hip-hop

(music) A form of popular and dance music featuring strong percussion and a powerful rhythm, usually accompanied by rapping.


violon

(music) A kind of organ stop producing a string-like sound.


belt

→ Afrikaans: belt

→ Assamese: বেল্ট (belto)

→ Bengali: বেল্ট (belṭo)

→ Dutch: belt

→ Hindi: बेल्ट (belṭ)

→ Irish: beilt

→ Japanese: ベルト (beruto)

→ Odia: ବେଲ୍ଟ୍ (belṭ)

→ Urdu: بیلٹ (belṭ)

→ Welsh: belt

From Middle English belt, from Old English belt (“belt, girdle”), from Proto-West Germanic *baltī̆, from Proto-Germanic *baltijaz (“girdle, belt”), from Latin balteus (“belt, sword-belt”), of Etruscan origin. Cognate with Scots belt (“belt”), Dutch belt, German Balz (“belt”), Danish bælte (“belt”), Swedish bälte (“belt, cincture, girdle, zone”) and Icelandic belti (“belt”).

cog

Both auditionees had great ranges but Diamond had the strong belt we really need for the finale.

As previously mentioned, there was unexpected behavior in laryngeal lowering for belt in several singers and unchanged laryngeal height for two, as well as stable opening or widening of the pharyngeal walls, which must be investigated further.

1999, Jeannette Lovetri, Susan Lesh, Peak Woo, “Preliminary Study on the Ability of Trained Singers to Control the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Laryngeal Musculature”, in Journal of Voice, volume 13, number 2, →DOI, page 226

In Clara's furious rant in Act II, Allsun broke out of her soprano into a belt, which made perfect sense in the moment.

2018, Norman Spivey, Mary Saunder Barton, Cross-Training in the Voice Studio: A Balancing Act, Plural Publishing, page 57

(music) A vocal tone produced by singing with chest voice above the break (or passaggio), in a range typically sung in head voice.


pop

en-noun

pop (countable and uncountable, plural pops)

From Middle English pop, poppe (“a blow; strike; buffet”) (> Middle English poppen (“to strike; thrust”, verb)), of onomatopoeic origin – used to describe the sound, or short, sharp actions. The physics sense is part of a facetious sequence "snap, crackle, pop", after the mascots of Rice Krispies cereal.

cog

(music) The pulling of a string away from the fretboard and releasing it so that it snaps back.


pop

en-verb

pop (third-person singular simple present pops, present participle popping, simple past and past participle popped)

pops (present singular third-person)
popping (participle present)
popped (participle past)
popped (past)

(music) To pull a string away from the fretboard and release it so that it snaps back.


la

From Glover's solmization, from Middle English la (“sixth degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”), Italian la in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the first syllable of Latin labiī (“lip's”) in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Paulus Deacon.

inh

(music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the sixth note of a major scale.


bari

A basic 17-piece jazz orchestra never uses more than one bari; to see four lined up in a row you'd usually have to go to an instrument repair shop.

2000 November 24, Neil Tesser, “Baritone Nation”, in Chicago Reader

(colloquial, music) A baritone saxophone


noise

en-noun

noise (countable and uncountable, plural noises)

From Middle English noyse, noise, from Old French noise (“a dispute, wrangle, strife, noise”), of uncertain origin. According to some, from Latin nausia, nausea (“disgust, nausea”); according to others, from Latin noxia (“hurt, harm, damage, injury”); but neither explanation is satisfactory in regard to either form or sense.

der

(music) A genre of rock music that uses static and other non-musical sounds, also influenced by art rock.

bruomuziko

genre of rock music using non-musical sounds


serpent

From Middle English serpent, from Old French serpent (“snake, serpent”), from Latin serpēns (“snake”), present active participle of serpere (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-Italic *serpō, from Proto-Indo-European *serp-. In this sense, displaced native Old English nǣdre (“snake, serpent”), whence Modern English adder.
Compare Sanskrit सर्प (sarpa, “snake”), which is a descendant of the same Proto-Indo-European word as English serpent.

(music) An obsolete wind instrument in the brass family, whose shape is suggestive of a snake (Wikipedia article).


turnaround

en-noun

turnaround (countable and uncountable, plural turnarounds)

(music) A cadence linking the end of a verse to the beginning of the next.

(music) The notation for the addition of a grace note above then below a given note.


se

(music) A type of ancient Chinese plucked zither.


permutation

permutation (countable and uncountable, plural permutations)

/ˌpɜː.mjʉˈtæɪ.ʃən/

[ˌpɜː.mjʉˈtæɪ.ʃn̩]

From Middle English permutacioun, permutacyoun, from Old French permutacïon, promutatïon and Medieval Latin permūtātiōnem, accusative of permūtātiō.
Morphologically permute + -ation

(music) A transformation of a set's prime form, by applying one or more of certain operations, specifically, transposition, inversion, and retrograde.

permutaatio

music: transformation of a set's prime form


maestoso

en-adv

maestoso (comparative more maestoso, superlative most maestoso)

more maestoso (comparative)
most maestoso (superlative)


maestoso

(music) A passage to be played majestically.


side

en-noun

side (countable and uncountable, plural sides)

table
From Middle English side, from Old English sīde (“side, flank”), from Proto-Germanic *sīdǭ (“side, flank, edge, shore”), from Proto-Indo-European *sēy- (“to send, throw, drop, sow, deposit”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Siede (“side”), West Frisian side (“side”), Dutch zijde, zij (“side”), German Low German Sied (“side”), German Seite (“side”), Danish and Norwegian side (“side”), Swedish sida (“side”).

der

know which side one's bread is buttered on

laugh out of the other side of one's mouth

not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

the apples on the other side of the wall are the sweetest

the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

the grass is always greener on the other side of the road

But Bechet chafed under even the loose discipline of the Ellington group, and left. Through these years he wandered, making only a few sides, at the moment when jazz records were beginning to flood onto the market.

1995, James Lincoln Collier, Jazz: The American Theme Song, page 41

(music) A recorded piece of music; a record, especially in jazz.

Some directors use full scripts (book); others use “sides,” which consist of one or two words of the cue and the subsequent full speech of the individual actor.

2010, Viola Spolin, Carol Sills, Theater Games for Rehearsal: A Director's Handbook, page 12

The short scenes in this book are particularly useful for audition workshops since audition sides are rarely longer than two pages.

(drama) A written monologue or part of a scene to be read by an actor at an audition.


glitch

en-noun

glitch (countable and uncountable, plural glitches)

Probably from Yiddish גליטש (glitsh), from German glitschig (“slippy”), from glitschen (“to slide, glide, slip”) + -ig (“-y”). Related to gleiten (“glide”). Cognate with French glisser (“to slip, slide, skid”).
Popularized in the 1960s, by the US space program. Attested in 1962 by American astronaut John Glenn, in reference to spikes in electrical current.

Coordinate term: noise

You can hear this in the contemporary genre of ‘glitch’, where artists like Oval and Fennesz make radically beautiful music using the snaps, crackles and pops emitted by damaged CDs, malfunctioning software, etc.

2011, Simon Reynolds, Bring the Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip Hop, Soft Skull Press, page 313

(uncountable, music) A genre of experimental electronic music since the 1990s, characterized by a deliberate use of sonic artifacts that would normally be viewed as unwanted noise.


length

length (countable and uncountable, plural lengths)

From Middle English lengthe, from Old English lengþ, lengþu, from Proto-West Germanic *langiþu, from Proto-Germanic *langiþō, equivalent to long + -th. Cognate with Scots lenth, lainth (“length”), Saterland Frisian Loangte (“length”), West Frisian lingte, langte (“length”), Dutch lengte (“length”), German Low German Längde, Längd, Längte, Längt (“length”), Danish længde (“length”), Swedish längd (“length”), Icelandic lengd (“length”).

[…] open your book of the play, which you have previously carefully perused, and at the same time marked with the proper calls, as thus: a length (or 42 lines) before an entrance, with a pen make a figure on the margin, […]

1890, Henry Austin, Address of Henry Austin Before the Second Nationalist Club, page 38

The boy was engaged to write out parts at a penny a length (42 lines) for Chetwood, who then charged the manager, […]

1960, J. L. Hodgkinson, Rex Pogson, The Early Manchester Theatre, page 45

(theater) A unit of script length, comprising 42 lines.


grid

Back-formation or clipping of griddle or gridiron.

Everything on the grid – all the backdrops and curtains, anything that has to move up and down from the fly-tower – has to be counterweighted.

