Adjacent Words

Octave definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OC'TAVE, a. [infra.] Denoting eight.
OC'TAVE, n. [L. octavus, eighth.]
1. The eighth day after a festival.
2. Eight days together after a festival.
3. In music, an eighth, or an interval of seven degrees or twelve semitones. The octave is the most perfect of the chords, consisting of six full tones and two semitones major. It contains the whole diatonic scale.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a feast day and the seven days following it
2: a musical interval of eight tones [syn: octave, musical octave]
3: a rhythmic group of eight lines of verse

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin octava, from Latin, feminine of octavus eighth, from octo eight — more at eight Date: 14th century 1. an 8-day period of observances beginning with a festival day 2. a. a stanza of eight lines ; ottava rima b. the first eight lines of an Italian sonnet 3. a. a musical interval embracing eight diatonic degrees b. a tone or note at this interval c. the harmonic combination of two tones an octave apart d. the whole series of notes, tones, or digitals comprised within this interval and forming the unit of the modern scale e. an organ stop giving tones an octave above those corresponding to the digitals 4. the interval between two frequencies (as in an electromagnetic spectrum) having a ratio of 2 to 1 5. a group of eight

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 Mus. a a series of eight notes occupying the interval between (and including) two notes, one having twice or half the frequency of vibration of the other. b this interval. c each of the two notes at the extremes of this interval. d these two notes sounding together. 2 a group or stanza of eight lines; an octet. 3 a the seventh day after a festival. b a period of eight days including a festival and its octave. 4 a group of eight. 5 the last of eight parrying positions in fencing. 6 Brit. a wine-cask holding an eighth of a pipe. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L octava dies eighth day (reckoned inclusively)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Octave Oc"tave, n. [F., fr. L. octava an eighth, fr. octavus eighth, fr. octo eight. See Eight, and cf. Octavo, Utas.] 1. The eighth day after a church festival, the festival day being included; also, the week following a church festival. ``The octaves of Easter.'' --Jer. Taylor. 2. (Mus.) (a) The eighth tone in the scale; the interval between one and eight of the scale, or any interval of equal length; an interval of five tones and two semitones. (b) The whole diatonic scale itself. Note: The ratio of a musical tone to its octave above is
1:2 as regards the number of vibrations producing the tones. 3. (Poet.) The first two stanzas of a sonnet, consisting of four verses each; a stanza of eight lines. With mournful melody it continued this octave. --Sir P. Sidney. Double octave. (Mus.) See under Double. Octave flute (Mus.), a small flute, the tones of which range an octave higher than those of the German or ordinary flute; -- called also piccolo. See Piccolo. 4. A small cask of wine, the eighth part of a pipe.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Octave Oc"tave, a. Consisting of eight; eight. --Dryden.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(octaves) An octave is a series of eight notes in a musical scale. It is also used to talk about the difference in pitch between the first and last notes in a musical scale. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

English horn, Octateuch, Spenserian stanza, antistrophe, bassoon, block flute, bombard, book, bourdon, burden, canto, cello, chorus, claribel, clarinet, clarion, concert flute, consecutive intervals, contraoctave, cornet, cornopean, couplet, cromorna, cymbel, degree, diapason, diatessaron, diatonic interval, diatonic semitone, distich, double contraoctave, dulciana, eight, eighter from Decatur, eighth, enharmonic diesis, enharmonic interval, envoi, epode, fifth, flute stop, foundation stop, four-foot octave, four-line octave, fourniture, fourth, gamba, gedeckt, gemshorn, great octave, half step, halftone, harmonic flute, heptastich, hexastich, hybrid stop, interval, koppel flute, larigot, less semitone, line, measure, melodia, melodic interval, mixture, monostich, mutation stop, nazard, note, oboe, octad, octagon, octahedron, octameter, octastich, octastyle, octavo, octet, octonary, octosyllable, ogdoad, one-line octave, organ stop, ottava, ottava alta, ottava bassa, ottava rima, parallel octaves, pentastich, piccolo, plein jeu, posaune, principal, quatrain, quint, quintaten, rank, ranket, reed stop, refrain, register, rhyme royal, rohr flute, second, semitone, septet, sesquialtera, sestet, seventh, sextet, shawm, sixth, small octave, spitz flute, stanza, stave, step, stop, stopped diapason, stopped flute, strain, string diapason, string stop, strophe, subcontraoctave, syllable, tercet, terza rima, tetrastich, third, tierce, tone, tone row, tremolo, triplet, tristich, trombone, trumpet, twelfth, two-foot octave, two-line octave, unda maris, unison interval, utas, verse, vibrato, viola, voix celeste, vox angelica, vox humana, whole step