roar

roar (third-person singular simple present roars, present participle roaring, simple past and past participle roared)

roars (present singular third-person)
roaring (participle present)
roared (participle past)
roared (past)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English roren, raren, from Old English rārian (“to roar; wail; lament”), from Proto-West Germanic *rairōn, from Proto-Germanic *rairōną (“to bellow; roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to shout; bellow; yell; bark”), perhaps of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian roorje (“to roar”), German röhren (“to roar”).

der

Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig, and away he run!
The pig was eat, and Tom was beat,
And Tom went roaring down the street.

1886, James Orchard Halliwell, “Third Class: Tales: LX”, in The Nursery Rhymes of England:

(British Yorkshire, North Midlands, informal) To cry.


bumblebee

1520s from bumble + bee, replacing Middle English humbul-be. Merged with Middle English bombeln (“to boom, buzz”), in the late 14th century.

A mid yellow, sometimes slightly orange.


tuning fork

(music) A fork-shaped object which emits a tone of a specific frequency when struck, producing a reference note for tuning instruments.


carillon

Tagalog: karilyon

(music) A set of bells, often in a bell tower, sometimes operated by means of a keyboard (manual or pedal), originating from the Low Countries.

карыльён

a set of bells, often in a bell tower, originating from the Low Countries


neigh

en-verb

neigh (third-person singular simple present neighs, present participle neighing, simple past and past participle neighed)

neighs (present singular third-person)
neighing (participle present)
neighed (participle past)
neighed (past)

From Middle English neighen, from Old English hnǣġan, from Proto-Germanic *hnaijan, from Proto-Germanic *hnajjaną (“to neigh”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch neien, Middle Low German neigen, Swedish gnägga, Icelandic hneggja.

"I went into the stable first to see to the horse, and found him neighing and waiting for his hay, so I went up into the hay-loft for an armful[.]"

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 33:


grunt

From Middle English grunten, from Old English grunnettan (“to grunt”), from Proto-West Germanic *grunnattjan, from Proto-Germanic *grunnatjaną (“to grunt”), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *grunnōną (“to grunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrun- (“to shout”).
Cognate with German grunzen (“to grunt”), Danish grynte (“to grunt”). The noun senses are all instances of zero derivation from the verb.

der

Any fish of the perciform family Haemulidae.

Coordinate term: pogue

The poges stare at the grunts as though the grunts were Hell's Angels at the ballet.

1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 39:

The events described are those encountered by only 160 men, though the adversity recounted is representative of that experienced by all grunts in Vietnam.

1984, Charles Robert Anderson, The Grunts, Berkley Books, →ISBN, page xii:

He can't make that kind of decision. He's just a grunt!

1986, James Cameron, Aliens, spoken by Burke (Paul Reiser):

(US, military slang) An infantry soldier.

(Canada, US) A dessert of steamed berries and dough, usually blueberries; blueberry grunt.


grunt

en-verb

grunt (third-person singular simple present grunts, present participle grunting, simple past and past participle grunted)

grunts (present singular third-person)
grunting (participle present)
grunted (participle past)
grunted (past)

Who just grunted?

(intransitive, UK, slang) To break wind; to fart.


purr

purr (third-person singular simple present purrs, present participle purring, simple past and past participle purred)

purrs (present singular third-person)
purring (participle present)
purred (participle past)
purred (past)

Onomatopoeic.

recorded purring of a cat

listen/core

recorded purring of a cat

ombox/core

recorded purring of a cat

ombox

recorded purring of a cat

mbox

recorded purring of a cat

He purred like a kitten when she massaged his neck.

(intransitive) To make a vibrating throaty sound, as from pleasure.

Beverly passed the city limits sign with the Porsche's motor purring contentedly after its two hundred and fifty-mile romp.

2001, E. C. Craver, Last Reunion, page 159:

(intransitive, of an engine) To make a low and consistent rumbling sound.

бръмча

of an engine: to make a low rumbling sound


purr

listen/core

recorded purring of a cat

ombox/core

recorded purring of a cat

ombox

recorded purring of a cat

mbox

recorded purring of a cat

Instead, the tiger looked around, and gave a purr, and then a growl. What did that mean? The man could not tell. Then the tiger just flung upon the man some of the sand from the side of the hollow.

1918, Sarath Kumar Ghosh, The wonders of the jungle - Volume 2, page 113:

The vibrating sound made by a cat in its throat when contented.

мъркане

vibrating sound made by a cat when contented

The trill of her purr echoed inside his mouth when he kissed her again. Clutching at his shirt, her fingers traveled the muscles in his back.

2006, Brenda Williamson, Wolverton Blood, page 53:

A throaty, seductive sound of pleasure made by a person.


purr

listen/core

recorded purring of a cat

ombox/core

recorded purring of a cat

ombox

recorded purring of a cat

mbox

recorded purring of a cat


treble

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English treble, from Old French treble, from Latin triplus. Doublet of triple.

(music) Pertaining to the highest singing voice or part in harmonized music; soprano.


treble

He starts out by saying that there are three sights, the mene, treble, and quadreble, but actually he discusses only two, the treble and quadreble, both of which are read at the transposition of an octave.

1959, The Musical quarterly - Volume 45, page xlvi:

The voices include a counter (always below the tenor), a countertenor (moving above and below the tenor), mene, treble, and quadreble.

1991, Blanche Gangwere, Music history during the Renaissance period, 1425-1520, page 25:

The counter involves transposition of the sighted note to the fifth below (for extremely low notes a twelfth), the mene and countertenor do not transpose, the treble transposes to the octave above, and the quadreble to the twelfth above.

2003, Willi Apel, Don Michael Randel, The Harvard Dictionary of Music, page 780:

(music) The highest singing voice (especially as for a boy) or part in musical composition.

дискант

(music) A person or instrument having a treble voice or pitch; a boy soprano.


allegro

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a quick, lively tempo, faster than allegretto but slower than presto.

快板

tempo mark indicating a quick, lively tempo

allegro

passage to be played in a quick, lively tempo

(music, more, traditionally) An expressive mark indicating that a passage is to be played in a lively or happy manner, not necessarily quickly.

more; traditionally; more; traditionally

And what mean these outbursts and objurgations of his, you will ask; these suggestions, furtive, rhapsodical, mystical; this furibund allegro about Money, Mediums, and Bohemia; [...]

1910 January 12, Ameen Rihani, “Subtranscendental”, in The Book of Khalid, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published October 1911, →OCLC, book the second (In the Temple), page 116:


cassation

From German Kassation, from Italian cassazione

(music) A piece of instrumental music of the eighteenth century similar to the serenade, and often performed outdoors.


presto

(music) Very fast or quickly; a directive for the musician(s) to play in a very quick tempo.


discord

en-noun

discord (countable and uncountable, plural discords)

Circa 1230, Middle English descorde, discorde; from Anglo-Norman, Old French descort (derivative of descorder), descorde (“disagreement”); from Latin discordia, from discors (“disagreeing, disagreement”), from dis- (“apart”) + cor, cordis (“heart”).
Verb derives from Middle English discorden, from Anglo-Norman, Old French descorder, from Latin discordāre, from discord-, as above.

(music) An inharmonious combination of simultaneously sounded tones; a dissonance.


trap

trap (countable and uncountable, plural traps)

From Middle English trappe, from Old English træppe, treppe (“trap, snare”) (also in betræppan (“to trap”)) from Proto-West Germanic *trappjā (“trap, snare”), from Proto-West Germanic *trappjan (“to step”), from Proto-Germanic *trapjaną (“to tread, stamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *drebʰ- (“to step, trip, trample”).
Cognate with Dutch trap (“trap, snare”), German Low German Trapp (“trap”). Akin also to West Frisian traap (“stepping, treading, stairway”), German Treppe (“step, stair”), Old English træppan (“to step, tread”). Connection to "step" is "that upon which one steps". French trappe and Spanish trampa are ultimately borrowings from Germanic.

cog

(music, uncountable) A genre of hip-hop music, with half-time drums and heavy sub-bass.


vary

en-verb

vary (third-person singular simple present varies, present participle varying, simple past and past participle varied)

varies (present singular third-person)
varying (participle present)
varied (participle past)
varied (past)

From Middle English varien, from Old French varier, from Latin variō (“to change, alter, make different”), from varius (“different, various”); see various.

der

(transitive, music) To embellish; to change fancifully; to present under new aspects, as of form, key, measure, etc. See variation.


hurry

en-noun

hurry (countable and uncountable, plural hurries)

From Middle English horien (“to rush, impel”), probably a variation of hurren (“to vibrate rapidly, buzz”), from Proto-Germanic *hurzaną (“to rush”) (compare Middle High German hurren (“to hasten”), Norwegian hurre (“to whirl around”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”) (compare Latin currō (“I run”), Tocharian A kursär/Tocharian B kwarsär (“league; course”)). Related to hurr, horse, rush.
Alternative etymology derives hurry as a variant of harry, which see.

inh

(music) A tremolando passage for violins, etc., accompanying an exciting situation.


dulcimer

From Old French doulcemelle, probably from Latin dulce melos (“sweet song”), from Ancient Greek μέλος (mélos, “melody, song”).

der

Coordinate term: zither

A damsel with a dulcimer / In a vision once I saw: / It was an Abyssinian maid / And on her dulcimer she played, / Singing of Mount Abora.

1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, Courier Dover Publications, published 1992, →ISBN, page 59:

Accompanying himself with his dulcimer, a plectrum instrument of his own handicraft, Niles harks back to the balladeers of old.

1947 January 25, “Album Reviews: The Seven Joys of Mary—John: Jacob Niles (Disc 732)”, in The Billboard, volume 59, number 4, Nielsen Business Media, →ISSN, page 32:

Played traditionally, the dulcimer sounds delightful with drones acenting the melody you are playing.

2004, Madeline MacNeil, You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer, Mel Bay Publications, →ISBN, Introduction, page 4:

A stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal, played by plucking on the strings (traditionally with a quill) or by tapping on them (in the case of the hammer dulcimers).

