistic jazz reduxes of Nichols, Ellington, Kurt Weill, and Cole Porter.

2004, Todd S. Jenkins, Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: An Encyclopedia, page 234:


postpunk

postpunk industrial music

(music) Of or pertaining to the period following the punk period


folky

folky (comparative folkier, superlative folkiest)

folkier (comparative)
folkiest (superlative)

The band opened with a folky little number.

James Taylor flew into England to see if he could interest the Beatles' Apple label into recording "Carolina In My Mind" and some of his other folky material.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 244:

(music, informal) Having the character of folk music


baryton

From the German Baryton, from bary- + Ton. Doublet of baritone and barytone.

I love his music, but it is a bit disconcerting to realize that you could die in extreme old age and still only be familiar with a mere handful of the baryton trios.

2013, Simon Winder, Danubia, Picador, published 2014, page 281:

(music) A viol-like stringed instrument (chordophone) mainly played with a bow but with a set of plucked strings as well, originating in European music prior to the 1800s.


kobza

Borrowed from Ukrainian ко́бза (kóbza), itself from Proto-Turkic *kopuŕ.
Doublet of komuz and cobza.

(music) A lute-like stringed instrument traditionally made from a single block of wood, with a medium-length neck, originating in Ukrainian folk music.


folkish

folkish (comparative more folkish, superlative most folkish)

more folkish (comparative)
most folkish (superlative)

universalist

chiefly US; related to their opponents, neopagan groups that support marginalized people

From folk + -ish. (Compare Old English folcisc, and German völkisch.)

neo-völkisch

related to far-right or racist neopagan groups


bluesman

But creepily enough, from '30s delta bluesman Robert Johnson's beating-until-satisfied "Me and Devil Blues" to Jackie Gleason's 1954 "One Of These Days — Pow!" to Dion's face-slapping 1962 "Little Diane" to Lou Reed exclaiming "you better hit her" in "There She Goes Again" to the Intruders chasing girls and beating 'em up in their 1968 beach-soul hit "Cowboys to Girls" to the "wifebeating has been around for 10,000 years" headline fronting Guns N' Roses Lies, those in favor seem more prevalent.

1997, Chuck Eddy, The Accidental Evolution of Rock'n'roll, page 22:


shoegaze

Historically, it is filed by music critics under the shoegaze genre. I suppose this is because the band used a lot of the same guitar tones as shoegaze outfits from the same time, but it was really a bit too psychedelic to fit the genre.

2011, Courtney E. Smith, Record Collecting for Girls: Unleashing Your Inner Music Nerd, One Album at a Time, page 144:

Most of the releases from the Boo Radleys during their shoegaze phase feature just such a baroque, as do Killing Time by Bleach (1992; with a prawn) and ... x, y and z by Moose (1992; with a sunflower).[…]In the same way that the image of the sheep is common for EDM releases at this time, the cat comes to typify shoegaze.

2013, Benjamin Halligan, “3: Shoegaze as the Third Wave: Affective Psychedelic Noise, 1965-91”, in Michael Goddard, Benjamin Halligan, Nicola Spelman, editors, Resonances: Noise and Contemporary Music, page 58:

The shoegaze influence in the early Oasis sound is just as pronounced as the debt to the grunge of Nevermind. Although they were viewed as something of an anomaly within the shoegaze label Creation, Oasis were nevertheless a neo-psychedelic rock band with a taste for distorted guitars and classic sixties pop, so in fact they fitted in pretty well with the Creation house style.

2014, Alex Niven, Oasis' Definitely Maybe, page 44:


shoegaze

en-verb

shoegaze (third-person singular simple present shoegazes, present participle shoegazing, simple past and past participle shoegazed)

shoegazes (present singular third-person)
shoegazing (participle present)
shoegazed (participle past)
shoegazed (past)

Ever the pedestrian, Jason shoegazes to the side of his rhythm section, his body limp against a guitar and greased locks flowing down over his arched brow.