(theater, television) An openwork ceiling above the stage or studio, used for affixing lights etc.


pizzicato

Borrowed from Italian pizzicato, past participle of pizzicare (“to pluck”).

(music) To be played by plucking the strings instead of using the bow.


pizzicato

pizzicato (plural pizzicatos or pizzicati)

The music is weaving / Haunting notes, pizzicato strings

“Trapeze” begins with pizzicatos that plunge into a circuslike cacophony with rapid trills, busy, clashing textures and motion in every direction.

2007 May 7, Vivien Schweitzer, “Players With No Conductor and, Increasingly, With No Fear”, in New York Times


aggregate

aggregate (countable and uncountable, plural aggregates)

/ˈæɡ.ɹɪ.ɡət/

From Latin aggregātus, perfect passive participle of aggregō (“I flock together”), from ag- (combining form of ad (“to, toward”)) + gregō (“I flock or group”), from grex (“flock”). Compare gregarious.

(music) The full chromatic scale of twelve equal tempered pitches.

the full chromatic or the set of all twelve pitch classes


dynamic

en-adj

dynamic (comparative more dynamic, superlative most dynamic)

more dynamic (comparative)
most dynamic (superlative)

static

antonym(s) of “Changing, active, in motion”

From French dynamique, from Ancient Greek δυναμικός (dunamikós, “powerful”), from δύναμις (dúnamis, “power”), from δύναμαι (dúnamai, “I am able”).

der

The dynamic marking in bar 40 is forte.

(music) Having to do with the volume of sound.


dynamic

If you pay attention to the dynamics as you play, it's a very moving piece.

(music) The varying loudness or volume of a song or the markings that indicate the loudness.

(music) A symbol in a musical score that indicates the desired level of volume.


forte

This passage is forte, then there's a diminuendo to mezzo piano.

(music) Loud. Used as a dynamic directive in sheet music in its abbreviated form, "f.", to indicate raising the volume of the music. (Abbreviated in musical notation with an f, the Unicode character 1D191.)


forte

The musicians played the passage forte.


tie

From Middle English teye (“cord, chain”), from Old English tēag, tēah (“cord, chain”), from Proto-West Germanic *taugu, from Proto-Germanic *taugō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dewk-. Compare Danish tov, Icelandic taug.

(music) A curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch denoting that they should be played as a single note with the combined length of both notes.

boog

curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch, combining their lengths


tie

en-verb

tie (third-person singular simple present ties, present participle tying, simple past and past participle tied)

ties (present singular third-person)
tying (participle present)
tied (participle past)
tied (past)

From Middle English teien, teiȝen, from Old English tīġan, tīeġan, from Proto-West Germanic *taugijan, from Proto-Germanic *taugijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to tug, draw”). Cognate with Icelandic teygja.

der

(music) To unite (musical notes) with a line or slur in the notation.


drone

From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), from Proto-West Germanic *drunnjan, from Proto-Germanic *drunjaną (“to drone, roar, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to roar, hum, drone”).
Cognate with Scots drune (“to drone, moan, complain”), Dutch dreunen (“to drone, boom, thud”), Low German drönen (“to drone, buzz, hum”), German dröhnen (“to roar, boom, rumble”), Danish drøne (“to roar, boom, peel out”), Swedish dröna (“to low, bellow, roar”), Icelandic drynja (“to roar”).

cog

(music) One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe.

(music, uncountable) A genre of music that uses repeated lengthy droning sounds.


score

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear.
For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.

der

(music) The written form of a musical composition showing all instrumental and vocal parts.

Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55


score

en-verb

score (third-person singular simple present scores, present participle scoring, simple past and past participle scored)

scores (present singular third-person)
scoring (participle present)
scored (participle past)
scored (past)
score (infinitive)

→⇒ Irish: scóráil

Godfather II is nothing like ready. It is not yet scored, and thus not mixed. There remain additional shooting, looping, editing.

1974, New York Magazine, volume 7, number 45, page 98

Robertson scored several of Scorsese’s films, including Raging Bull, Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman.

2023 August 10, Adrian Horton, “Robbie Robertson, member of the Band, dies at age 80”, in The Guardian, UK

(transitive, music, film) To provide (a film, etc.) with a musical score.

soitintaa

to provide a film, etc. with a musical score


half

New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

From Middle English half, halfe from Old English healf (“half”); as a noun, 'half', 'side', 'part', from Proto-West Germanic *halb, from Proto-Germanic *halbaz.
Cognates:
Akin to Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Dutch half, West Frisian heal, German halb, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian halv, Icelandic hálfur and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍃 (halbs). Compare halve, behalf.

(theater) A call reminding performers that the performance will begin in thirty minutes.


achromatic

en-adj

achromatic (comparative more achromatic, superlative most achromatic)

more achromatic (comparative)
most achromatic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἀχρωμάτιστος (akhrōmátistos, “uncolored”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + χρῶμα (khrôma, “color”), equivalent to a- + chromatic; compare French achromatique.

der

ἀχρωμάτιστος

(music) Having only the diatonic notes of the scale; not modified by accidentals.

диатоничен

music: having only the diatonic notes of the scale


si

From Middle English si (“seventh degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”), Italian si in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the initials of Latin Sāncte Iohannēs (“Saint John (the Baptist)”) in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Paulus Deacon; thus, also an initialism of Sāncte Iohannēs.

der

(music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the seventh note of a major scale.


manual

en-noun

manual (countable and uncountable, plural manuals)

From Middle English manuel, from Anglo-Norman manuel, Old French manual, from Latin manuālis, from manus (“hand”).

(countable) A device that is operated using the hands, or by a human rather than a machine.

(music) A keyboard for the hands on a harpsichord, organ, or other musical instrument.


cent

→ Cantonese: 仙 (sin¹)

→ Catalan: cent

→ French: cent

→ Georgian: ცენტი (cenṭi)

→ Hebrew: סנט (sent)

→ Italian: cent

→ Korean: 센트 (senteu)

→ Min Nan: 仙 (sian)

→ Polish: cent

→ Samoan: sene
→ English: sene

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: це̏нт

Latin script: cȅnt

→ Swahili: senti

→ Swedish: cent

Tok Pisin: sen
→ Rotokas: sieri

From Middle English cent, from Old French cent, from Latin centum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

(music) A hundredth of a semitone or half step.


course

→ Gulf Arabic: كورس (kōrs)

From Middle English cours, from Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from currō (“run”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of cursus and cour.

polku

path that something or someone moves along

the course of true love never did run smooth

(music) One or more strings on some musical instruments (such as the guitar, lute or vihuela): if multiple, then closely spaced, tuned in unison or octaves and intended to be played together.


turn

→ Japanese: ターン (tān)

Partly from Anglo-Norman *torn, from Latin turnus, from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos), and partly an action noun from the verb turn.

պտույտ

movement about an axis ending up with the same orientation

360° turn

movement about an axis returning to the original orientation

the first turn of the screw pays all debts

Between the pieces were individual turns, comic songs and dances.

1960, Theatre Notebook, volumes 14-16, page 122

(circus, theater, especially physical comedy) A short skit, act, or routine.

numero

circus, theatre: short skit, act, or routine


minor

en-adj

minor (comparative more minor, superlative most minor)

more minor (comparative)
most minor (superlative)

antonym(s) of

serious, grave, severe, dangerous, fatal, life-threatening, acute (informal)

From Middle English minor, menor, menour, etc., from Latin minor (“lesser; young; young person”) both directly and via Norman and Middle French menor, menour, etc. Doublet of minus but not mini-. Cognate with minister, minify, Minorca, Menshevik, and possibly minnow. Compare Latin minimum and minuō, Old High German minniro, Cornish minow.

der

The musical interval between C and E♭ is a minor third while C to E is a major third.

...a certaine Fraction, which may be the difference betwixt a Tone major and a Tone minor, which we nominate a Schism...

1653, Rene Descartes, translated by Lord Brouncker, Excellent Compendium of Musick, page 30

Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option, particularly:

(music) Smaller by a diatonic semitone than the equivalent major interval.

Beethoven's melancholy Moonlight Sonata is scored in the key of C# minor, using the diatonic scale C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, A, and B, but modulates throughout.

The minor mode of D is tender.

1772, William Jones, “On the Arts, Commonly Called Imitative”, in Poems..., page 209

The first chorus: ‘Behold the Lamb of God’, with its dark minor chords, brings threatening clouds over us.