Appalachian dulcimer

fretted dulcimer, lap dulcimer, dulcimore, mountain dulcimer


chandelier

/ˌʃæn.dəˈlɪə(ɹ)/

/ˌʃæn.dəˈlɪɚ/

Borrowed from French chandelier, from Latin candelabrum, from candela (“a candle”). Doublet of candelabrum. See also candle.

not the brightest bulb in the chandelier

(surgery) An endoilluminator used in eye surgery.


rip

From Middle English rippen, from earlier ryppen (“to pluck”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rupjaną, *ruppōną (compare West Frisian rippe, ripje, roppe, ropje (“to rip”), Dutch dialectal rippen, Low German ruppen, German Low German röpen, German rupfen), intensive of *raupijaną (compare Old English rīpan, rīepan (“to plunder”), West Frisian rippe (“to rip, tear”), German raufen (“to rip”)), causative of Proto-Indo-European *roub- ~ *reub- (compare Albanian rrabe ‘maquis’, possibly Latin rubus (“bramble”)), variant of *Hrewp- (“to break”). More at reave, rob.

(music, informal) A kind of glissando leading up to the main note to be played.


register

/ˈɹɛd͡ʒ.ɪs.tə/

/ˈɹɛd͡ʒ.ɪs.tɚ/

From Medieval Latin registrum, from Late Latin regesta (“list, items recorded”), from Latin regerō (“to record, to carry back”), from re- + gerō (“to carry, bear”). Compare Latin registoria (“a treasurer”). Some senses influenced by association with unrelated Latin regō (“to rule”).

(music) The range of a voice or instrument.


cymbal

→ Welsh: symbal m or f

From Middle English cymbal, from Old English cimbal, cimbala and Old French cimbale, both from Latin cymbalum (“cymbal”), from Ancient Greek κύμβαλον (kúmbalon), from κύμβη (kúmbē, “bowl”). See also chime.

The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fifes,
Tabours and cymbals and the shouting Romans,
Make the sun dance.

c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 13::

Trumpets and Drums shall fright her from the Throne,
As sounding Cymbals aid the lab'ring Moon.

1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, Act I, page 5:

I see the Crusaders' tumultuous armies—hark, how the cymbals clang ...

1881–82, Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, "The Mystic Trumpeter"

(music) A concave plate of brass or bronze that produces a sharp, ringing sound when struck: played either in pairs, by striking them together, or singly by striking with a drumstick or the like.


alight

en-verb

alight (third-person singular simple present alights, present participle alighting, simple past and past participle alit or alighted)

alights (present singular third-person)
alighting (participle present)
alit (participle past)
alit (past)
alighted (participle past)
alighted (past)
alight (infinitive)

The verb is probably derived partly:
* from Middle English alighten (“to kindle, light, set on fire; to begin burning; to become bright, shine; to arouse, rouse, stir; (figuratively) to enlighten spiritually, illuminate”) [and other forms], from Old English ālīhtan, ālȳhtan (“to light up; enlighten”) (perhaps modelled after Latin illūmināre, the present active infinitive of illūminō (“to brighten, illuminate, light up”)), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + līhtan, līehtan (“to glow, to shine; to illuminate, to light”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“to see; to shine; bright”)); and
* from Middle English onlighten (“to cause (something) to shine; to clarify; (figuratively) to enlighten spiritually”) [and other forms], from Old English onlīhtan, a variant of inlīhtan (“to give light to, brighten, illuminate; to cause to shine; to shine; (figuratively) to give clear sight; to clear a mental fog, enlighten”), from Proto-Germanic *inliuhtijaną (“to enlighten, illumine”), from *in (“in; into”) + *liuhtijaną (“to give light, shine”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk-; see above); and
* from later uses of alight (adjective).
The English word is analysable as a- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + light (“to start (a fire); to burn, set fire to; to become ignited, take fire; to provide light, illuminate; to show the way by means of a light”).
The adjective and adverb are derived from Late Middle English alight (adjective) [and other forms], from Old English ālīht, ālȳht, a past participle form of Old English ālīhtan, ālȳhtan (verb) (see above); but have also been subsequently interpreted as a- (prefix meaning ‘at; in; on’, used to show a condition, manner, or state) + light (“not dark or obscure, bright, clear; highly luminous”).
cognates
* German erleuchten (“to light up, illuminate”)

nb...

aliȝt, aliȝte, aliȝtte, alihte, aliʒth, allyght, alyghte, alyȝt, alyȝte

cog

The officer hauing by this time alighted his lampe, entred into the roome to ſee him, vvhom he accounted to be dead, […]

1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], Thomas Shelton, transl., “VVherein are Rehearsed the Innumerable Misfortunes vvhich Don-Quixote and His Good Squire Sancho Suffered in the Inne, vvhich He to His Harme Thought to be a Castle”, in The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC, part 3, page 133:

To set light to (something); to set (something) on fire; to ignite, to light.


alight

The burning embers and the dry wind quickly set the whole neighbourhood alight.

The sticks were damp and wouldn’t catch alight.

With a heavy load of 650 tons for Arras and Lille we started very quietly, with about a third of a glass of water, and the fire barely alight. This frightened me, but I had reckoned without the 4-6-4's American mechanical stoker.

1961 February, Balmore [pseudonym], “Driving and Firing Modern French Steam Locomotives – Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 110:

tulessa

burning, lit, on fire — see also burning, on fire

Often followed by with: shining with light; luminous, radiant; also, brightly coloured; vivid.

Of an electrical light source: switched on and emitting light.

rozzářený

of an electrical light source: switched on and emitting light


alight

Each chapel had its saintly shrine, hung around with offerings; its picture above the altar, although closely veiled, if by any painter of renown; and its hallowed tapers, burning continually, to set alight the devotion of the worshippers.

1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Burial Chant”, in The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 227:

(also figuratively) Chiefly in set alight: in flames, on fire; aflame.


meow

Alteration of earlier mew, from Middle English mewen, mouwen (“to mew, meow”), of onomatopoeic origin.
Compare Saterland Frisian mauje, miauje (“to meow”), West Frisian miaukje (“to meow”), Dutch miauwen (“to meow”), Middle Low German mauwen, mawen, mouwen (“to meow”) (whence modern German Low German mauen, miauen (“to meow”)), Middle High German mouen, modern German miauen (“to meow”). Some spellings were modelled on French miaou.
Meow and its spelling variants entered widespread currency in the 19th century, mostly replacing mew. Possibly because phonetic change meant that word had ceased to approximate a cat's cry. Contrast the pronunciation of Middle English mewen /ˈmɛu̯ən/ compared to modern /ˈmjuː/).

(colloquial) Expressing seductiveness, mimicking a growl.


meow

en-noun

meow (countable and uncountable, plural meows)

A cat’s meow and a cow’s moo, I can recite them all / Just tell me where it hurts you, honey

1968, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Quinn the Eskimo”:

(UK, slang, uncountable) The drug mephedrone.


meow

en-verb

meow (third-person singular simple present meows, present participle meowing, simple past and past participle meowed)

meows (present singular third-person)
meowing (participle present)
meowed (participle past)
meowed (past)
meow (infinitive)

(intransitive) Of a cat, to make its cry.


brilliant

en-noun

brilliant (countable and uncountable, plural brilliants)

(small type size): (German) Brillant

Borrowed from French brillant (late 17th century), present participle of the verb briller, from Italian brillare, possibly from Latin berillus, beryllus (“a beryl, gem, eyeglass”), from Ancient Greek βήρυλλος (bḗrullos, “beryl”).

der

This snuffbox — on the hinge see brilliants shine.

On the one, a plain massive band which matched the collar; on the other, a serpent; the tail reached nearly to the elbow, and the head rose a little from the wrist; the tongue of a ruby, the eyes of large brilliants.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 257:

"And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger.

1891 [September, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure III.—A Case of Identity.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume II (July to December), number [9], London: […], page 248, column 2:

A finely cut gemstone, especially a diamond, cut in a particular form with numerous facets so as to maximize light return through the top (called "table") of the stone.


soul

en-noun

soul (countable and uncountable, plural souls)

→ German: Soul

→ Esperanto: soulo

→ French: soul

→ Hungarian: soul

→ Italian: soul

→ Japanese: ソウル

→ Polish: soul

→ Portuguese: soul

→ Romanian: soul

→ Scots: sowel

→ Spanish: soul

From Middle English soule, sowle, saule, sawle, from Old English sāwol (“soul, life, spirit, being”), from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō (“soul”), of uncertain ultimate origin (see there for further information). Cognate with Scots saul, sowel (“soul”), North Frisian siel, sial (“soul”), Saterland Frisian Seele (“soul”), West Frisian siel (“soul”), Dutch ziel (“soul”), German Seele (“soul”) Scandinavian homonyms seem to have been borrowed from Old Saxon *siala. Modern Danish sjæl, Swedish själ, Norwegian sjel, Icelandic sál, Finnish sielu may have come from Old English sāwol.


division level

(music) A metric level faster than the beat level of a piece of music.


rhythmic gesture

en-noun

rhythmic gesture (plural rhythmic gestures)

(music) A durational pattern which does not occupy a whole number of pulses on an underlying metric level.


intrametric

(music) Confirming the pulses on (i.e. pattern of) the metric level.


contrametric

(music) Not following the beat or meter.


metric level

(music) The pulses in a metric structure.


zither

Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “a kind of harp”). Doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar.

der

(music) A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.

(music, translations) Related or similar instruments in other cultures, such as the Chinese guqin or Norwegian harpeleik; especially any chordophone without a neck, and with strings that pass over the body.


flamenco

en-noun

flamenco (countable and uncountable, plural flamencos)

/fləˈmɛŋkəʊ/

From Spanish flamenco, from Middle Dutch vlaminc (“Fleming”) (> Dutch Vlaming).

It's impossible to tell the story of flamenco without talking about Lorca, who found in it a source of inspiration in a lifelong political-cultural-sexual struggle against bourgeois philistinism.

2010 February 5, Mike Marqusee, The Guardian:

(uncountable) A genre of folk music and dance native to Andalusia, in Spain.

فَلَامِنْكُو

a genre of folk music and dance native to Andalusia, Spain


extrametric

(music) Of a rhythm which is irregular, (which is) outside of the metric structure of the surrounding composition.


syncopated

en-adj

syncopated (comparative more syncopated, superlative most syncopated)

more syncopated (comparative)
most syncopated (superlative)

(music) of a rhythm, modified by syncopation


syncopation

en-noun

syncopation (usually uncountable, plural syncopations)

From syncopate + -ion. The phonological sense was first attested in English in the 1530's, the musical sense in the 1590's.