2004, Erik Morse, Spacemen 3 and the Birth of Spiritualized, →ISBN, page 86:

(music) To perform in the shoegazing style.


glow stick

A single-use translucent plastic tube containing isolated substances which when combined are capable of producing light through chemoluminescence without an electrical power source; used as an emergency light source or in recreational contexts such as camping and nightclubs.

bâton lumineux

a single-use tube with glowing chemicals


staccatissimo

en-adj

staccatissimo (comparative more staccatissimo, superlative most staccatissimo)

more staccatissimo (comparative)
most staccatissimo (superlative)


muzaky

muzaky (comparative more muzaky, superlative most muzaky)

more muzaky (comparative)
most muzaky (superlative)

[…] whose voice might be nice enough to make you forgive the rotten songs and the Muzaky backgrounds he covered […]

It's difficult to appreciate the innovative breakbeats when they're sandwiched between muzaky sex-talk, and the album mostly fails because of it.

2001, Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, John Bush, All Music Guide to Electronica:

Copyright-free music can be a bit tacky and muzaky, but it is a low-budget option.

2002, Moi Ali, Practical Marketing and Public Relations for the Small Business:

(informal, music, derogatory) Reminiscent of Muzak; insipid and monotonous.


melodicism

No sense of aloofness or distance diluted his warm melodicism.

2000, Ted Gioia, “Cool Jazz and West Coast Jazz”, in Bill Kirchner, editor, Oxford Companion to Jazz, →ISBN, page 340:

(music) A focus on the development of melody


theme song

“Liberty Bell March” is the theme song to Monty Python's Flying Circus.

(music, broadcasting) A song which accompanies a television or radio program, usually as an intro or outro.


psalmodic

This is but natural, for the practice of psalmodic chant is directly and indirectly interlaced with all the rich associations of the ecclesiastical calendar.

1984, Eric Werner, The Sacred Bridge, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., page 72:


electrophone

(music) any instrument designed to create sounds using electric currents


lutelike

lutelike (comparative more lutelike, superlative most lutelike)

more lutelike (comparative)
most lutelike (superlative)

a lutelike instrument

And an African ensemble, with Kewulay Kamara narrating and Missia Sarah Dioubate singing to the accompaniment of the lutelike kora and percussion, offered "A Badenya Greeting: Being of One Mother."

2009 January 2, Allan Kozinn, “Reflecting on Peace in the Quiet Light of Song”, in New York Times:

(music) Resembling a lute in form or sound


folklike

folklike (comparative more folklike, superlative most folklike)

more folklike (comparative)
most folklike (superlative)

Fortunately, Lucy Wainwright Roche sings and writes gentle, lapping, folklike songs, and her clear, steady voice feels like a beacon of sorts, slicing straight through the room.

2009 January 2, Amanda Petrusich, Ben Sisario, Jon Pareles, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times:

(music) Resembling the style of folk music


gaohu

A two-stringed vertical fiddle-like chordophone (stringed instrument) used as a leading instrument in Cantonese music.


dizi

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 笛子 (dízi).

A transverse flute with a buzzing membrane used in Chinese music, usually made of bamboo.


pickin' and grinnin'

From Kenny Rogers and Ronnie Milsap there was a lot less pickin’ and grinnin’ and a lot more soft rockers and heartbroken love ballads.

1987 March 20, Scott Mervis, “Country Slickers”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, retrieved 2009-01-03, page 19:

In this city of guitars and grits, Andersen is the ambassador of pickin’ and grinnin’.

2008 June 25, Joe Edwards, “Guitar-playing 'ambassador' greets visitors at Nashville's Hall of Fame”, in USA Today, retrieved 2009-01-03:

(chiefly US, music, idiomatic) Vigorous playing of folk or country music on a stringed musical instrument, especially the guitar or banjo, while smiling broadly.


chula

From Hindi चूल्हा (cūlhā), Bengali চুলা (cula).

After conducting feed back surveys, it was established that success will not depend on maximum number of chulhas installed but also on after installation care and follow up measures to ensure that skill transfer in installation and operation of chulhas has appropriately taken place and any other difficulty and problem has been overcome.

1996, Rahul Mudgal, Economic Dimensions of Rural Development, page 228:

When the basket was full, she carried it back and emptied it next to the outdoor chula where she did most of her cooking.

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin 2015, page 6:

Saroj was crouched over her small choolah, flattening dough between her palms, stretching it with her fingers, before slapping it onto the hot tawa to make chapattis.

2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 68:

(Bangladesh, India) A hearth, stove, or other traditional cooking-place.


cavaquinho

Borrowed from Portuguese cavaquinho (“cavaquinho”), from the diminutive of cavaco (“fragment of wood”).