1843 March, United States Magazine & Democratic Review, page 273

Modern harmonists are unwilling to acknowledge that the minor triad is less consonant than the major.

1880, Edmund Gurney, The Power of Sound, page 271

After harmony was introduced into music during the late Middle Ages, major and minor triads emerged as the principal chords. The major triad, as C E G, was regarded with especial favor, because it occurs naturally in the harmonic series, as on bugles, and can be expressed by the simple ratios, 4:5:6. A system of tuning for the diatonic scale known today as just intonation gained support in the 16th century, because its principal triads, C E G, F A C, and G B D, had these just ratios. But an important minor triad, D F A, is harsh in just intonation, and other unsatisfactory triads result when this tuning is extended to the complete chromatic scale.

1948 November, J.M. Barbour, “Music and Ternary Continued Fractions”, in American Mathematical Monthly, volume 55, number 9, page 545

The first voice of the fugue that Elizabeth had played... came to him, inverted mockingly and in a minor key.

1951, Carson McCullers, “The Sojourner”, in O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951, page 200

Tufnel: It's part of a trilogy, really, a musical trilogy that I'm doing in D... minor which I always find is really the saddest of all keys, really. I don't know why but it makes people weep instantly to play it... This piece is called "Lick My Love Pump".

1984, Christopher Guest et al., This Is Spin̈al Tap

He was a moralist in a minor key, more concerned that people should say ‘tinned peaches’ and not ‘tin peaches’, than that they should worry about nuclear disarmament.

1995 October 23, John Walsh, “The Pragmatic Entertainer Who Said the Unsayable”, in The Independent, page 3

(music) Incorporating a minor third interval above the (in scales) tonic or (in chords) root note, (also figurative) tending to produce a dark, discordant, sad, or pensive effect.

The minor perfect mode was marked by one single line which crossed three spaces, and the longue was equal to three breves... The minor imperfect mode was marked by a line which crossed two spaces only, and its longue was equal only to two breves.

1779, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated by William Waring, Complete Dictionary of Music, page 243

(music, historical) Of or related to the relationship between the longa and the breve in a score.

Josquin works in minor prolation—that is, works in which the signature indicates that a semibreve is equal to two minims, often have a 3 as a medial signature for a few measures, indicating that until the 3 is canceled by the reappearance of a sign for minor prolation, there are to be 3 minims to a semibreve.

1969, Arthur Mendel, "Some Preliminary Attempts at Computer-Assisted Style Analysis in Music", Computers and the Humanities, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 45

(music, historical) Having semibreves twice as long as a minim.


minor

byvak

subject of secondary undergraduate study

(music) Ellipsis of minor interval, scale, mode, key, chord, triad, etc.


ska

Origin uncertain. Probably imitative of the crisp guitar sound; other suggestions include a contraction of “skavoovie” (a word invented and used by musician Cluett Johnson), or of “speed polka”.

onomatopoeic

imitative

Everyone who loves ska has their own story to tell—the first time they heard the Specials back in the '70s, the first time they danced onstage at a Toasters show in the '80s, the first time they saw the Skatalites perform in the '90s.

2014, Heather Augustyn, “Preface”, in Ska: An Oral History, McFarland, page 3

(music) A style of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s, combining elements of Caribbean calypso and mento with American jazz and rhythm and blues; it was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae.


harpsichord

From French harpechorde, from New Latin harpicordium, from harpa (“harp”) + chorda (“string”).

(music) A musical instrument with a keyboard that produces sound through a mechanical process. When the performer presses a key, a corresponding plectrum plucks a tuned string. The harpsichord originated in late medieval Europe and is one of the most important instruments used to perform Baroque music.


pause

From Middle French pause, from Latin pausa, from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis), from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “stop”), of uncertain origin. Compare the doublet pausa.

(music) A sign indicating continuance of a note or rest.


cembalo

Borrowed from Italian cembalo, from Latin. Doublet of cymbal.


harmonia

From Ancient Greek ἁρμονίᾱ (harmoníā). Doublet of harmony.

[…]concerning the ancient Greek harmoniai, or modes, in the diatonic genus.[…]degree signify the harmonia in which it appears and what degree it represents; for instance, “D-2” means that this ratio—11/10—is the second degree (ascending) in the Dorian harmonia.

1949, Harry Partch, Genesis of a Music: Monophony: the Relation of Its Music to Historic and Contemporary Trends; Its Philosophy, Concepts, and Principles; Its Relation to Historic and Proposed Intonations; and Its Application to Musical Instruments, The University of Wisconsin Press, pages 320 and 323

In the case of Mixolydian harmonia, the framework chord is ¹⁄₁, ¹⁴⁄₁₁, ¹⁴⁄₁₀, and ²⁄₁.[…]while the various diatonic harmoniai are modes of each other, this is not true of the other two genera, which are uniquely derived from their corresponding diatonic forms.

1991, 1/1: The Quarterly Journal of the Just Intonation Network, pages 4 and 5

In 1935, Hamilton trained a chamber orchestra in Stuttgart to perform in the harmoniai.

1993, John H. Chalmers, Jr., Divisions of the Tetrachord: A Prolegomenon to the Construction of Musical Scales, page 146

While Pollux attributed to Diodorus of Thebes the expansion of the aulos beyond four trupemata, Athenaeus and Pausanias refer to Pronomus of Thebes as the one who developed an aulos that was capable of playing aulema in Dorian, Phrygian, or Lydian harmoniai. In his description of a statue of Pronomus in Boeotia, Pausanias observes: For a time, auletes had three types of auloi. They played Dorian aulema on one, different auloi were made for pieces in the Phrygian harmonia, and the so-called Lydian aulema was played on other auloi.

1999, Thomas J. Mathiesen, Apollo’s Lyre: Greek Music and Music Theory in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Lincoln, Neb., London: University of Nebraska Press, page 183

That rhythm was somehow implicated in the identity of the harmoniai is suggested in Aristotle’s anecdote about the composer Philoxenus, who attempted to compose a dithyramb, The Mysians, in the Dorian harmonia, but was unable to do so.

2020, Edward Nowacki, Greek and Latin Music Theory: Principles and Challenges, University of Rochester Press, page 18

(music) A harmonic mode in ancient Greek music, characterized by a particular set of chords and rhythmic patterns.


tableau

Unadapted borrowing from French tableau, from Old French tablel (“a surface which is used primarily for painting”).

der

[…] several scenes from the first act were consolidated into one tableau […]

1994, Gerda Taranow, Sarah Bernhardt: The Art Within the Legend, page 158

As creative as it might have been, it appeared disjointed, with the sense of many things happening simultaneously, and the promenading performances jumping from one idea to the next – from a cancan to a gothic tableau featuring mock-beheaded women at the windows of the Conciergerie with red streamers that looked like macabre spurting blood.

2024 July 26, Arifa Akbar, “Paris Olympics opening ceremony review – soaring ambition deflated by patchy delivery”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

(theater) A unit of a play, an opera, or a ballet with change of stage setting.


juice

en-noun

juice (usually uncountable, plural juices)

Tok Pisin: jus

→ Czech: džus

→ Danish: juice

→ Faroese: djús

→ Hungarian: dzsúsz

→ Icelandic: djús

→ Indonesian: jus

→ Japanese: ジュース (jūsu)

→ Korean: 주스 (juseu), 쥬스 (juseu)

→ Norwegian:

Norwegian Bokmål: juice, jus

Norwegian Nynorsk: juice, jus

→ Papiamentu: djus

→ Serbo-Croatian: džus

→ Slovak: džús

→ Swahili: juisi, jusi

→ Swedish: juice, jos

→ Zulu: újúsi

From Middle English jus, juis, from Old French jus, jous, from Latin jūs (“broth, soup, sauce”), from Proto-Indo-European *yúHs, from *yewH- (“to mix (of meal preparation)”). Doublet of jus and ukha. In this sense, mostly displaced native Middle English sew (“juice”), from Old English sēaw (“juice, sap”) (> English sew (“juice, broth, gravy”)).

The Nashville Teens convened in 1962 when Ramon "Ray" Phillips and Arthur Sharp, members of two local rival groups, decided to join their musical juices.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, page 160

(uncountable, slang, music) Musical agreement between instrumentalists.


annual

First attested around 1382, borrowed from Late Latin annuālem, annuālis, related to Latin annālis, adjective form of annus (“year”). Used to categorize plants since 1710.

