Lexic.us

Definition of Descant

1. Noun. A decorative musical accompaniment (often improvised) added above a basic melody.

2. Verb. Sing in descant.

3. Verb. Sing by changing register; sing by yodeling. "The birds descant in the woods "; "The Austrians were yodeling in the mountains"

4. Verb. Talk at great length about something of one's interest. "Sam and Sue descant"

Definition of Descant

1. n. Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song.

2. v. i. To sing a variation or accomplishment.

Definition of Descant

1. Noun. A lengthy discourse on a subject ¹

2. Noun. (music) a counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme ¹

3. Verb. (intransitive) To discuss at length. ¹

4. Verb. (intransitive) To sing or play a descant. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Descant

1. to sing [v -ED, -ING, -S] - See also: sing

Lexicographical Neighbors of Descant

desaturated desaturates desaturating desaturation desaturations desault dislocation desautelsite descabello descabellos descale

descaled descaler descalers descales descaling descant (current term) descant on descanted descanter descanters

descanting descants descarga descemet's membrane descemetitis descemetocele descend descendable descendant descendants

Literary usage of Descant

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge by George Ripley (1859)
"It signifies strictly an unpremeditated enlargement upon a given subject, which, eung by another voice or by voices, formed the accompaniment of the descant ..."

2. Music and Musicians by Albert Lavignac (1903)
"into a system less brutal, the descant, winch was nothing else than a first essay at counterpoint in two parts. At this time lived:l Adam do la Hale (about ..."

3. Adams' New Musical Dictionary of Fifteen Thousand Technical Words, Phrases by John Stowell Adams (1865)
"descant. A melodious display of successive notes, extemporaneously sung or played ... descant, Double. Such an arrangement of the parts of a composition as ..."

4. A Dictionary of English Etymology by Hensleigh Wedgwood (1859)
"To descant. A metaphor taken from musick, where a simple air is made the subject of a composition, and a number of ornamented variations composed upon it. ..."

5. Meditations and Contemplations by James Hervey (1836)
"descant UPON CREATION To know Ute love of Christ; to have such a deep appre bension of his unspeakable kindness, as may produce in our hearts an adoring ..."

6. The Philosophy of Music: Being the Substance of a Course of Lectures by William Pole (1895)
"The added part accompanying the melody was at a later period termed descant (Discantus), and we find that, in the twelfth century, it had so far emancipated ..."

7. The Philosophy of Music: Being the Substance of a Course of Lectures by William Pole (1879)
"... descant (Discantus), and we find that, in the twelfth century, it had so far emancipated itself from the simple form of the ..."

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