A small guitar-string instrument of Brazilian origin, with four wire or gut strings, played with a plectrum.


mysterioso

(music) Alternative spelling of misterioso


ciranda

Borrowed from Portuguese ciranda, which is from Spanish zaranda (“sieve”), from Andalusian Arabic سرند, from Persian سرند (“sieve”).

(music) A traditional Brazilian children's dance.


trancey

trancey (comparative more trancey, superlative most trancey)

more trancey (comparative)
most trancey (superlative)

Video monitors play the latest clips from Bjork and Peaches while DJs take the dance floor in a trancey direction.

At the foot of the hill, trancey music from a garage party beckoned.

2005, Matt Rauscher, The Unborn Spouse Situation:

(informal, music) Resembling or pertaining to trance music, i.e. immersively melodic with a strong electronic dance beat.


pianism

en-noun

pianism (countable and uncountable, plural pianisms)

There is nothing showy in her pianism, nothing cloying about her expressivity.

2009 January 5, Anthony Tommasini, “Reopening a Pianist's Treasury of Chopin”, in New York Times:


contradanza

contradanza (countable and uncountable, plural contradanzas)

The music of Cuba has had a worldwide influence on forms of song and dance. René Buch who conceived and directed a musical “collage” called “¡Habana!” at the Repertorio Español on East 27th Street, points out the influence on Spain, for example, which received ‘habaneras’ and ‘contradanzas’ from Cuba; in this century, in the 1920's, the “rumba” and such songs as “El Manisero” and “Siboney” made their way north to become part of United States culture.

1982 December 27, Edward Rothstein, “Music: 40 Songs of Cuba”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, page C12:

The programming was far from random. The habanera is a hybrid seed of great potency. An adaptation of the European contradanza by slaves from West Africa, it is not only an early version of a New World rhythm that took over the globe, but also a direct ancestor for much of jazz and rock ‘n’ roll.

2018 March 5, Brian Seibert, “Review: Tapping Out Some New World Rhythms”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(music) A popular Cuban dance music genre of the 19th century, or a work composed in this genre.


middle eight

(music) The third of four eight-bar sections in thirty-two-bar-form (AABA-form) music.


riffy

en-adj

riffy (comparative riffier, superlative riffiest)

riffier (comparative)
riffiest (superlative)

(informal, music) Characterized by a lot of guitar riffs.


soloistic

soloistic (comparative more soloistic, superlative most soloistic)

more soloistic (comparative)
most soloistic (superlative)

Much the same could be said for the drummer Gerald Cleaver, who brought a lot of color and soloistic ideas into his steady time.

2009 January 9, Ben Ratliff, “Nodding to Tradition While Pursuing the Ideal”, in New York Times:

(music) Pertaining to, or characteristic of, a soloist


hornist

Someone who plays the horn (any of several kinds of musical instruments).


vallenato

en-noun

vallenato (countable and uncountable, plural vallenatos)

From Spanish vallenato, from valle (“valley”) nato (“born”).

(music, uncountable) A popular style of folk music from Colombia.

100% COLOMBIANO (Tonight) This showcase of upbeat Colombian music includes exuberant salsa from Orquesta Guayacán and Son de Cali, with accordion-pumped vallenatos from the duos of Jorge Celedón-Jimmy Zambrano and Herbert Vargas-Silvestre Dangond, and vallenato-rooted rock from Fonseca.

2007 July 27, The New York Times, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times:

(music, countable) A piece performed in this style.


haunted house

haunted house (countable and uncountable, plural haunted houses)

بَيْت أَشْبَاح

house believed to be a center for supernatural occurrences

This enigmatic bunch are a reaction to Manchester's musical past, with a blend of haunted house and rave dynamics

2011 March 25, Paul Lester, “New band of the day: Christian AIDS (No 991)”, in The Guardian:

(uncountable, music) Synonym of witch house (“music genre”)


highlife

highlife (countable and uncountable, plural highlifes)

Anwar took the broom away from the Congolese cleaner – whose name I did not know, whose name no one ever thought to ask – and made her dance with him, to some highlife he had going on the transistor radio he carried everywhere.

2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 326:

(music, uncountable) A genre of music that originated in Ghana in the early 20th century, blending elements of traditional Akan music with Western instruments and ideas.

Then he left the stage and listened to us playing highlifes.

1985, John Collins, African Pop Roots: The Inside Rhythms of Africa, →ISBN, page 76:

Several of the city's most prominent ensembles started to incorporate foreign rock 'n' roll numbers into their existing repertories of ballroom, calypsos, and highlifes.