Excellent work has been done by the Playgoers' Club in connection with its Christmas Pantomime Fund. Thousands of children who possibly otherwise would have little chance of witnessing one of the hardy annuals have been annually taken […]

1919, Lionel Carson, The Stage Year Book, page 67

From 1852 until 1888 he was the author of every Drury Lane pantomime, or "Annuals" as in his old fashioned way he preferred to […]

1949, Albert Edward Wilson, The Story of Pantomime, page 61

(theater) A pantomime taking place once a year.


bar

bar (countable and uncountable, plural bars)

→ Albanian: bar m

→ Arabic: بَار m (bār)

→ Armenian: բար (bar)

→ Bulgarian: бар (bar)

→ Burmese: ဘား (bha:)

→ Chichewa: bála

→ Cantonese: 吧 (baa¹)

→ Czech: bar m

→ Danish: bar c

→ Dutch: bar m

→ Esperanto: baro

→ Estonian: baar

→ French: bar m
→ Romanian: bar

→ Galician: bar m

→ Georgian: ბარი (bari)

→ German: Bar f

→ Greek: μπαρ n (bar)

→ Gulf Arabic: بار (bār)

→ Hebrew: בָּר (bar), בָּאר (bár)

→ Hungarian: bár (also via German)

→ Icelandic: bar m

→ Irish: beár m

→ Italian: bar m

→ Japanese: バー (bā)

→ Khmer: បារ (baa)

→ Korean: 바 (ba)

→ Lithuanian: bãras m

→ Macedonian: бар m (bar)

→ Malagasy: ba

→ Mandarin: 吧 (bā)

→ Norwegian:

Bokmål: bar m

Nynorsk: bar m

→ Persian: بار (bâr)

→ Polish: bar m

→ Portuguese: bar m

→ Russian: бар m (bar)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ба̑р m, bȃr m

→ Slovene: bȃr m

→ Spanish: bar m

→ Swahili: baa

→ Swedish: bar c (see there for further descendants)

→ Thai: บาร์ (baa)

→ Turkish: bar

→ Xhosa: íbhári

→ Zulu: ibha

From Middle English barre, from Old French barre (“beam, bar, gate, barrier”), from Vulgar Latin *barra, of uncertain origin. Doublet of barre.

der

(music) A vertical line across a musical staff dividing written music into sections, typically of equal durational value.


symphonia

en-noun

symphonia (countable and uncountable, plural symphonias)

From Ancient Greek σῠμφωνῐ́ᾱ (sumphōníā). Doublet of sinfonia, symphony, tsampouna, and zampogna.


major

en-adj

major (comparative more major, superlative most major)

more major (comparative)
most major (superlative)

From Middle English major, from Latin maior, comparative of magnus (“great, large; noble, important”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs (“greater”), comparative of *meǵh₂- (“great”). Compare West Frisian majoar (“major”), Dutch majoor (“major”), French majeur. Doublet of mayor.

major scale

Having intervals of a semitone between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees. (of a scale)

major third

Equivalent to that between the tonic and another note of a major scale, and greater by a semitone than the corresponding minor interval. (of an interval)

major triad

durový

music: containing the note which is a major third above the tonic

(postpositive) (of a key) Based on a major scale, tending to produce a bright or joyful effect.

(campanology) Bell changes rung on eight bells.


major

pääaineopiskelija

student specializing in a specified subject

(campanology) A system of change-ringing using eight bells.


thesis

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Johann Gottlieb Fichte

From Late Middle English thesis (“lowering of the voice”) and also borrowed directly from its etymon Latin thesis (“proposition, thesis; lowering of the voice”), from Ancient Greek θέσῐς (thésis, “arrangement, placement, setting; conclusion, position, thesis; lowering of the voice”), from τῐ́θημῐ (títhēmi, “to place, put, set; to put down in writing; to consider as, regard”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”)) + -σῐς (-sis, suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result). The English word is a doublet of deed.
Sense 1.1 (“proposition or statement supported by arguments”) is adopted from antithesis. Sense 1.4 (“initial stage of reasoning”) was first used by the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), and later applied to the dialectical method of his countryman, the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831).
The plural form theses is borrowed from Latin thesēs, from Ancient Greek θέσεις (théseis).

der

(music, prosody, originally) The action of lowering the hand or bringing down the foot when indicating a rhythm; hence, an accented part of a measure of music or verse indicated by this action; an ictus, a stress.

(music, prosody, with a reversal of meaning) A depression of the voice when pronouncing a syllables of a word; hence, the unstressed part of the metrical foot of a verse upon which such a depression falls, or an unaccented musical note.


opus

Beethoven's "Razumovsky" Quartets, Op. 59, are considered by many to be the beginning of the Romantic era.

(music) A work of music or set of works with a specified rank in an ordering of a composer's complete published works.

опус

a work of music or set of works with a specified rank


steel

en-noun

steel (countable and uncountable, plural steels)

From Middle English stele, stel, from Old English stīele, from Proto-West Germanic *stahlī (“something made of steel”), enlargement of *stahl (“steel”), from Proto-Germanic *stahlą, from *stah- or *stag- (“to be firm, rigid”), from Proto-Indo-European *stak- (“to stay, to be firm”). Compare Scots stele, Yola stehli.

der

(music, guitar) A type of slide used while playing the steel guitar.


doh

Audio (US)

(music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the first and eighth tonic of a major scale.


lip

en-noun

lip (countable and uncountable, plural lips)

From Middle English lippe, from Old English lippa, lippe (“lip”), from Proto-West Germanic *lippjō (“lip”), from Proto-Germanic *lepô, from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely, droop, sag”).
Cognate with West Frisian lippe (“lip”), Dutch lip (“lip”), German Lippe and Lefze (“lip”), Swedish läpp (“lip”), Norwegian leppe (“lip”),
Danish læbe (“lip”),
Latin labium (“lip”).

der

there's many a slip between the cup and the lip

there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip

(music, colloquial) Embouchure: the condition or strength of a wind instrumentalist's lips.


lip

en-verb

lip (third-person singular simple present lips, present participle lipping, simple past and past participle lipped)

lips (present singular third-person)
lipping (participle present)
lipped (participle past)
lipped (past)

(transitive, music) To change the sound of (a musical note played on a wind instrument) by moving or tensing the lips.


method

en-noun

method (countable and uncountable, plural methods)

From Middle French methode, from Latin methodus, from Ancient Greek μέθοδος (méthodos).

mètode

(programming) subroutine or function in object-oriented languages

my very easy method just speeds up naming planets

In this case, the application of the famous method was a little shaky. To be fair, the director was dealing with a pretty stroppy cast.

1989, Kenneth Branagh, Beginning, London: Chatto & Windus, page 64

(acting, often "the method") A technique for acting based on the ideas articulated by Konstantin Stanislavski and focusing on authentically experiencing the inner life of the character being portrayed.


label

→ Danish: label

→ Dutch: label

→ French: label

→ Japanese: ラベル (raberu)

→ Polish: label

From Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“rag, piece of cloth”), Old English læppa (“skirt, flap of a garment”). More at lap.

cog

The label signed the band after hearing a demo tape.


lento

en-adj

lento (comparative more lento, superlative most lento)

more lento (comparative)
most lento (superlative)


lento

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


crust

en-noun

crust (countable and uncountable, plural crusts)

From Middle English cruste, from Anglo-Norman and Old French cruste, from Latin crusta (“hard outer covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *krustós (“hardened”), from *krews- (“to form a crust, begin to freeze”), related to Old Norse hroðr (“scurf”), Old English hruse (“earth”), Old High German hrosa (“crust, ice”), Latvian kruvesis (“frozen mud”), Ancient Greek κρύος (krúos, “frost, icy cold”), κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “crystal, ice”), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬎𐬰𐬛𐬭𐬀- (xruzdra-, “hard”), Sanskrit क्रूड् (krūḍ, “thicken, make hard”).

cog

(music) Ellipsis of crust punk (a subgenre of punk music)


dreadnought

Named after HMS Dreadnought, the first battleship finished of this type, itself named for Etymology 2.

(by extension) One that is the largest or the most powerful of its kind.