(music) The quality of a rhythm being somehow unexpected, in that it deviates from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beats in a meter.


ornament

ornament (countable and uncountable, plural ornaments)

/ˈɔɹnəˌmɛnt/

From Middle English ornament, from Old French ornement, from Latin ornamentum (“equipment, apparatus, furniture, trappings, adornment, embellishment”), from ornāre, present active infinitive of ornō (“I equip, adorn”). The verb is derived from the noun.

der

(music) A musical flourish that is unnecessary to the overall melodic or harmonic line, but serves to decorate that line.


bark

From Middle English barken, berken, borken, from Old English beorcan (“to bark”), from the Proto-West Germanic *berkan (“to bark”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerg- (“to make a noise, growl, bark”), from *bʰer- (“to drone, hum, buzz”). Cognate with Icelandic berkja (“to bark, bluster”), Icelandic barki (“throat, windpipe”), dialectal Lithuanian burgė́ti (“to growl, grumble, grouch, quarrel”), Serbo-Croatian brbljati (“to murmur”). For the noun, compare Old English beorc, bearce (“barking”).

recorded barks (noun sense 1) of a dog.

listen/core

recorded barks (noun sense 1) of a dog

ombox/core

recorded barks (noun sense 1) of a dog

ombox

recorded barks (noun sense 1) of a dog

mbox

recorded barks (noun sense 1) of a dog

Fox’s clumsy figure, negligently dressed in blue and buff, seemed unprepossessing; only his shaggy eyebrows added to the expression of his face; his voice would rise to a bark in excitement.

c. 1921, The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, volume 11:

Long before Shap platform showed up around a corner and the two arms on the gradient post drooped in both directions at once, Duchess of Buccleuch's amiable throbbing purr at the stack [funnel, chimney] had become a fierce freight-engine bark, as she resolutely dragged at her enormous load.

1949 January and February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:

(figuratively) An abrupt loud vocal utterance.


bark

en-noun

bark (countable and uncountable, plural barks)

From Middle English bark, from Old English barc (“bark”), from Old Norse bǫrkr (“tree bark”), from Proto-Germanic *barkuz, probably related to *birkijǭ (“birch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergo- (compare Latin frāxinus (“ash”), Lithuanian béržas (“birch”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰereg- (“to gleam; white”) (compare English bright); akin to Danish bark, Icelandic börkur, Low German borke and Albanian berk (“bast”).

(medicine) Peruvian bark or Jesuit's bark, the bark of the cinchona from which quinine is produced.

Hard candy made in flat sheets, for instance out of chocolate, peanut butter, toffee or peppermint.


tone

From Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, tonos, and tonus.

der

(music) (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.

(music) (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.


root

en-noun

root (countable and uncountable, plural roots)

From Middle English rote, root, roote (“the underground part of a plant”), from late Old English rōt, from Old Norse rót (Icelandic rót), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”); Doublet of wort, radish, and radix.

the love of money is the root of all evil

(music) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.


hexachord

(music) A series of six tones denoted with the syllables ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la separated by seconds, the only of which that is a minor second being mi-fa.


combinatoriality

(music) A quality shared by some twelve-tone tone rows by which the row and one of its transformations combine to form a pair of aggregates.


serialism

serialism (usually uncountable, plural serialisms)

From serial + -ism. Calque of the German Reihenmusik.

(music) Music, especially from the 20th century, in which themes are based on a definite order of notes of an equal-tempered scale.


manager

→ Albanian: menaxher

→ Burmese: မန်နေဂျာ (mannegya)

→ Catalan: mànager

→ Dutch: manager

→ French: manager
→ Turkish: menajer

→ German: Manager

→ Greek: μάνατζερ (mánatzer)

→ Hungarian: menedzser

→ Italian: manager

→ Japanese: マネージャー (manējā)

→ Korean: 매니저 (maenijeo)

→ Polish: menedżer

→ Romanian: manager

→ Russian: ме́неджер (ménedžer)

→ Scottish Gaelic: manaidsear

→ Spanish: mánager

→ Swahili: meneja

→ Ukrainian: ме́неджер (ménedžer)

(music) An administrator, for a singer or group.


scold

The noun is from Middle English scold(e), skald(e), first attested in the 12th or 13th century (as scold, scolde, skolde, skald). The verb is from Middle English scolden, first attested in the late 1300s. Most dictionaries derive the verb from the noun and say the noun is probably from Old Norse skald (“poet”) (cognate with Icelandic skáld (“poet, scop”)), as skalds sometimes wrote insulting poems, though another view is that the Norse and English words are cognate to each other and to Old High German skeltan, Old Dutch skeldan, all inherited from Proto-Germanic *skeldaną (“scold”).

A ſclaunderous tunge, a tunge of a ſkolde,
Worketh more miſchiefe than can be tolde;
That, if I wiſt not to be controlde,
Yet ſomwhat to ſay I dare well be bolde,

c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.

How ſome delite for to lye, thycke and threfolde.

“Well, I won’t have it, and that’s enough.” She laughed, for her voice had a little been that of the professional scold.

1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part II, XVIII [Uniform ed., p. 196]

Consider the contrast with the United States, where deficit scolds dominated Beltway discourse in 2010–2011 but never managed to dictate the terms of political debate […]

2015 September 14, Paul Krugman, “Labour's dead centre [print version: International New York Times, 15 September 2015, p. 9]”, in The New York Times:

A person who habitually scolds, in particular a troublesome and angry woman.


hemidemisemiquaver

But the young gentleman […] walked down the dark side of the street in peals of laughter, making, ever and anon, little breathless remarks to himself, which his colleague could not hear, but which seemed to have the effect of setting him off again into new hemi-demi-semiquavers and roars of laughter […]

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

(music) A sixty-fourth note, drawn as a crotchet with four tails.


demisemiquaver

(music) A thirty-second note, drawn as a crotchet with three tails.


semiquaver

(music) A sixteenth note, drawn as a crotchet with two tails.


maa

en-verb

maa (third-person singular simple present maas, present participle maaing, simple past and past participle maaed)

maas (present singular third-person)
maaing (participle present)
maaed (participle past)
maaed (past)

[mæ̰ː ~ mæˀæˀæ]

Now it's even worse! The goat maas all the time. And the smell...

1992, Josepha Sherman, A Sampler of Jewish-American Folklore, page 126:

Now the twins started to cry and Malachy clung to Mam, sobbing. The cows mooed, the sheep maaed […]


transposition

en-noun

transposition (countable and uncountable, plural transpositions)

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

From Middle French transposition, from Medieval Latin transpositio.

(music) A shift of a piece of music to a different musical key by adjusting all the notes of the work equally either up or down in pitch.


exotica

(music) A genre of American music from the 1950s, characterized by an evocative musical focus on the islands of the South Pacific.


inversion

inversion (countable and uncountable, plural inversions)

/ɪnˈvɜː.ʃən/

(music) The reversal of an interval; the move of one pitch in an interval up or down an octave.

(music) The position of a chord which has a note other than the root as its bass note.

(music) The flipping of a melody or contrapuntal line so that high notes become low and vice versa; the reversal of a pitch contour.


semibreve

From Italian semibreve, ultimately from Latin semi- (“half”) and Latin brevis (“short”).

(music, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A musical note four beats long in 4/4 time; a whole note (US)

โน้ตตัวกลม (not-tua-klom, literally “round body note”)


torch

The noun is derived from Middle English torch, torche (“large candle; lighted stick; (figurative) sunbeam”), from Old French torche, torque (“torch; bundle of (twisted) straw”) (modern French torche); further etymology uncertain, probably from Vulgar Latin *torca (“coiled object”) (referring to a torch made from twisted plant fibres dipped in a flammable substance such as pitch), from Latin torqua, a variant of torquis (“collar of twisted metal, torque; wreath”), from torqueō (“to twist, wind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”).
Sense 2.3 (Verbascum thapsus) is either due to the plant’s spike of yellow flowers, or because its leaves and stalks were used to make torches (noun sense 1). Sense 3.2 (“precious cause, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others”) is derived from Latin lampada trādere, from Ancient Greek λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι (lampáda paradidónai, “to hand over the torch”), a reference to the torch race held at various festivals such as the Panathenaic Games in Ancient Greece, which involved a relay where a torch was passed from one runner to another.
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι

sueo'

stick of wood, etc., with one end soaked in a flammable substance and set on fire; similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material

Eleven days before the start of the [modern Olympic] Games, a flaming torch is ignited by the sun in Olympia at the ruins of the ancient Temple of Zeus. With that flame, relay runners lighted torches one from the other and carry it to the opening of the Games. Ever since 1936, the Summer Olympics has had its fire-font lit by a relay torch ignited at Olympia.

1984 June–July, Frances A. Harmon, “The Olympic Games—for Good and All”, in John H[arold] Johnson, editor, Ebony Jr!, volume 12, number 2, Chicago, Ill.: Johnson Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18, column 2:

The degradation of the [Olympic] torch worldwide—it had to be snuffed out more than once to protect it from protesters—even provoked angry Chinese students to mobilise "150 strong and energetic runners" to defend it in Australia, raising the spectre of violence.

2008 April 22–28, Rohit Mahajan, Ashish Kumar Sen, “Ah, the Human Race”, in Vinod Mehta, editor, Outlook: The Weekly Newsmagazine, New Delhi: Maheshwer Peri on behalf of Outlook Publishing, →OCLC, page 48:

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch, characterised by its sparkling champaign^([sic – meaning champagne]) colour and unique design, represents the spirit of the Games. […] With its gentle curves, the torch represents a sense of peace and solidarity. It stands as a symbol of the Paralympic Games' mission to promote harmony and unity.

2024 August 18 (last accessed), “Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch: A Symbol of Equality, Water, and Peacefulness”, in Paralympic.org, Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia: International Paralympic Committee, archived from the original on 2024-08-18:

A stick of wood or plant fibres twisted together, with one end soaked in a flammable substance such as resin or tallow and set on fire, which is held in the hand, put into a wall bracket, or stuck into the ground, and used chiefly as a light source.

(by extension) A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end.

Ernst slipped and dropped his torch on the flagstones, shattering the bulb and plunging us into darkness.

We were too excited to return to the camp, but must make our first exploration at once. Lord John had an electric torch in his knapsack, and this had to serve us as light.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘Who could have Foreseen it?’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 140:

I want you to send two unarmed policemen into the tunnel, carrying the money, and waving a torch in front of them.