2012, Nate Plageman, Highlife Saturday Night: Popular Music and Social Change in Urban Ghana, →ISBN, page 142:

(music, countable) A work or performance in this style.


sakpata

(music) A rhythm used in the vodoun drumming of Benin to invoke Sakpata, the god of smallpox


beatboxer

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

(music) A performer who imitates the sound of musical instruments, especially percussion, with his or her voice


postbop

The drummer Dafnis Prieto, leading a superbly calibrated sextet, chopped up the pulse of his native Cuba with clever feints while borrowing from postbop harmony.

2009 January 12, Nate Chinen, “Acts Onstage (and on the Market) at Three Clubs”, in New York Times:

(jazz) A form of small-group jazz music that emerged in the early 1960s, under the influence of artists such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock


santur

Borrowed from Classical Persian سَنْتُور (santūr), of uncertain origin; sometimes suggested to be from Ancient Greek ψαλτήριον (psaltḗrion, “psaltery”).

der

(music) A type of hammered dulcimer played in Persian music


tombak

From Persian تنبک (tonbak). Doublet of dumbek.

(music) A type of goblet drum used heavily in Persian music.


circuit bending

There is some circuit-bending done with devices that generate video, but not much as the price of such devices is generally too high to make circuit-bending’s random (and often destructive) results worthwhile.

2007, Richard Colson, The Fundamentals of Digital Art, AVA Publishing, →ISBN, page 46:

Some music, such as electronic dance music, is completely produced electronically and new practices have developed such as live coding, circuit bending, and chipmusic.

2014, William Forde Thompson, Music in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Encyclopedia:

The creative short-circuiting of electronic devices such as children's toys and small digital synthesizers in order to create new musical or visual instruments.


every good boy deserves fudge

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-every good boy deserves fudge.wav

(music, mnemonic) A mnemonic phrase to help remember the order of the five lines on a musical treble stave in order from the bottom to the top: E G B D F.


rapmeister

The discussion is both friendly and intense; after two minutes, the rapmeister readjusts his baseball cap, bids the banker goodbye and grins...

1992 December, Black Enterprise, volume 23, number 5, page 66:

"Ha, I pity your white ass," says Rapmeister Dommie, twelve going on twenty-nine.

2002, Carl Hiaasen, Basket case, page 242:


SVP

sound velocity profile
sound velocity profile#English

(hydroacoustics) Initialism of sound velocity profile.


channel coal

When this coal is put into the fire, it crackles, and separates into laminae, as the channel coal does into irregular pieces, burns for some time with a heavy flame, becomes red-hot, and gradually consumes to light white ashes.

1772, Philosophical Transactions, page 265:

Of channel coal there has been imported into the States from England 17,767 tons, against 27,641 tons in 1871.

1873, Great Britain. Foreign Office, Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls on the Manufactures, ..., page 1256:

Between 25,000 and 30,000 bushels of channel coal were mined from three pits in Phelps and Crawford counties and hauled to the Works […]

1964, James D. Norris, Frontier Iron: The Maramec Iron Works, 1826-1876, page 112:


stickman

Our second stickman was much more behind the scenes. Earl Young was the in-house drummer at Philadelphia Records.

2019, Alon Shulman, The Second Summer of Love: How Dance Music Took Over the World, Kings Road Publishing, →ISBN:


bottleneck guitar

en-noun

bottleneck guitar (plural bottleneck guitars)

(music) A technique of playing guitar by sliding a metal tube, or (originally) a glass bottleneck, along the guitar strings to alter the pitch.


blam

He kicked in the door with a blam.

A sudden, explosive sound, such as is made by a gunshot.


blam

That the last zombie? Here. Let me get that for ya. *BLAM!*


blam

[…] we refer to unsolicited and unwanted advertising as spam. The phenomenon is widespread, and has led people to coin terms for it in other information product or service contexts, such as splog or blam (unsolicited advertisements in blog comments), spim (instant messaging), […]

2012, Martin Peitz, Joel Waldfogel, The Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy:

To counter this effect, spammers attempt to create links to their sites on other people's pages. The most common targets for this kind of spam are weblogs, the spamming then being known as blog spam, or "blam" for short.

2014, Nicolae Sfetcu, Internet Marketing, SEO & Advertising:

(Internet, informal) Spam posted to a blog.