(music) A type of acoustic guitar with a very large body and a waist that is less pronounced than on other guitar shapes, producing a deep, bold sound.


system

→ Japanese: システム (shisutemu)

Partly borrowed from Middle French sisteme, systeme, partly directly from its etymon Late Latin systēma (“harmony; musical scale; set of celestial objects; set of troops; system”), from Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma, “musical scale; organized body; whole made of several parts or members”), from σῠνίστημῐ (sunístēmi, “to combine, organize”) + -μᾰ (-ma, resultative suffix). σῠνίστημῐ is from σῠν- (sun-, “with, together”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”).
Cognate with Dutch systeem, modern French système, German System, Italian sistema, Portuguese sistema, Spanish sistema. Doublet of systema.

sistem

To notate music that is played on a piano or is played by different musicians on various instruments, one often uses several staves to notate the various musical voices. A single vertical line drawn to the left of multiple staves creates a staff system, which indicates that the music on all staves is to be played simultaneously. A bracket is an additional vertically aligned symbol joining staves. This symbol shows groupings of instruments that function as a unit, such as the string section of an orchestra[…].

2015, Meinhard Müller, “Music Representations”, in Fundamentals of Music Processing: Audio, Analysis, Algorithms, Applications, Cham, Switzerland, Heidelberg: Springer International Publishing, →DOI, section 1.1.2 (Western Music Notation), page 8

A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

(music) A set of staves linked by a brace that indicate instruments or sounds that are to be played simultaneously.

譜表組

(music) set of staves indicating instruments or sounds to be played simultaneously


special

From Middle English *special, especial, especiall, from Old French especial (whence also French spécial), from Latin speciālis (from speciēs). In this sense displaced native Old English synderlīċ. Doublet of especial.

In addition to followspots, there will be three frontlight specials on Autoyokes hung on the truss to provide frontlight specials.

2009, Steven Shelley, A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, page 132

The first is a special—a single lighting instrument that lights a particular spot on the stage. Specials generally have no color, or a more saturated color, allowing them to stand out through other lighting onstage.

2009, Jennifer Bringle, Lighting, page 23

(theater) A light that illuminates a specific person or thing on the stage.


key signature

The key signatures of D major and b minor both have two sharps.

(music) An indication of the key of a composition, giving the number of sharps or flats in the corresponding scale.


practical

en-adj

practical (comparative more practical, superlative most practical)

more practical (comparative)
most practical (superlative)

theoretical

antonym(s) of “based on practice or action”

impractical

antonym(s) of “likely to be effective and applicable to a real situation”

From Middle English practical, practicale, praktycall, from Medieval Latin practicālis.

(theater, not comparable) Of a prop: having some degree of functionality, rather than being a mere imitation.


practical

Practicals are used onstage as they would be used in real life. If the sound cue is to be from a radio or television, give qualities to the recording that will maintain the sense of the medium.

2013, Deena Kaye, James LeBrecht, Sound and Music for the Theatre: The Art & Technique of Design

(theater) A prop that has some degree of functionality, rather than being a mere imitation.


envelope

PIE word
 *h₁én
From French enveloppe. The engineering sense is derived from flight envelope. The verb is from the noun.

(music) The shape of a sound, which may be controlled by a synthesizer or sampler.


truck

en-noun

truck (countable and uncountable, plural trucks)

Belizean Creole: chrok

→ Bengali: ট্রাক (ṭrak)

→ Bislama: trak

→ Cebuano: trak

→ French: truck

→ Hindi: ट्रक (ṭrak)

→ Indonesian: truk

→ Japanese: トラック (torakku)

→ Korean: 트럭 (teureok)

→ Malay: trak

desctree

→ Spanish: troca
→ Southeastern Tepehuan: trooka

→ Polish: trak

→ Tagalog: trak

→ Taos: tròkiʼína

→ Tok Pisin: trak

→ Urdu: ٹْرَک (ṭrak)

Perhaps a shortening of truckle, related to Latin trochus (“iron hoop, wheel”) from Ancient Greek τροχός (trokhós).

(theater) A platform with wheels or casters.


pattern

From earlier patten, paterne, from Middle English patron (“patron; example”), from Old French patron, from Medieval Latin patrōnus (“patron”). Doublet of padrone, patron, and Patronus.

skemo

intelligible arrangement which has a mathematical, geometric, statistical etc. relationship

Pattern 10 is open in figure 3.9, showing the 64 notes in the pattern (each pattern in this song has 64 beats).

2008, Karen Collins, Game Sound, page 59

A MOD file contains a number of short audio samples, and instructions or a “pattern” for how and when those samples are to be played.

2017, Gerard Goggin, Mark McLelland, The Routledge Companion to Global Internet Histories, page 444

(computing, music) A sequence of notes, percussion etc. in a tracker module, usable once or many times within the song.


flag

(music) A hook attached to the stem of a written note that assigns its rhythmic value


traveller

From Middle English traveler, travelour, travailere, travailour (“worker", also "traveller”), equivalent to travel + -er. Compare Anglo-Norman travailur, travailour, Old French travailleor, travelleeur, travelier.

That would detract from the austerity of Rudkin's study, and a curtain on a traveler is always slid across the stage […]

1977, New York Theatre Critics' Reviews, volumes 38-39, page 134

(television, theater) A rail or track for a sliding curtain.


morna

en-noun

morna (countable and uncountable, plural mornas)

She [Cesária Évora] is most famous for singing morna, which roughly translates to “songs of mourning.” As with many other kinds of folk music, morna songs are handed down from generation to generation, tracing dominant themes in a people's history.

2005, Kate Tuttle, “Evora, Cesaria”, in edited by Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates (Jr.), Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Oxford University Press, page 593

(uncountable, music) A genre of Cape Verdean music and dance.


alternative

From Middle French alternatif, from Medieval Latin alternātīvus (“alternating”), from the participle stem of Latin alternō (“interchange, alternate”). Compare alternate.


cob

en-noun

cob (countable and uncountable, plural cobs)

Of uncertain origin. The word has many disparate senses, which are likely of diverse origin. The specifics of these origins have long been debated, as has the question of which senses arise from which origins. At least the swan sense originated in Middle English cobbe (“male swan; gang leader; bully”). Some other senses likely originated as a variant of cop (“head, top, peak, summit”). In other senses, the word may be related to cub, itself of obscure origin but possibly from Old Norse kobbi (“seal”). However, many alternative etymologies have been proposed to account for some or all senses of cob; various sources have related it, for example, to English cot (“cottage”), Welsh cob (“top, tuft”), or German Kübel (“large container”). All these etymologies are disputed, and the exact origins of cob cannot be known with any certainty.

inh

(music, historical) A cylinder with pins in it, encoding music to be played back mechanically by a barrel organ.


horn

en-noun

horn (countable and uncountable, plural horns)

From Middle English horn, horne, from Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną. Compare West Frisian hoarn, Dutch hoorn, Low German Hoorn, horn, German Horn, Danish and Swedish horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-nó-m, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, horn”). Compare Breton kern (“horn”), Latin cornū, Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras), Proto-Slavic *sьrna, Old Church Slavonic сьрна (sĭrna, “roedeer”), Hittite [script needed] (surna, “horn”), Persian سر (sar), Sanskrit शृङ्ग (śṛṅga, “horn”).
(telephone): From the horn-shaped earpieces of old communication systems that used air tubes.

cog

hunting horn

(countable, music) An instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others.

(informal, music, countable) Generally, any brass wind instrument.

рог

informal: generally, any brass wind instrument


double

half

antonym(s) of “made up of two matching or complementary elements”

→ Gulf Arabic: دبل (dabal)

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English double, from Old French doble, double, from Latin duplus (“twofold”). Doublet of doppio and duple.

a double bass

(music) Of an instrument, sounding an octave lower.

contra

in music, of an instrument, sounding an octave lower


double

(music) Playing the same part on two instruments, alternately.

The saxophone is a valuable and rewarding double, and opens up many gigs that aren’t available to players of just the “orchestral” woodwinds.

2020 January 4, Bret Pimentel, “Woodwind doubling and saxophone problems”, in Bret Pimentel, woodwinds

(music) A secondary instrument with which a musician is skilled.


double

en-verb

double (third-person singular simple present doubles, present participle doubling, simple past and past participle doubled)

doubles (present singular third-person)
doubling (participle present)
doubled (participle past)
doubled (past)

When, therefore, Briggs, the sedate, middle-aged individual, who in the Markham household doubles the roles of butler and valet, makes his appearance, his master affects to be in a great hurry, looks at his watch, and says : […]

1878, lady Isabella Emma E. Schuster, Hands Not Hearts, page 141

Miss Theby doubles in the part of Rose and the native girl in the Philippines. This is a problem plot in which a young man leaves the girl of his choice because she has had an affair in her earlier years. He goes to the Philippines, […]

1916, The Moving Picture World, page 335

In On the Beat he doubles the parts of a constable and a gang-leader. Norman was all over the place.