1974 October 2, Peter Stone, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, spoken by Blue (Robert Shaw), Culver City, Calif.: United Artists, →OCLC:

[L]ook at the pupils [of the eyes], noting the shape, relative sizes and any associated ptosis. Use a pocket torch and shine the light from the side to gauge the reaction of the pupils to light.

1988, Nicholas Joseph Tailey, Simon O’Connor, “The Nervous System”, in Clinical Examination: A Guide to Physical Diagnosis, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Scientific Publications, published 1989, →ISBN, page 352:

If you can be bothered to carry them, it is a good idea to bring a torch (flashlight) and maybe binoculars for wildlife spotting.

1999, Natalie Kruger, “Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef”, in Natalie Kruger, Marc Llewellyn, edited by Suzanne Roe Jannetta, Frommer’s 99: Australia, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan Travel, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 398:

The island has only one road and relatively few cars. There are no streetlights so you'll need to bring a torch with you, or buy one from Joy's Shop, if you want to venture out at night.

1999 August, Margo Daly, Anne Dehne, David Leffman, Chris Scott [et al.], “New South Wales and ACT”, in Kieran Falconer, Harriet Sharkey, editors, Australia: The Rough Guide, 4th edition, London: Rough Guides, →ISBN, part 2 (The Guide), page 289:

(by extension, Commonwealth) In full electric torch: synonym of flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”)

The mob of angry villagers carried torches and pitchforks to the vampire’s castle.

Enter at one doore Æneas, at another Paris, Deiphobus, Antemor [i.e., Antenor], Diomed [i.e., Diomedes] vvith torches.

c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], signature [G4], recto:

[A]mongſt the ancients there vvas Amor Lethes [Love Dies], hee tooke burning torches, and extinguiſhed them in the riuer, his ſtatua vvas to be ſeene in the Temple of Venus Eiuſina, of vvhich Ovid makes mention, and ſaith that all louers of olde vvent thither a pilgrimate, that vvould be rid of their loue pangs.

1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Philters Magicall and Poeticall Cures”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 2, member 5, subsection 4, page 652:

[F]or this vile woman was I about to commit to danger the lives of so many noble friends—shake the foundation of a lawful throne—carry the sword and torch through the bosom of a peaceful land— […]

1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 210:

In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see; who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 77:

He remembered […] how he heard Mrs Coldfield's feet and saw the light of the torch approaching along the upper hall and how she came and passed him, […]

1936, William Faulkner, chapter IX, in Absalom, Absalom!, New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, published 1951, →OCLC, page 370:

The large lagoon-style pool has a sandy beach and swim-up bar. Coconut palms with white-painted trunks surround the lagoon, which is lit by flaming torches at night.

2005, Lee Mylne, “Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef”, in Marc Llewellyn, Lee Mylne, edited by Marie Morris, Frommer’s Australia 2005, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 296:

(science fiction) Short for torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).


torch

en-verb

torch (third-person singular simple present torches, present participle torching, simple past and past participle torched)

torches (present singular third-person)
torching (participle present)
torched (participle past)
torched (past)

cog

λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι

(science fiction) To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).

to travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive

matkustaa fuusiolla toimivalla avaruusaluksella


candle

Sranan Tongo: kandra

→ Chichewa: kandulo

From Middle English candel, from Old English candel (“candle”), borrowed from Latin candēla (“candle”), from Latin candeō (“be white, bright, shining”, verb); see candid. Doublet of candela and chandelle.

der

better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness

better to light one candle than to curse the darkness

better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness

the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long

light a candle

blow out the candles on the birthday cake

snuff out the candle

A light source consisting of a wick embedded in a solid, flammable substance such as wax, tallow, or paraffin.


trigon

en-noun

trigon (countable and uncountable, plural trigons)

From Ancient Greek τρίγωνον (trígōnon, “triangle”), neuter substantive of τρίγωνος (trígōnos, “three-sided”), from τρεῖς (treîs, “three”) + γωνία (gōnía, “bend, angle”). Equivalent to tri- + -gon. Doublet of trigone and trigonon.

der

(countable, historical, music) An ancient triangular harp of Oriental origin which had four strings and was often used for banquet music. Also called sabbeka, sackbut, sambuca.


deluge

From Middle English deluge, from Old French deluge, alteration of earlier deluvie, from Latin dīluvium, from dīluō (“wash away”). Doublet of diluvium.

deluge system, deluge gun, deluge set

2002, NAVEDTRA, Gunner's Mate 14324A
In the event of a restrained firing or canister overtemperature condition, the deluge system sprays cooling water within the canister until the overtemperature condition no longer exists.

On June 8, 2005, a decomposition reaction occurred in the manifold system on a mobile acetylene trailer at Western's Bellville plant that caused the fusible plugs of five cylinders to melt, releasing the products of decomposition. The materials released did not ignite before the deluge system was manually activated, controlling the incident. The incident started when a mobile acetylene trailer, with the cylinder valves open and the manifold fully pressurized, was moved into another bay and the block valve was opened, which initiated an acetylene decomposition reaction.

2009 January 13, National Transportation Safety Board, “Earlier Western Accidents”, in Special Investigation Report: Mobile Acetylene Trailer Accidents: Fire During Unloading in Dallas, Texas, July 25, 2007; Fire During Unloading in The Woodlands, Texas, August 7, 2007; and Overturn and Fire in East New Orleans, Louisiana, October 20, 2007, archived from the original on 2022-01-20, page 18:

(firefighting) A system for flooding or drenching a space, container, or area with water in an emergency to prevent or extinguish a fire.


REM

Clippings
* (remaining time): Clipping of remaining.
* (remark): Clipping of remark.


grime

From Middle English grim (“dirt or soot covering the face”), from a specialized note of Old English grīma (“mask”), from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask”).
Possibly influenced by dialectal Dutch grijmsel, Middle Dutch grime, Middle Low German greme (“dirt”), compare Danish grimet (“soiled, stripy”), Norwegian Bokmål grimete (“soiled, stripy”), Norwegian Nynorsk grimete (“soiled, stripy”).

cog

(music) A genre of urban music that emerged in London, England, in the early 2000s, primarily a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop.


accretion disk

(astrophysics) A structure formed by matter falling into a gravitational source such as a galaxy, black hole, or protostar.


cliff

Suppose a Person hath learnt to sing in the Treble Cliff only, and would sing Notes prick'd in the Tenor Cliff on the middle tine with F# […]


crotchet

/ˈkɹɑt͡ʃ.ɪt/

From Middle English crochet, from Old French crochet (“small hook”), from croc + -et (diminutive suffix), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”). The musical note was named so because of a small hook on its stem in black notation (in modern notation this hook is on the quaver/eighth note). Doublet of crochet, crocket, and croquet.

doublet

The crotchets and quavers are dancing up and down the stave like little black boys on a fence.

1920 August 27, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Wind Blows”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, pages 140–141:

(music) A musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.

โน้ตตัวดำ (not-tua-dam, literally “black body note”)


whine

From Middle English whynen, hwinen, whinen, from Old English hwīnan (“to rush, to whizz, to squeal, to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *hwīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Old Norse hvína, whence Icelandic hvína, Norwegian Nynorsk kvina, Swedish vina, and Danish hvine. Despite the strong similarity in sound and meaning, not related with German weinen, Dutch wenen, from Proto-Germanic *wainōną (for which see dialectal English ween (“to weep, lament”)).

der

The 18-year-old [Justin] Bieber can’t quite pull off the “adult” thing just yet: His voice may have dropped a bit since the days of “Baby,” but it still mostly registers as “angelic,” and veers toward a pubescent whine at times.

2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-08-06:

A long-drawn, high-pitched complaining cry or sound.


whine

en-verb

whine (third-person singular simple present whines, present participle whining, simple past and past participle whined)

whines (present singular third-person)
whining (participle present)
whined (participle past)
whined (past)
whine (infinitive)

(intransitive) To utter a high-pitched cry.

The jet engines whined at take off.

(intransitive) To make a sound resembling such a cry.

[S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […]

1765, Catherine Jemmat, The Memoirs of Mrs. Catherine Jemmat, Daughter of the Late Admiral Yeo, of Plymouth. Written by Herself, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Printed for the author, at Charing-Cross, →OCLC, page 145:

Feel awfully about Scott... I always knew he couldn't think—he never could—but he had a marvelous talent and the thing is to use it—not whine in public.

1936 Feb. 15, Ernest Hemingway, letter to Maxwell Perkins

(intransitive) To complain or protest with a whine or as if with a whine.

хленча

to complain or protest with a whine or as if with a whine

The jet whined into the air.

The wind whined and moaned through the trees.

(intransitive) To move with a whining sound.


minim

(music) A half note, drawn as a semibreve with a stem.

โน้ตตัวขาว (not-tua-khao, literally “white body note”)


ritardando

Borrowed from Italian ritardando, gerund of ritardare (“to delay, to slow down”).

(music) Gradually decelerating the tempo of a piece of music, especially at the end of the piece.


ritardando

(music) Having a gradually decelerating tempo.


ritardando

en-noun

ritardando (plural ritardandos or ritardandi)

ritardandos (plural)
ritardandi (plural)

(music) An instance of gradually decelerating the tempo of a piece of music.


coda

Borrowed from Italian coda (literally “tail”), from Latin cauda. Doublet of queue.

(music) A passage that brings a movement or piece to a conclusion through prolongation.


large

large (countable and uncountable, plural larges)

From Middle English large, from Old French large, from Latin larga, feminine of largus (“abundant, plentiful, copious, large, much”), of uncertain ultimate origin; see there for more. Mostly displaced Middle English stoor, stour (“large, great”) (from Old English stōr) and muchel (“large, great”) (from Old English myċel).

cog

(music, obsolete) An old musical note, equal to two longas, four breves, or eight semibreves.


step

From Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (“to step, go, proceed, advance”), stepe (“step”), from Proto-West Germanic *stappjan, from Proto-Germanic *stapjaną (“to step”), *stapiz (“step”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“to support, stomp, curse, be amazed”).
Cognate with West Frisian stappe (“to step”), North Frisian stape (“to walk, trudge”), Dutch stappen (“to step, walk”), Walloon steper (“to walk away, leave”), German stapfen (“to trudge, stomp, plod”) and further to Slavic Polish stąpać (“to stomp, stamp, step, tread”), Russian ступать (stupatʹ) and Polish stopień (“step, stair, rung, degree”), Russian степень (stepenʹ). Related to stamp, stomp.

cog

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

Usage note: The word tone is often used as the name of this interval; but there is evident incongruity in using tone for indicating the interval between tones. As the word scale is derived from the Italian scala, a ladder, the intervals may well be called steps.