1997, Roger Lewis, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Hal Leonard Corporation

In his case the matter is simplified by the fact that the head of his Deception Staff doubles the roles of author and producer. The Commander therefore tells him what sort of deception he needs, examines the plans produced for him […]

2013, Hy Rothstein, Barton Whaley, The Art and Science of Military Deception, Artech House, page 164

(theater) To play (both one part and another, in the same play, etc).

(music) To duplicate (a part) either in unison or at the octave above or below it.

(music, intransitive, usually followed by "on") To be capable of performing (upon an additional instrument).

dubblera

music: to be capable of performing upon an additional instrument


ping pong

en-noun

ping pong (countable and uncountable, plural ping pongs)

→ Chinese: 乒乓球 (pīngpāngqiú)

→ Greek: πινγκ πονγκ (pingk pongk)

→ Italian: ping pong

→ Japanese: ピンポン (pin pon)

→ Korean: 핑퐁 (pingpong)

→ Portuguese: pingue-pongue

→ Russian: пинг-понг (ping-pong)

→ Spanish: ping pong

Onomatopoeic. The name “ping-pong” was in wide use before British manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. Jaques sold the rights to the “ping-pong” name in the United States to Parker Brothers. Registered in the United States in 1930, Ping-Pong (with dash) is still a registered wordmark of Parker Brothers, Inc. Contrary to a common misconception, the word does not originate from Chinese 乒乓 (pīngpāng), though there are possibilities that the coiners encountered Chinese themselves.

Most ping pongs were 35- to 45-gallon drums. The larger drum had room for more notes; the tones were also louder and clearer and could be sustained longer.

2012, Angela Smith, Steel Drums and Steelbands: A History, page 158


lattice

→ Japanese: ラティス (ratisu)

From Middle English latis, from Middle French lattis (“lathing”), from Old French lattis, from latte (“a lath”), from Frankish *lattā, *lattu (“a lath”), from Proto-Germanic *lattǭ, *lattō, *laþþō (“board; plank; ledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)latn-, *(s)lat- (“beam; log”). Cognate with Old High German latta (“lath”), (German Latte), Old English lætt (“lath”), Middle Low German lāde (“plank, counter, sales counter”), German Laden (“shop”). More at lath.

cog

(music) A model of the tuning relationships of a just intonation system, comprising an array of points in a periodic multidimensional pattern.


joey

From Joseph Grimaldi (1778–1837), a popular English entertainer.


grasshopper

/ˈɡɹɑːsˌhɒpə(ɹ)/

/ɡɹæsˌhɒpə(ɹ)/

/ˈɡɹæsˌhɑpəɹ/

From Middle English grashoppere, alteration of earlier grashoppe, from Old English græshoppa (“grasshopper”). Equivalent to grass + hopper.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäärshupper, Dutch grashupper, grashipper, German Low German Grashüpper, Gresshüpper, German Grashüpfer, Danish græshoppe, Swedish gräshoppa, Norwegian gresshoppe.

John Geib […]patented the hopper with two separate escapements, one of which soon became adopted in the grasshopper of the square piano

1894, “Pianoforte”, in Encyclopædia_Britannica

(music) In ordinary square or upright pianos of London make, the escapement lever or jack, so made that it can be taken out and replaced with the key.


speaker

From Middle English speker, spekere, an alteration (with change of suffix) of Old English speca, spreca (“speaker”), from Proto-Germanic *sprekô (“speaker”), equivalent to speak + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Spreeker (“speaker”), West Frisian sprekker (“speaker”), Dutch spreker (“speaker”), German Low German Spreker (“speaker”), German Sprecher (“speaker”).

puhuja

linguistics: producer of a given utterance

(music) A key on a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family (cf octave key on other instruments) which induces the instrument to overblow.


great

mediocre

antonym(s) of “person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim”

From Middle English greet (“great, large”), from Old English grēat (“big, thick, coarse, massive”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“big in size, coarse, coarse grained”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-, *gʰer- (“to rub, grind, remove”). Cognate with Scots great (“coarse in grain or texture, thick, great”), West Frisian grut (“large, great”), Dutch groot (“large, stour”), German groß (“large”), Old English grēot (“earth, sand, grit”). Related to grit. Doublet of gross.

cog

(music) The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division.


reply

From Middle English replyen, replien, borrowed from Old French replier (“to reply”), from the Latin replicō, replicāre (“I fold back”) (in Late or Medieval Latin "to reply, repeat"), from re + plicō (“I fold”); the noun derives from the verb by nominalisation. Doublet of replicate and replica.


reveal

From Middle English revēlen, from Old French reveler, from Latin revēlāre (“to reveal, uncover”), from re- (“back, again”) + vēlāre (“to cover”), from vēlum (“veil”).

The comedian had been telling us about his sleep being disturbed by noise. Then came the reveal: he was sleeping on a bed in a department store.

A simple dolly or crane move can be used for an effective reveal. A subject fills the frame, then with a move, something else is revealed.

Once you find out what’s going on—the girl is a “hungry,” this film’s term for zombies—it’s still interesting enough, if not quite as powerful. That’s basically what you’re in for with this British postapocalyptic survival horror tale, which starts off strong but dilutes its impact with every consecutive reveal.

2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club

Even Westworld—based on a science-fiction novel where robots run amok—ended its second season with the ultimate reveal: human beings are simpler and more predictable than the artificial intelligences we create.

2019, Douglas Rushkoff, “Survival of the Richest”, in Extinction Rebellion, editor, This Is Not A Drill, London: Penguin

(cinematography, narratology, comedy, usually informal) A revelation; an uncovering of what was hidden in the scene or story.


labium

Learned borrowing from Latin labium (“a lip”). Doublet of lip.

lbor

(music) The lip against which pressured air is driven to produce sound in a recorder and in a pipe organ with flue pipes.


figure

→ Japanese: フィギュア (figyua)

From Middle English figure, borrowed from Old French figure, from Latin figūra (“form, shape, form of a word, a figure of speech, Late Latin a sketch, drawing”), from fingō (“to form, shape, mold, fashion”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold, shape, form, knead”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τεῖχος (teîkhos), Sanskrit देग्धि (degdhi), Old English dāg (“dough”). More at dough. Doublet of figura.

der

Here, Beethoven limits the syncopations and modifications of rhythm which are so prominent in the first and third movements, and employs a rapid, busy, and most melodious figure in the Violins, which is irresistible in its gay and brilliant effect[…]

1888, George Grove, Beethoven's Nine Symphonies: Analytical Essays

(music) Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression.

(music) A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a motif; a florid embellishment.


figure

en-verb

figure (third-person singular simple present figures, present participle figuring, simple past and past participle figured)

figures (present singular third-person)
figuring (participle present)
figured (participle past)
figured (past)

(music) To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords.


trio

PIE word
 *tréyes
1715-25; borrowing from Italian trio.

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

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

(music) A piece of music written for three musicians.

trio

a piece of music written for three musicians

(music) A passage in the middle of a minuet, frequently in a different key.


mode

From Old French mode (masculine), from Latin modus (“measure, due measure, rhythm, melody”). Doublet of modus.

der

(music) One of several ancient Greek scales.

(music) One of several common scales in modern Western music, one of which corresponds to the modern major scale and one to the natural minor scale.


development

en-noun

development (countable and uncountable, plural developments)

From French développement, from Old French desvelopemens (“unrolling”). By surface analysis, develop + -ment. First attested in 1756.

(music) The process by in which previous material is transformed and restated.

ανάπτυξη

music: transformation and restatement of previous material

(music) The second section of a piece of music in sonata form, in which the original theme is revisited in altered and varying form.


tom

From generic use of the proper name Tom.


dress

en-verb

dress (third-person singular simple present dresses, present participle dressing, simple past dressed, past participle dressed or (obsolete) drest)

dresses (present singular third-person)
dressing (participle present)
dressed (past)
dressed (participle past)
drest (obsolete participle past)
dress (infinitive)

→ Sranan Tongo: dresi

PIE word
 *dwís
The verb is from Middle English dressen, dresse (“to arrange, put in order”), from Anglo-Norman, Old French dresser, drecier (modern French dresser), from Late Latin *directiare, from Latin dīrēctus, the perfect passive participle of dīrigō (“to arrange in lines, direct, steer”), from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart; asunder; in two’) + regō (“to govern, manage”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“straight, right”). Doublet of direct.
The noun is derived from the verb.

aantrek

to put clothes on (oneself or someone, etc.) — see also clothe

koristaa

to adorn or ornament (something) — see also adorn, ornament

siistiä

to fit or prepare (something) for use; to render (something) suitable for an intended purpose — see also get ready

whakahuene

referring to preparing rough sawn timber

self aantrek

to put on clothes — see also get dressed

To design, make, or prepare costumes (for a play or other performance); also, to present (a production) in a particular costume style.

Mallory, all night long, single-handedly painted and dressed the set so that at eight o'clock Sunday morning when we arrived to make breakfast in the kitchen, there she was sound asleep on the davenport in the set, every prop in place.

2012, Marvin Silbersher, chapter 22, in A Fistful of Stars, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 106

To prepare (a set) by installing the props, scenery, etc.

lavastaa

to prepare (a set) by installing the props, scenery, etc.


dress

en-noun

dress (countable and uncountable, plural dresses)

→ Japanese: ドレス (doresu)

→ Korean: 드레스 (deureseu)

→ Norwegian: dress

→ Pennsylvania German: Dress

→ Scottish Gaelic: dreasa

(film, television, theater) Ellipsis of dress rehearsal.


responsible

From Middle French responsable, from Old French responsable, responsible, formed from the root of Latin responsus, from respondere. The spelling of the English word is taken from the Old French variant responsible.

[…] first appeared on August Bank Holiday, 1901, at Grand Theatre, Llandudno, playing "responsibles" with Edward Compton; […]

1907, The Green Room Book; Or, Who's Who on the Stage, page 9

'Well, the Cardinal is the heavy part, isn't it?' 'I know.' 'Then,' said I, 'you'd better go'; and one of the Responsibles took it on, and was perfect on the night.

(theater) An actor taking on the lesser roles in repertory theatre.


value

value (countable and uncountable, plural values)

From Middle English valew, value, from Old French value, feminine past participle of valoir, from Latin valēre (“be strong, be worth”), from Proto-Italic *walēō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to be strong”).

der

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class V § 812a. Value

The value of a crotchet is twice that of a quaver.

(music) The relative duration of a musical note.


ghost

en-noun

ghost (countable and uncountable, plural ghosts)

→ Japanese: ゴースト (gōsuto)

Inherited from Middle English gost, from Old English gāst (which was the word for “spirit” as well as “ghost”; the original sense survives in Modern English Holy Ghost), from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos, derived from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”). The ⟨h⟩ in the spelling appears in the Prologue to William Caxton's Royal Book, printed in 1484, in a reference to the ‘Holy Ghoost’, likely introduced by Caxton's assistant, Wynkyn de Worde, as a result of Flemish influence, where it was spelled gheest at the time. Doublet of geist.


bout

From Middle English bught, probably from Old English *buht (“bend, turn”), an unrecorded variant of Old English byht (“a bend, curve”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“a bend”). Doublet of bight and bought.

(music) A bulge or widening in a musical instrument, such as either of the two characteristic bulges of a guitar.

poski

music: bulge or widening in a musical instrument


battery

battery (countable and uncountable, plural batteries)

Korean: 배터리 (baeteori)

Borrowed from Middle French batterie, from Old French baterie (“action of beating”), from batre (“battre”), from Latin battuō (“beat”), from Gaulish. Doublet of batterie.

der

(music) A marching percussion ensemble; the section of the drumline that marches on the field during a performance.


final

→ Japanese: ファイナル (fainaru)

→ Swahili: fainali

From Middle English final, fynal, fynall, from Old French final, from Latin fīnālis (“of or relating to the end or to boundaries”), from fīnis (“end”); see fine. Replaced native English endly (“final”).

(music) The tonic or keynote of a Gregorian mode, and hence the final note of any conventional melody played in that mode.


pitch simultaneity

simultaneity succession
simultaneity succession

(music) Any two or more pitches or pitch classes all of which occur simultaneously, or at the same time. It may be thought of as a more general term for any possible chord. Any chord progression or harmonic progression is then a simultaneity succession, though not all simultaneity successions are harmonic progressions and not all simultaneities are chords.


mezzo

Emily Golden, a mezzo who was adept in an especially wide range of roles;

1983 January 2, John Rockwell, “New Opera May Have a Future After All”, in The New York Times


stratification

en-noun

stratification (countable and uncountable, plural stratifications)


gig

en-verb

gig (third-person singular simple present gigs, present participle gigging, simple past and past participle gigged)

gigs (present singular third-person)
gigging (participle present)
gigged (participle past)
gigged (past)

The etymology of the noun is unknown, but compare Old French gigue (“a fiddle”). The verb is derived from the noun.

(music) To play (a musical instrument) at a gig.

The Rolling Stones were gigging around Richmond at the time.

(film, music, television, theater) To engage in a musical performance, act in a theatre production, etc.

keikkailla

to engage in a musical performance, act in a theatre production, etc.

მუსიკალურ წარმოდგენაში მონაწილეობა


largo

(music) a musical piece or movement in such a tempo


interpolation

en-noun

interpolation (countable and uncountable, plural interpolations)

/ɪnˌtɜː(ɹ)pəˈleɪʃən/

From French interpolation, from Latin
 interpolatio.
Morphologically interpolate + -ion

(music) An abrupt change in elements, with continuation of the first idea.

The melody itself is an interpolation of “The Streets of Cairo,” an Orientalist Tin Pan Alley song originally published in 1895.

2015, Loren Kajikawa, Sounding Race in Rap Songs, page 147

(music) The use of a melody from a previously recorded song, but recreated rather than sampled from that recording.


gradation

gradation (countable and uncountable, plural gradations)

/ɡɹəˈdeɪʃən/

/ɡɹəˈdeɪʃən/

/ˌɡɹeɪˈdeɪʃən/

Borrowed from French gradation. By surface analysis, Blend of grade + -ation.

(music) A gradual change within one parameter, or an overlapping of two blocks of sound.

(music) A diatonic succession of chords.


acting

acting (countable and uncountable, plural actings)

(uncountable, drama) The occupation of an actor.


durational pattern

durational pattern (plural durational patterns)

(music) Foreground details, such as rhythmic units or rhythmic gestures, as projected against a background metric structure.


metric structure

metric structure (plural metric structures)

(music) Regular rhythmic components of a song, including its metre and tempo.


equal-interval chord

equal-interval chord (plural equal-interval chords)

(music) A chord characterized by one repeating interval.


mixed-interval chord

mixed-interval chord (plural mixed-interval chords)

(music) A chord that does not have one consistent interval.


interval class

interval class (plural interval classes)

(music) An interval measured by the distance between its two pitch classes ordered so they are as close as possible.


pitch class

(music) An equivalence class of all pitches that are octaves apart, and which would be labeled by an integer, not a traditional letter name.


snare

From Middle English snare, from Old English snearu, sneare (“a string; cord”), from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ (“a sling; loop; noose”). Cognate with Old Norse snara. Also related to German Schnur and Dutch snaar, snoer.

inh

(music) A set of stiff wires held under tension against the bottom head of a drum to create a rattling sound.

virvelimatto

music: set of chains strung across the bottom of a drum


dyad

From Ancient Greek δυάς (duás), δυάδ- (duád-) from δύο (dúo, “two”), from Proto-Indo-European *duwó, *duwéh₃ (*dwóh₁). The mathematics sense was coined by American scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs in 1884 in the second half of his book Elements of Vector Analysis.

чифт

pair of things standing in particular relation

(music) Any set of two different pitch classes.

dyadi

(music) any set of two different pitch classes


scale

→ Japanese: スケール (sukēru)

From Middle English scale, from Latin scāla, usually in plural scālae (“a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder”), for *skand-slā, from scandō (“I climb”); see scan, ascend, descend, etc. Doublet of scala.