(music) The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale.

askel

music: interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale


toaster

→ French: toasteur

→ German: Toaster

→ Hebrew: טוסטר

ja-r

トースター (tōsutā)

→ Japanese: トースター (tōsutā)

→ Korean: 토스터 (toseuteo)

→ Polish: toster

→ Russian: то́стер (tóstɛr)

From toast + -er (agent noun suffix) or -er (patient suffix).

(music, informal, derogatory) An electronic organ, especially a crude one that uses analog technology.

(music) a DJ who accompanies reggae with improvised rhythmic speech.


equal

en-adj

equal (not generally comparable, comparative more equal, superlative most equal)

more equal (comparative)
most equal (superlative)

From Middle English equal, from Latin aequālis. Doublet of aequalis and egal.

(music) Intended for voices of one kind only, either all male or all female; not mixed.

mies-

music: intended for voices of one kind only, either all male or all female


theme

-iːmi (for the sense dealing with the Byzantine empire only)

From Middle English teme, from Old French teme, tesme (French thème), from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma), from τίθημι (títhēmi, “I put, place”), reduplicative from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do”) (whence also English do). Doublet of thema.

Theme

computing: collection of color schemes, sounds, artwork etc.

(music) The main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.


on fire

From Middle English on fier, on fijre, on fire, on fyire, on fyre.

If the wind picks up and the flames spread, the whole town could go on fire.


compositional grammar

en-noun

compositional grammar (plural compositional grammars)

(music) consciously employed musical grammar.


natural grammar

natural grammar (plural natural grammars)

(music) A musical grammar which arises spontaneously in a musical culture (as opposed to an artificial grammar).


stability conditions

Time-span and prolongational reductions depend on stability conditions.

(music) Pitch configurations, as considered "out of time".


prolongational reduction

prolongational reduction (countable and uncountable, plural prolongational reductions)

(music) The pattern, as perceived, of tension and relaxation among events in various levels of structure, projected from time-span reduction.


transformational rule

transformational rule (plural transformational rules)

(music) A rule that modifies a well-formed structure (in limited ways).


carrot

carrot (countable and uncountable, plural carrots)

→ Fijian: kareti

→ Malay: karot

→ Tagalog: karot

From Middle English karette and Middle French carotte, both from Latin carōta, from Ancient Greek καρωτόν (karōtón). Doublet of carotte and related to caraway. Displaced native Middle English more, from Old English more, moru (“edible root, parsnip, carrot”), related to German Möhre (“carrot”).
* Noun sense of "motivational tool" refers to carrot and stick.
* Verb sense in felt manufacture refers to the orange colour of drying furs.

(slang) A redhead; a ginger-haired person


shakuhachi

/ʃɑkuˈhɑt͡ʃiː/

Borrowed from Japanese 尺八 (しゃくはち, shakuhachi), from 尺 (t͡ɕʰiᴇk̚, an archaic measure of length approximately equal to 30 centimeters) + 八 (pˠɛt̚, “eight”), corresponding to the standard length of the instrument (approximately 55 centimeters).

bor+

Sampled shakuhachi sounds on the E-mu Emulator II were heard in the 1980s in TV ads and also appeared prominently in popular songs, as in the opening section of Peter Gabriel's 1986 “Sledgehammer,”[…]

2019, W. Anthony Sheppard, Extreme Exoticism: Japan in the American Musical Imagination, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 419:

(music) A Japanese flute which is tuned to a pentatonic scale and is end-blown like a recorder instead of being held transversely like the Western transverse flute.


light year

Some of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions were light years ahead of their time.

(only in plural, figurative, informal) A very long time.


nuke

Clipping of nuclear weapon. The verb is derived from the noun.

(colloquial) vessel running on nuclear power

Confronted with the threat of several nukes on the island, we soon realized that the Long Island Sound is being used as a massive cooling basin for nuclear reactors.

1979, Anna Gyorgy et al., “Atomic Power, Nuclear Plants”, in No Nukes: Everyone’s Guide to Nuclear Power (Black Rose Books; no. I.49), Montreal, Que.: Black Rose Books, →ISBN, page 406:

Nukes Don't Pollute

2002, Home Power - Issues 86-91, page 121:

He calculates that nukes might be needed to power energy-intensive “large scale co2 sequestration techniques” as well.

2010, Andrew Nikiforuk, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, page 155:

We've analyzed employee manifests at all nukes, LNG, and refineries in the United States for Middle Eastern profile matches.

nuclear power station
nuclear power station


toast

en-noun

toast (countable and uncountable, plural toasts)

→ Bulgarian: тост (tost)

→ Czech: toust, toast

→ Dutch: toost, toast

→ French: toast

→ Romanian: toast

→ German: Toast

→ Greek: τοστ (tost)

→ Hebrew: טוסט (tost)

→ Italian: toast

→ Japanese: トースト (tōsuto)

→ Korean: 토스트 (toseuteu)

→ Maori: tōhi

→ Macedonian: тост (tost)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: toast

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: toast

→ Polish: tost, toast

desctree

→ Russian: тост (tost)
→ Armenian: տոստ (tost)

→ Turkish: tost

→ Ukrainian: тост (tost)

→ Welsh: tost

From Middle English tost, from the verb tosten (see below).
The sense "a person who is honored with a drink and wishes for good health or prosperity," with the accompanying verb "to propose or drink to (a person) as a toast," first appears in print at the very end of the 17th century. The conventional assumption is that the use is metaphorical, "the name of a lady being supposed to flavour a drink like a spiced toast." This is pure speculation, however, as the origin of the sense remains obscure.

The metal frame survived the fire, but the plastic and rubber bits are toast.

(uncountable, slang, chiefly US) Something that that is irreparably damaged or used up, especially when destroyed by heat or fire; something which has been burnt to a crisp or incinerated.

(countable, music, slang, Jamaica) A type of extemporaneous narrative poem or rap.


toast

en-verb

toast (third-person singular simple present toasts, present participle toasting, simple past and past participle toasted)

toasts (present singular third-person)
toasting (participle present)
toasted (participle past)
toasted (past)

From Middle English tosten, from Old French toster (“to roast, grill”), from Latin tostus (“grilled, burnt”), from verb torreō (“to burn, grill”).

Toasting over a record does more than change the way that record is perceived by the audience: it creates a new piece of music with joint creative authorship, although the law does not support this characterization.

2014, Richard James Burgess, The History of Music Production, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 168:

(music, slang, Jamaica) To perform extemporaneous narrative poem or rap.


trichord

(music) any set of three different pitch classes


tetrachord

(music) Any set of four different pitch classes.

(music) A series of four sounds, forming a scale of two-and-a-half tones.


carol

From Middle English carole, from Old French carole, from Old Italian carola, from Medieval Latin choraula, a variant of choraulēs (“flute player accompanying a chorus dance”), from Ancient Greek χοραυλής (khoraulḗs, “one who accompanies a chorus on the flute”), from χορός (khorós, “choir; dance”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to enclose”) or *ǵʰoros) + αὐλός (aulós, “flute”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlos (“tube”)). Compare chorus, terpsichorean.

der

The carol, a combination of dance, music and song performed by a group, has a parallel history [to the mystery plays]. Although it existed earlier as a secular form – the round dance of which St Hugh's biographer was reminded by the shafts at Lincoln – it seems to have been turned to pious uses from about 1350.

2010, Stephen Medcalf, “On Reading Books from a Half-alien Culture”, in Brian Cummings, Gabriel Josipovici, editors, The Spirit of England: Selected Essays of Stephen Medcalf, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Legenda, Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge, →ISBN, page 87:

(historical) A round dance accompanied by singing.


drop

From Late Middle English droppe, Middle English drope (“small quantity of liquid; small or least amount of something; pendant jewel; dripping of a liquid; a shower; nasal flow, catarrh; speck, spot; blemish; disease causing spots on the skin”) [and other forms], from Old English dropa (“a drop”), from Proto-West Germanic *dropō (“drop (of liquid)”), from Proto-Germanic *drupô (“drop (of liquid)”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to crumble, grind”).

nb...

dropan, droupe, (Northern England) droipe

afval

small quantity of liquid, just large enough to hold its own round shape through surface tension

pisara

very small quantity of liquid, or of anything

pisara

that which hangs or resembles a liquid globule

pudotettu esine

(online gaming, video games) item dropped by a defeated enemy

aleneminen

decline in degree, quality, quantity, or rate

afgrond

distance through which something drops, or falls below a certain level

But musical ancestry aside, the influence to which [Justin] Bieber is most beholden is the current trends in pop music, which means Believe is loaded up with EDM [electronic dance music] 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).

Just as dubstep has grown in popularity and combined with many different genres, the drop has become a generalized type of which there are many individually varying instances, including dubstep bass-drop. As LA Times critic Randall Roberts notes, even good-girl tween pop idol Taylor Swift uses a drop in her Max-Martin-Produced track “I Knew You Were Trouble.”

2015, Robin James, Resilience & Melancholy, Zero Books, →ISBN:

(music) A point in a song, usually electronic music such as dubstep, house, trance, or trap, where there is a very noticeable and pleasing change in bass, tempo, and/or overall tone; a climax, a highlight.

droppi

point in a song where there is a very noticeable and pleasing change in bass, tempo, and/or overall tone — see also climax, highlight


drop

en-verb

drop (third-person singular simple present drops, present participle dropping, simple past and past participle dropped or (archaic) dropt)

drops (present singular third-person)
dropping (participle present)
dropped (participle past)
dropped (past)
dropt (archaic participle past)
dropt (archaic past)

From Middle English droppen, dropen (“to fall in drops, drip or trickle down; to scatter, sprinkle; to be covered with a liquid; to give off moisture; of an object: to drop, fall; of a living being: to fall to the ground”) [and other forms], from Old English dropian, droppian (“to drop”), from dropa (“a drop”) (see further at etymology 1) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns).

спадам

to decrease, diminish, or lessen in condition, degree, value, etc.

laskea

to move to a lower position; to allow to hang downwards — see also lower

laskea

to lower (a sound, a voice, etc.) in pitch or volume

The album Hip-Hop Xmas dropped in time for the holidays.

(intransitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) Of a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.: to enter public distribution.

ilmestyä

of a programme, software, music, etc.: to enter public distribution

(transitive) To lower (a sound, a voice, etc.) in pitch or volume.

(transitive, music) To tune (a guitar string, etc.) to a lower note.

They dropped the album Hip-Hop Xmas in time for the holidays.

That hacker has been threatening to drop my docs [i.e. publish my personal information].

(transitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) To release (a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.) to the public.

julkaista

to release (a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.) to the public

I love it when he drops his funky beats.

That guy can drop the bass like a monster.

To play (a portion of music) in the manner of a disc jockey.

soittaa

to play a portion of music in the manner of a disc jockey

Yo, I drop rhymes like nobody’s business.

(transitive, music)
To perform (rap music).


background radiation

en-noun

background radiation (usually uncountable, plural background radiations)

ionizing radiation that is naturally present in the environment.


harmony

harmony (countable and uncountable, plural harmonies)

hominy (non-rhotic, father-bother merger, weak vowel merger)

First attested in 1602. From Middle English armonye, from Old French harmonie/armonie, from Latin harmonia, from Ancient Greek ἁρμονία (harmonía, “joint, union, agreement, concord of sounds”), either from or cognate with ἁρμόζω (harmózō, “I fit together”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to join, fit, fix together”). Doublet of harmonia.

der

(music) Two or more notes played simultaneously to produce a chord.

和聲

music: two or more notes played simultaneously to produce a chord

I did not know anything more about music,only about finger exercises, difficult tasks, contradictions in the theory of harmony, and tedious piano lessons from a sarcastic teacher who saw in my […]

2012 December 21, Hermann Hesse, Gertrude: A Novel, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(music) The relationship between two distinct musical pitches (musical pitches being frequencies of vibration which produce audible sound) played simultaneously.


marimba

From Portuguese marimba, via a Bantu source, perhaps Kimbundu marimba (“xylophone”).

The default ringtone for your iPhone is a marimba sound, but if you'd like to change it, start at the Home screen, then tap on the Settings icon.

2009, Scott Kelby, Terry White, The iPhone Book, Third Edition (Covers iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch), Peachpit Press, →ISBN:

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music) A percussion instrument with African origins, similar to a xylophone with resonators, but much lower in range and darker in timbre.


mesto

Borrowed from Italian mesto and used as a tempo mark.


blanched almond

en-noun

blanched almond (countable and uncountable, plural blanched almonds)

blanched almond:

A subtle yellow shade or hue, like that of blanched almonds.


blanched almond

Of a subtle yellow shade or hue, like that of blanched almonds.


infinite

en-adj

infinite (comparative more infinite, superlative most infinite)

more infinite (comparative)
most infinite (superlative)

From Middle English infinite, from Old French infinit and Latin infīnītus, from in- (“not”) + fīnis (“end”) + the perfect passive participle ending -itus. Doublet of infinito. Displaced native Old English unġeendodlīċ.

(music) Capable of endless repetition; said of certain forms of the canon, also called perpetual fugues, constructed so that their ends lead to their beginnings.


mechanical

From Middle English mechanical, mechanicalle, mechanycalle, equivalent to mechanic + -al.

On the other hand I heard only recently of a modern marvel — an organ of two manuals and about sixteen or eighteen stops with adequate and modern mechanicals that the pastor assures me has not been touched by repairer or even by tuner in four years!

1914, Expositor and Current Anecdotes - Volume 16, page 353:

Some would like the smallest number of foot mechanicals and the greatest number of hand mechanicals; some would like to do away with the crescendo pedal; some would prefer less diapason foundation; others would want a predominance of salty reeds ;

1911, The New Music Review and Church Music Review:

Mechanicals within the organ need repair; the tonal resources and much of the voicing might well be expanded and updated.

1961, Thomas Scott Godfrey Burhrman, The American Organist - Volume 44, page 16:

(music) A stop on an organ that is operated by a hand or foot control rather than having to be manually set up in advance.


chromatic

chromatic (not generally comparable, comparative more chromatic, superlative most chromatic)

more chromatic (comparative)
most chromatic (superlative)

Borrowed from French chromatique (“chromatic”) or directly from its etymon Latin chrōmaticus, from Ancient Greek χρωματικός (khrōmatikós, “relating to colour; one of the three types of tetrachord in Greek music”), from χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour; pigment; chromatic scale in music; music”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to grind; to rub; to stroke; to remove”), perhaps in the sense of the grinding of pigments) + -τῐκός (-tikós, suffix forming adjectives); analysable as chroma + -tic.

der

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

(not comparable) Characterized or caused by, or relating to, colour or hue.

գունային

characterized or caused by, or relating to, colour or hue

(comparable) Brightly coloured; colourful, vivid.

Uses relating to colour
Brightly coloured; colourful, vivid.

(not comparable, optics) Having the capacity to separate spectral colours by refraction.

(Ancient Greece, historical) One of three types of tetrachord (the others being the diatonic and enharmonic), with an interval between half and four-fifths of the total interval of a tetrachord.

All the intervals of the scale that are a whole tone (step) distant from each other may be divided into half tones, (small steps), forming an entire scale of small intervals, (half tones), called the Chromatic Scale. […] All the tones (steps) of the scale being thus divided, either by means of the sharp or flat, we shall have for our Chromatic Scale thirteen intervals, of a half tone (small step) each.

1853, William B[atchelder] Bradbury, George F[rederick] Root, assisted by Thomas Hastings, T[imothy] B. Mason, “The Singing Class”, in The Shawm: Library of Church Music: […], New York, N.Y.: Mason Brothers, […], →OCLC, lesson VIII (Dynamics (Power of Sounds)), page 23, column 1:

Relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage of music is written.

cromàtic

relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage of music is written


girl group

Coordinate term: boy group

A pop group made up of (usually attractive) young women.


morendo

Borrowed from Italian morendo, present participle of morire (“to die”).


morendo

(music) A portion of music that fades away in volume or tempo.


boy band

(music) A pop group whose members are all (usually attractive) young men.

男子組合

pop group whose members are all young men


allegrissimo

Borrow from Italian allegrissimo, the superlative form of allegro.

(music) A direction in musical notation indicating that the piece should be played very fast and lively.


dolente

Borrowed from Italian dolente, present participle of dolere (“to hurt, regret”).

(music) Sorrowfully, as if the player were mourning.


portato

Borrowed from Italian portato, past participle of portare (“to bring, carry, bear”), from Latin portō.

(music) In an unconnected manner, as opposed to legato, but not as short as staccato.


portato

(music) A mark in music notation indicating this style of playing.


pop group

Despite their artistic ambitions, they were never able to escape the label of a pop group.

A musical group specializing in pop music.


alleluia

From Latin allēlūia, from Ancient Greek ἀλληλούϊα (allēloúïa), from Hebrew הַלְּלוּיָהּ (“Praise Jah!”).

הַלְּלוּיָהּ

Down at the corner, carols bugled steamily from a mission soup-kitchen. There's no escape from it, he thought. Turn on the radio, and its alleluia licks you with tremolo tongue.

1953 December, Hortense Calisher, “A Christmas Carillon: A Story”, in John Fischer, editor, Harper’s Magazine, volume 207, number 1243, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38, column 1:

(music) A choral composition incorporating alleluia in its text.


prestissimo

/pɹɛˈstɪsɪməʊ/

(music) Extremely fast, the fastest possible tempo.


prestissimo

/pɹɛˈstɪsɪməʊ/

A delegation of Norman gentry boldly requesting in 1771 the calling of the Normandy estates (which had been abolished in 1666) was despatched prestissimo to the Bastille.

2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 286:


pop music

en-noun

pop music (usually uncountable, plural pop musics)

Pop music, despite its commercial focus, includes many artistic gems.

Music intended for or accepted by a wide audience, usually with a commercial basis and distinguished from other genres such as classical music and folk music, and nowadays also from rock music.

مُوسِيقَى البوب

music intended for or accepted by a wide audience — see also popular music


triad

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin triad-, stem of trias (“three, triad”), from Ancient Greek τριάς (triás).
Sense 3 (“branch of a Chinese underground criminal society”) is due to the word being applied by the British authorities to underground society in Hong Kong based on the geometry of the Chinese character, derived from a name used by some of those societies, 三合會／三合会 (sānhéhuì, “Three Harmonies Society”), referring to the union between heaven, earth, and humanity.

(music) A chord consisting of a root tone, the tone two degrees higher, and the tone four degrees higher in a given scale OR any chord with three notes.


moderato

Borrowed from Italian moderato. Doublet of moderate.

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


firewoman

A female fireman (person who heats a steam engine).


cantabile

Borrowed from Italian cantabile (“singable, capable being sung”), derived from cantare (“to sing”). See also Latin cantabilis (“worthy to be sung”).

bor

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a lyrical manner


cantabile

en-adv

cantabile (comparative more cantabile, superlative most cantabile)

more cantabile (comparative)
most cantabile (superlative)

(music) Played in this style; singingly, lyrically


cantabile

(music) Describing a passage having this mark; singable, lyrical


ostinato

From Italian ostinato (“stubborn”). Doublet of obstinate.

The piece moves in alluring spans of swirling figures, jagged lines and pointillistic outbursts, often prodded forward by ostinatos in the perky piano.

2009 January 26, Anthony Tommasini, “Pricking Up the Ears to Listen for Echoes of California”, in New York Times:

(music) A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment.

ostinato

music: figure that is repeated over and over


appoggiatura

en-noun

appoggiatura (plural appoggiaturas or appoggiature)

appoggiaturas (plural)
appoggiature (plural)

/ə.ˌpɒ.d͡ʒə.ˈtʊɹ.ə/

Borrowed from Italian appoggiatura, derived from appoggiare (“to lean”).

The following Adagietto was like a long, melting appoggiatura composed of smaller dying falls and languid resolutions.

(music) A type of musical ornament, falling on the beat, which often creates a suspension and subtracts for itself half the time value of the principal note which follows.

appoggiatura

a type of musical ornament which creates a suspension


complement

complement (countable and uncountable, plural complements)

From Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“I fill up, I complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun.

der

(music) An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.


fireman

By February 1944 there were over two thousand women employed at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company [...]. There were also female firemen on almost every shipyard crane [...].

1993, Nancy F. Cott, editor, History of Women in the United States. Historical Articles on Women's Lives and Activities. 15. Women and War, page 432:

For firemen everywhere rescuing cats from trees has been as much a part of the job as tackling blazing buildings.

30 June 2019, Don't call us for cats stuck in trees', Fire Brigade warns (Daily Telegraph)

(firefighting) Someone (especially one who is male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire.


arco

From Italian arco (“bow”). Doublet of arch and arc.

(music) A note in string instrument musical notation indicating that the bow is to be used in the usual way, usually following a passage that is played pizzicato.


period

frequency

antonym(s) of “length of time of recurrence of a periodic phenomenon”

/ˈpɪə.ɹɪ.əd/

From Middle English periode, from Middle French periode, from Medieval Latin periodus, from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “circuit, an interval of time, path around”), from περί- (perí-, “around”) + ὁδός (hodós, “way”). Displaced native Middle English tide (“interval, period, season”), from Old English tīd (“time, period, season”), as well as Middle English elde (“age, period”), from Old English ieldu (“age, period of time”).

periudhë

history: period of time seen as coherent entity

periodike

length of time during which something repeats

(music) Two phrases (an antecedent and a consequent phrase).


radiation

en-noun

radiation (countable and uncountable, plural radiations)

/ˌɹæɪ.diˈæɪ.ʃən/

Borrowed from Latin radiatio, radiationis. By surface analysis, radiate + -ion.

It's Christmas at ground zero / And if the radiation level's OK / I'll go out with you / To see all the new / Mutations on New Year's Day

1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics and music), “Christmas at Ground Zero”, in Polka Party!:


diminuendo

(music) A dynamic mark directing that a passage is to be played gradually more softly


diminuendo

en-adv

diminuendo (comparative more diminuendo, superlative most diminuendo)

more diminuendo (comparative)
most diminuendo (superlative)


diminuendo

(music) describing a passage having this mark


single

→ Dutch: single

→ Finnish: sinkku

→ German: Single

→ Indonesian: singel

→ Japanese: シングル (shinguru)

→ Polish: singiel

From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.

(music) A 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B.

The Offspring released four singles from their most recent album.

(music) A popular song released and sold (on any format) nominally on its own though usually having at least one extra track.


ocarina

Borrowed from Italian ocarina (literally “little goose”), due to the musical instrument's resemblance to the animal.

bor

(music) A woodwind musical instrument that is closed at both sides to produce an enclosed space, and punctured with finger holes.


contrabassoon

Semi-anglicized version of Italian contrafagotto, probably following the model of the English word contrabass (which derives from Italian contrabbasso).

(music) A larger version of the bassoon sounding one octave lower, having a technique similar to the bassoon but offers more resistance in every way.


fortissimo

He claims he was doing no more than repeating the standard nationalist account. So he was, but he was also repeating that passionate liberal critique which had resounded, often fortissimo, in British debate when Indian nationalism was still a half-formed dream.

2017 September 7, Ferdinand Mount, “Umbrageousness”, in London Review of Books:

(music) Indicating that the piece is played very loud.


fortissimo

en-noun

fortissimo (plural fortissimos or fortissimi)

fortissimos (plural)
fortissimi (plural)

(music) The dynamic sign indicating that the piece should be played fortissimo. Abbreviation: ff.


glissando

glissando (plural glissandi or glissandos or glissandoes)

glissandi (plural)
glissandos (plural)
glissandoes (plural)

(music) Either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another ("true" glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another ("effective" glissando).


glissando

en-verb

glissando (third-person singular simple present glissandos, present participle glissandoing, simple past and past participle glissandoed)

glissandos (present singular third-person)
glissandoing (participle present)
glissandoed (participle past)
glissandoed (past)

(music) To play with a glissando or sliding effect.


cover version

Coordinate term: (motion pictures) remake

(music) A version of a song that is a new performance or rerecording of that song by a different artist.


contrabass

From Italian contrabbasso, from contra (“against”) + basso (“low”).


cuatro

From Spanish cuatro. Doublet of four and quatre.

Any of several stringed instruments of Latino origin; a Venezuelan ukulele-like instrument with four strings; a Puerto Rican violin-like instrument with ten strings in five courses (most commonly).


dynamics

(music) The volume with which music is to be performed, denoted by such terms as piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, or forte.


trill

From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.

(music) A rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it as an ornament; in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.

(phonetics) A type of consonantal sound that is produced by vibrations of the tongue against the place of articulation: for example, Spanish ⟨rr⟩, /r/.


contralto

en-noun

contralto (plural contraltos or contralti)

/kɒnˈtɹɑːltəʊ/

Contraction of contratenor alto, from Latin contratenor altus.

Out in the yard a womanʼs hoarse contralto intoned a hymn.

1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 68:

(music) The lowest female voice or voice part, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. The terms contralto and alto refer to a similar musical pitch, but among singers, the term contralto is reserved for female singers; the equivalent male form is counter-tenor. Originally the contratenor altus was a high countermelody sung against the tenor or main melody.


major scale

{c' d' e' f' g' a' b' c}

In the key of C Major, the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C form a major scale

(music) One of the diatonic scales; a group of notes or musical pitches in a particular pattern, used to make melodies. The pattern for a major scale is: tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone - tone - semitone.


staccato

Borrowed from Italian staccato (“detached, disconnected”), past participle of staccare (“to detach, separate”), aphetic variant of distaccare (“to separate, detach”), from Middle French destacher (“to detach”), from Old French destachier (“to detach”), from des- + atachier (“to attach”), alteration of estachier (“to fasten with or to a stake, lay claim to”), from estache (“a stake”), from Low Frankish *stakkā (“stake”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz, *stakô (“stick, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“stick, stake”). Akin to Old High German stecko (“post”) (German Stecken (“stick”)), Old Saxon stekko (“stake”), Old Norse stakkr (“hay stack, heap”), Old English staca (“stake”). More at stake.

der

(music) An articulation marking directing that a note or passage of notes are to be played in an abruptly disconnected manner, with each note sounding for a very short duration, and a short break lasting until the sounding of the next note; as opposed to legato. Staccato is indicated by a dot directly above or below the notehead.


staccato

en-adv

staccato (comparative more staccato, superlative most staccato)

more staccato (comparative)
most staccato (superlative)

Now, play the same passage very staccato.


staccato

(music) Describing a passage having this mark.


baritone

From Italian baritono, from Ancient Greek βαρύτονος (barútonos), from βαρύς (barús, “heavy”) + τόνος (tónos, “tone”). Doublet of baryton and barytone.

The musical range between tenor and bass.

A person, instrument, or group that performs in the range between tenor and bass.


pianissimo

pianissimo (comparative more pianissimo, superlative most pianissimo)

more pianissimo (comparative)
most pianissimo (superlative)


crescendo

en-noun

crescendo (plural crescendos or crescendi or crescendoes)

crescendos (plural)
crescendi (plural)
crescendoes (plural)

climax

antonym(s) of “the climax of a gradual increase”

/kɹɪˈʃɛn.dəʊ/

/kɹəˈʃɛn.dəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).

(music) An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ), by musicians called a hairpin.

кресчендо

music: instruction to play gradually more loudly


crescendo

/kɹɪˈʃɛn.dəʊ/

/kɹəˈʃɛn.dəʊ/

(music) Gradually increasing in force or loudness.


sol-fa

From sol and fa, two of the sung syllables.

a method of sight singing music that uses the syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (or so), la, and si (or ti) to represent the pitches of the scale, most commonly the major scale. The fixed-do system uses do for C, and the movable-do system uses do for whatever key the melody uses (thus B is do if the piece is in the key of B).


clef

Borrowed from Middle French clef, from Latin clāvis (“a key”).

(music) A symbol found on a musical staff that indicates the pitches represented by the lines and the spaces on the staff [from 16th c.]


diabolus

From Latin diabolus. Doublet of devil, diable, and diablo.


legato

Borrowed from Italian legato, past participle of legare (“to tie up, tie together, to bind”), learned borrowing from Latin ligō (“tie, bind”). Doublet of ligate.

Play this passage legato, not portato.

(music) Smoothly, in a connected manner.


legato

legato (countable and uncountable, plural legatos)

It is the coördination of the finger and hand as examplified in the proportionate speed of shifting according to the speed of the musical passage, which makes for evenness, continuity, smoothness, and ultimately, a fine legato.

1936, Edward E. Cramer, The Basis of Artistry in Violin Playing, page 49:

At the end of the prelude of Caprice V, there is a chromatic ascending and descending scale of forty-eight notes to be played in one bow in legato.

1979, Leslie Sheppard, Herbert R. Axelrod ·, Paganini, page 604:

Clementi, in his "Introduction to the art of playing the piano-forte" (1801) still had to advise pianists that : "the best general rule is to keep the keys of the instrument suppressed during the whole length of the note" (p.8) and "whenver the composer leaves the legato or staccato to the taste of the performer, the best rule is to use the legato in most cases and to reserve the staccato in order to give particular passages more spirit and to enhance the higher beauties of the legato."

1989, Siglind Bruhn, Guidelines to Piano Interpretation, page 97:

(music) A style of performance characterized by smoothly connected notes.

It schools the mind to watch for the legato all the time, as its absence at the organ is mor prominent than at the piano; but beyond this point it renders little assitance to the pianist.

1893, The Organ: Monthly Journal Devoted to the King of Instruments, page 198:

A good pianist, however, will make his audience believe that he is as capable of performing a legato as is a singer or violinist.

1958, József Gát, The Technique of Piano Playing, page 95:

Legatos are indicated in both notations by a bow between respective notes.

(music) A passage that is played legato.


allegretto

Borrowed from Italian allegretto, diminutive form of allegro.

(music) To be played rather fast and lively.


allegretto

It was only after the conception had received its fullest due, and the vast and complex organism its perfect development, that the certainty arose of an effect on human emotion comparable to that which was born when the opening bars of the allegretto in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony had been played for the first time, and the idea of them was from that moment alive and abroad in the world.