(music) A series of notes spanning an octave, tritave, or pseudo-octave, used to make melodies.


jam

en-noun

jam (countable and uncountable, plural jams)

→ Armenian: ջեմ (ǰem)

→ Azerbaijani: cem

→ Belarusian: джэм (džem)

→ Bengali: জ্যাম (jêm)

→ Bulgarian: джем (džem)

→ Cantonese: 占 (zim1, zem1)

→ Czech: džem

→ Dutch: jam

→ Estonian: džemm

→ Finnish: jamit

→ French: jam

→ Georgian: ჯემი (ǯemi)

→ Hindi: जाम (jām)

→ Japanese: ジャム (jamu)

→ Kazakh: джем (djem)

→ Korean: 잼 (jaem)

→ Kyrgyz: джем (djem)

→ Macedonian: џем (džem)

→ Malay: jem

→ Polish: dżem

→ Romanian: gem

→ Russian: джем (džem)

→ Saanich: ĆÁM

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Latin script: džȅm

Cyrillic script: џе̏м

→ Sinhalese: ජෑම් (jǣm)

→ Slovak: džem

→ Swahili: jemu

→ Swedish: jam

→ Tajik: джем (džem)

→ Thai: แยม (yɛɛm)

→ Ukrainian: джем (džem)

→ Urdu: جام (jām)

→ Welsh: jam

First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to bite upon something, gnash the teeth"; whence modern champ, chomp), of uncertain origin; probably originally onomatopoeic.

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

(countable, popular music) An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.


jam

en-verb

jam (third-person singular simple present jams, present participle jamming, simple past and past participle jammed)

jams (present singular third-person)
jamming (participle present)
jammed (participle past)
jammed (past)

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

en:play music, especially improvisationally

(music) To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).


table

→ Assamese: টেবুল (tebul)

→ Bengali: টেবিল (ṭebil)

→ Gujarati: ટેબલ (ṭebal)

→ Japanese: テーブル (tēburu)

→ Korean: 테이블 (teibeul)

→ Maori: tēpu

→ Nepali: टेबुल (ṭebul)

→ Odia: ଟେବଲ୍ (ṭebal)

→ Telugu: టేబులు (ṭēbulu)

From Middle English table, tabel, tabil, tabul, from Old English tabele, tabul, tablu, tabule, tabula (“board”); also as tæfl, tæfel, an early Germanic borrowing of Latin tabula (“tablet, board, plank, chart”). The sense of “piece of furniture” is from Old French table, of same Latin origin; Old English used bēod or bord instead for this meaning: see board. Doublet of tabula and tavla.

der

(music) The top of a stringed instrument, particularly a member of the violin family: the side of the instrument against which the strings vibrate.


interval

From Middle English interval, intervalle, from Old French intervalle, entreval, from Latin intervallum (“space between, interval, distance, interval of time, pause, difference; literally, space between two palisades or walls”), from inter (“between”) + vallum (“palisade, wall”).

com

(music) The difference (a ratio or logarithmic measure) in pitch between two notes, often referring to those two pitches themselves (otherwise known as a dyad).


frog

→ Esperanto: frogo

→ Hawaiian: poloka

→ Irish: frog

From Middle English frogge, from Old English frogga, from Proto-West Germanic *froggō (“frog”). Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk fraug (“frog”), Old Norse frauki. Related also to English frosk (“frog”), frosh (“frog”), and frock (“frog”).
Possibly related to Saterland Frisian Poage (“frog”), German Low German Pogg, Pogge (“frog”).

(music) The part of a violin bow (or that of other similar string instruments such as the viola, cello and contrabass) located at the end held by the player, to which the horsehair is attached.


study

en-noun

study (countable and uncountable, plural studies)

From Middle English studie, from Old French estudie (Modern French étude), borrowed from Latin studium (“zeal, dedication, study”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd- (“to push, hit”). Doublet of etude and studio.

der

(music) A piece for special practice; an etude.


doo

onomatopoeic

child speak

(Ever feel like you've just entered... The Twilight Zone? Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo....)

1995, Phil Farrand, The Nitpicker's Guide for Next Generation Trekkers: Volume 2

[…] the bloke who sang about coloured girls going 'doo de doo de doo doo d'de doo de doo de doo' had once had this thing with the guy who produced the debut albums by the Stooges and Patti Smith.

2006, Steve Taylor, A to X of Alternative Music, page 272


pulse

From Late Middle English pulse, Middle English pous, pouse (“regular beat of arteries, pulse; heartbeat; place on the body where a pulse is detectable; beat (of a musical instrument); energy, vitality”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman puls, pous, pus, and Middle French pouls, poulz, pous [and other forms], Old French pous, pulz (“regular beat of arteries; place on the body where a pulse is detectable”) (modern French pouls), and from their etymon Latin pulsus (“beat, impulse, pulse, stroke; regular beat of arteries or the heart”), from pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to banish, eject, expel; to set in motion; to strike”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat, strike; to drive; to push, thrust”)) + -sus (a variant of -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs)).

nb...

pouce, pounce, pouns, pounse, pousse, pouz, puls

der

(music, prosody) The beat or tactus of a piece of music or verse; also, a repeated sequence of such beats.


chord

Variant of cord, with spelling alteration due to Latin chorda (“cord”), ultimately from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”)

He struck the opening chords of the passage; but this time Irene's voice was silent. Victor stopped in the middle of an arpeggio.

1956, Delano Ames, chapter 14, in Crime out of Mind

(music) A harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously.


chord

en-verb

chord (third-person singular simple present chords, present participle chording, simple past and past participle chorded)

chords (present singular third-person)
chording (participle present)
chorded (participle past)
chorded (past)

This note chords with that one.

(music) To accord; to harmonize together.


presto

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


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

alegro

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


tuning fork

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


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.


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


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.


vary

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.

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.


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”).

der

(music) The range of a voice or instrument.


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 may have come from Old English sāwol.


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.


division level

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


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.


contrametric

(music) Not following the beat or meter.


extrametric

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


intrametric

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


metric level

(music) The pulses in a metric structure.


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.


root

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.

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


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.


pong

en-verb

pong (third-person singular simple present pongs, present participle ponging, simple past and past participle ponged)

pongs (present singular third-person)
ponging (participle present)
ponged (participle past)
ponged (past)

(slang, theater, derogatory) To deliver a line of a play in an arch, suggestive or unnatural way, so as to draw undue attention to it.

[…] and the “good old crusted” actor, forgetting the lines of the author, used without compunction to cover his discomfiture by inventing a text of his own–an achievement known as "ponging."

2016, Jim Davis, European Theatre Performance Practice, 1750–1900

(slang, theater, intransitive) To invent a line of dialogue when one has forgotten the actual 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

recorded barks (noun sense 1) of a dog

mbox

recorded barks (noun sense 1) of a dog

(music) The quick opening of the hi-hat cymbal as it is hit, followed by its timely closing.


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.


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

en-noun

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.


transposition

transposition (countable and uncountable, plural transpositions)

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.


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.


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.


exotica

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


semibreve

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

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

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


trigon

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.


inversion

en-noun

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.


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.


REM

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


redhead

Coordinate term: blonde

Most [camera crews] carry two blondes and three redheads or their equivalents. Blondes are 2000 watt lamps traditionally with yellow heads (or shells) used to light fairly large areas — also referred to as 2Ks — and redheads smaller 800 watt lamps traditionally with red shells to light faces.

2012, Colin Hart, Television Program Making, page 63

(film, television, theater) A kind of 800-watt lamp.


minim

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

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


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

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

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


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# […]


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.


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.


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.


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


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.


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


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.

der

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


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).


-er

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -er
English -er
Inherited from Middle English -ere, -er, from Middle English -ere, from Old English -ere, from Proto-West Germanic *-ārī, from Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz, usually thought to have been borrowed from Latin -ārius. However, Gąsiorowski suggests that *-ārijaz is a native formation; he derives it from earlier *-azrijaz, which he etymologises as a zero-grade form of *-sōr suffixed with *-ih₂, creating a suffix *-sr-ih₂ for forming feminine agent nouns, which was then masculinised by attaching *-ós. Cognate with Saterland Frisian -er, West Frisian -er, Dutch -er, German Low German -er, German -er, Danish -er, Swedish -are, Icelandic -ari.
Compare the synonymous but unrelated Old French -or, -eor (Anglo-Norman variant -our), from Latin -(ā)tor, from Proto-Indo-European *-tōr.

-er

(used to form agent nouns) person or thing that does...

-тель

-а́тель m (-átelʹ) / -я́тель m (-játelʹ) / -и́тель m (-ítelʹ)

-'er

following an abbreviation, or sometimes following a number

percent + -er → percenter (“commission agent”)

one hand + -er → one-hander (“one-man show”)

oat + -er → oater (“a Western-themed movie”)

(slang, chiefly entertainment, with few limitations) Used to form nouns shorter than more formal synonyms.


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, 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.


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.


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.

(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, page 168

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


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.


mesto

Borrowed from Italian mesto and used as a tempo mark.


harmony

en-noun

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, →OCLC

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