1880, Edmund Gurney, The Power of Sound, page 99:

allégretto

a movement that is to be played fast and lively


interval cycle

(music) That which unfolds a single recurrent interval in a series that closes with a return to the initial pitch class.


grace

grace (countable and uncountable, plural graces)

From Middle English grace, from Old French grace (modern French grâce), from Latin grātia (“kindness, favour, esteem”), from grātus (“pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- (“to praise, welcome”); compare grateful.
The word displaced the native Middle English held, hield (“grace”) (from Old English held, hyld (“grace”)), Middle English este (“grace, favour, pleasure”) (from Old English ēst (“grace, kindness, favour”)), Middle English athmede(n) (“grace”) (from Old English ēadmēdu (“grace”)), Middle English are, ore (“grace, mercy, honour”) (from Old English ār (“honour, grace, kindness, mercy”)).

cog

The Trill being the most usual Grace, is usually made in Closes, Cadences, and when on a long Note Exclamation or Passion is expressed, there the Trill is made in the latter part of such Note; but most usually upon binding Notes and such Notes as precede the closing Note.

1683, John Playford, An Introduction to the Skill of Musick: In Three Books, page 47:


grace

en-verb

grace (third-person singular simple present graces, present participle gracing, simple past and past participle graced)

graces (present singular third-person)
gracing (participle present)
graced (participle past)
graced (past)

For D and E, the G and A fingers are generally used for gracing, though E is sometimes more conveniently graced by F#.

1987, L. E. McCullough, The Complete Irish Tin Whistle Tutor (New & Revised), page 22:

(transitive, music) To add grace notes, cadenzas, etc., to.


chink

en-noun

chink (countable and uncountable, plural chinks)

She swallow, set the cup down like she want to break it, and the ice-blocks jump, make a chink sound.

2020, Abi Daré, The Girl With The Louding Voice, Sceptre, page 138:

(countable) A slight sound as of metal objects touching each other; a clink.


clave

From Spanish clave, from Latin clāvis (“key”). Doublet of clef.

(music) A characteristic pattern of beats, especially the 3-2 son clave.


aflame

en-adj

aflame (comparative more aflame, superlative most aflame)

more aflame (comparative)
most aflame (superlative)

In flames, on fire, flaming, with flames coming from it.


cover artist

(music) A musical artist who makes a cover version of a song.


band

Cantonese: band

→ German: Band (colloquial)

→ Japanese: バンド (bando)

→ Korean: 밴드 (baendeu)

Derived from Middle English band, from Old French bande, from Old Occitan banda (“regiment of troops”), perhaps from Frankish *bend, from Proto-Germanic *bandiz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie; bond, band”). Compare German Bande (“band”).

der

A group of musicians who perform together as an ensemble, usually for a professional recording artist.

A type of orchestra originally playing janissary music.


prima donna

en-noun

prima donna (plural prima donnas or prime donne or (nonstandard) primae donnae)

prima donnas (plural)
prime donne (plural)
primae donnae (nonstandard plural)

/ˌpɹiːməˈdɒnə/

From Italian prima donna (“first lady”).

The truth is, the inhabitants of that languid and luxurious city wanted some little variety; and the minister ... supported a favourite actress in the range of first-rate characters in the Opera—supported her against the united musical opinion of Naples. One night she sang worse than ever; and the next morning half the city rose up, demanding liberty and a new prima donna.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 255–256:

(opera) The principal female singer or the leading lady.


cheep

The short, high-pitched sound made by a small bird.


duet

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Italian duetto (“short musical composition for two voices”), diminutive of due (“two”).

der

(music) A musical composition in two parts, each performed by a single voice (singer, instrument or univoce ensemble).

дуе́т

a musical composition for two performers

(music) A song composed for and/or performed by a duo.


duet

en-verb

duet (third-person singular simple present duets, present participle duetting or dueting, simple past and past participle duetted or dueted)

duets (present singular third-person)
duetting (participle present)
dueting (participle present)
duetted (participle past)
duetted (past)
dueted (participle past)
dueted (past)

1975, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Belknap Press, p. 223,
Duetting species are typically monogamous.

In several dozen species of birds there has been found a phenomenon known as duetting, or antiphonal singing: the first part of a song is executed by one partner of a pair, then the other partner very promptly chimes in to sing the second part.

1986, Thomas A. Sebeok, chapter 7, in I Think I Am a Verb: More Contributions to the Doctrine of Signs, New York: Springer Science+Business, published 2013, page 87:

(intransitive, zoology, of pairs of animals) To communicate (warnings, mating calls, etc.) through song.

“My dear papa!” duetted the girls; but there was something in the husband and father's face, that told the three ladies it would be worse than useless to raise that question at present.

1864, Charles Whitehead, “The Stock-Broker”, in Heads of the People: or, Portraits of the English, volume I, London: Henry G. Bohn, page 23:

1884, Anonymous, A Speculation, Denver: D. M. Richards, Chapter 12, p. 50, https://books.google.ca/books?id=RsFQAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
“A bear!” exclaimed the Major, jumping up and coming forward.
“A bear!” dueted the Doctor and Right Rev., pressing hastily to the front.

(transitive) (of two people) To say at the same time, to chorus.


oak

en-noun

oak (countable and uncountable, plural oaks)

From Middle English ook, oke, aik, ake, from Old English āc (also as Old English ǣċ), from Proto-West Germanic *aik, from Proto-Germanic *aiks, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyǵ- (“oak”).
Cognates
From Proto-Germanic: Scots aik, West Frisian iik, Dutch eik, German Eiche, Danish eg, Norwegian eik, Swedish ek, Yiddish אייכנבוים (eykhnboym).
From Proto-Indo-European: Latin aesculus (“Durmast oak”), Lithuanian ąžuolas (“oak”), Albanian enjë (“juniper, yew”), Ancient Greek αἰγίλωψ (aigílōps, “Turkey oak”)).

cog

It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

Instead there were the white of aspens, streaks of branch and slender trunk glistening from the green of leaves, and the darker green of oaks, and through the middle of this forest, from wall to wall, ran a winding line of brilliant green which marked the course of cottonwoods and willows.

1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:

(countable) A deciduous tree with distinctive deeply lobed leaves, acorns, and notably strong wood, typically of England and northeastern North America, included in genus Quercus.

Any tree of other genera and species of trees resembling typical oaks of genus Quercus in some ways.

Toxicodendron, poison oak, in family Anacardiaceae


oak

en-verb

oak (third-person singular simple present oaks, present participle oaking, simple past and past participle oaked)

oaks (present singular third-person)
oaking (participle present)
oaked (participle past)
oaked (past)

(wine, transitive) To expose to oak in order for the oak to impart its flavors.


smut

en-noun

smut (countable and uncountable, plural smuts)

From Middle English smutten (“to defile, debase”), related to German Schmutz (“filth, dirt, smut”) and schmutzen (“to make dirty, stain”). Doublet of schmutz.
Compare also Old English smitta (“smear; blot; mark; stain; pollution”), Old English besmītan (“to besmut; defile; dirty; pollute; contaminate”).

cog

She reached it soon after half-past two. She found its gloomy nineteenth-century façade, black with the smuts of ninety years, a little daunting, and mounted its broad steps in some trepidation. But she rang the bell hard and knocked firmly.

1915, Edgar Jepson, “The Reluctant Duke”, in Happy Pollyooly: The Rich Little Poor Girl, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 135:

“You can rely on me!” Varya said, still more earnestly and enthusiastically, still leaning heavily on the counter, noticing briefly and forgetting at once that her bare elbow had crushed a stray smut from the Primus mender's booth.

1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by Harry Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 56:

“Do I have a smut on my nose, Mr. Donovan? You've been staring at me for a full minute. It's most disconcerting, you know.”

2012, Kasey Michaels, A Masquerade in the Moonlight:

He does not stand upon decency […] but will talk smut, though a priest and his mother be in the room.

1711 June 5 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, May 25, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 39; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

(uncountable) Obscene language; ribaldry; obscenity.

Any of a range of fungi, mostly Ustilaginomycetes, that cause plant disease in grasses, including cereal crops; the disease so caused.

(mining) Bad, soft coal containing earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults.


basso

From Italian basso, from Latin bassus (“short, low”). Doublet of base and bass.

(music) A bass singer, especially in opera.

(music) An instrumental part written for a bass instrument.

(music) The double bass, or contrabasso.


campfire

[ˈkʰɛə̯mpˌfaɪ̯ɚ]

Come, stack arms, Men! Pile on the rails; stir up the campfire bright; no matter if the canteen fails, we'll make a roaring night. Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o’er his eye askew, the shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true. The “Blue-Light Elder” knows ’em well; says he, “That’s Banks — he’s fond of shell; Lord save his soul! We’ll give him” — well, that’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
Silence! Ground arms! Kneel all! Caps off! Old Blue Light’s going to pray. Strangle the fool that dares to scoff: Attention! 'Tis his way. Appealing from his native sod in forma pauperis to God: “Lay bare thine arm, stretch forth thy rod! Amen!” That’s “Stonewall’s Way.”
He’s in the saddle now. Fall in! Steady, the whole brigade! Hill’s at the ford, cut off — we’ll win his way out, ball and blade! What matter if our shoes are worn? What matter if our feet are torn? “Quick step! We’re with him before the morn!” That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
The sun’s bright lances rout the mists of morning, and by George! Here’s Longstreet struggling in the lists, hemmed in an ugly gorge. Pope and his Yankees, whipped before, “Bay’nets and grape!” hear Stonewall roar; “Charge, Stuart! Pay off Ashby’s score!” in “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
Ah! Maiden, wait and watch and yearn for news of Stonewall’s band! Ah! Widow read with eyes that burn that ring upon thy hand. Ah! Wife, sew on, pray on, hope on! Thy life shall not be all forlorn. The foe had better ne’er been born that gets in “Stonewall’s Way.”

1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way

Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.

2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

A fire at a campground or on a camping trip, often used for cooking, to provide light and heat, to drive away bugs, and as a focal point for sitting around in the evening and talking, telling stories, and singing.


cantor

Borrowed from Latin cantor, agent noun from perfect passive participle cantus, from verb canere (“to sing”) + agent suffix -or. Doublet of chanter.

The cantor's place in church is on the right of the choir.

singer, especially someone who takes a special role of singing or song leading at a ceremony


program

→ Malay: program

→ Tok Pisin: program

/ˈpɹoʊˌɡɹæm/

/ˈpɹoːɡɹɑːm/

From French programme, from Late Latin programma (“a proclamation, edict”), from Ancient Greek πρόγραμμα (prógramma, “a written public notice, an edict”), from προγράφω (prográphō, “I set forth as a public notice”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + γράφω (gráphō, “I write”). Doublet of programma.

der

program playback
playing tracks in a custom order