'Descant' definitions:

Definition of 'descant'

From: WordNet
noun
A decorative musical accompaniment (often improvised) added above a basic melody [syn: descant, discant]
verb
Sing in descant
verb
Sing by changing register; sing by yodeling; "The Austrians were yodeling in the mountains" [syn: yodel, warble, descant]
verb
Talk at great length about something of one's interest

Definition of 'Descant'

From: GCIDE
  • Descant \Des*cant"\ (d[e^]s*k[a^]nt"), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descanted; p. pr. & vb. n. Descanting.] [From descant; n.; or directly fr. OF. descanter, deschanter; L. dis- + cantare to sing.]
  • 1. To sing a variation or accomplishment. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To comment freely; to discourse with fullness and particularity; to discourse at large. [1913 Webster]
  • A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions. --Addison. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Descant'

From: GCIDE
  • Descant \Des"cant\ (d[e^]s"k[a^]nt), n. [OF. descant, deschant, F. d['e]chant, discant, LL. discantus, fr. L. dis + cantus singing, melody, fr. canere to sing. See Chant, and cf. Descant, v. i., Discant.]
  • 1. (Mus.) (a) 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. (b) The upper voice in part music. (c) The canto, cantus, or soprano voice; the treble. --Grove. [1913 Webster]
  • Twenty doctors expound one text twenty ways, as children make descant upon plain song. --Tyndale. [1913 Webster]
  • She [the nightingale] all night long her amorous descant sung. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The term has also been used synonymously with counterpoint, or polyphony, which developed out of the French d['e]chant, of the 12th century. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments. [1913 Webster]
  • Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant! --De Quincey. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'descant'

From: GCIDE
  • Figurate \Fig"ur*ate\, a. [L. figuratus, p. p. of figurare. See Figure.]
  • 1. Of a definite form or figure. [1913 Webster]
  • Plants are all figurate and determinate, which inanimate bodies are not. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Figurative; metaphorical. [Obs.] --Bale. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. (Mus.) Florid; figurative; involving passing discords by the freer melodic movement of one or more parts or voices in the harmony; as, figurate counterpoint or descant. [1913 Webster]
  • Figurate counterpoint or Figurate descant (Mus.), that which is not simple, or in which the parts do not move together tone for tone, but in which freer movement of one or more parts mingles passing discords with the harmony; -- called also figural, figurative, and {figured counterpoint} or descant (although the term figured is more commonly applied to a bass with numerals written above or below to indicate the other notes of the harmony).
  • Figurate numbers (Math.), numbers, or series of numbers, formed from any arithmetical progression in which the first term is a unit, and the difference a whole number, by taking the first term, and the sums of the first two, first three, first four, etc., as the successive terms of a new series, from which another may be formed in the same manner, and so on, the numbers in the resulting series being such that points representing them are capable of symmetrical arrangement in different geometrical figures, as triangles, squares, pentagons, etc.
  • Note: In the following example, the two lower lines are composed of figurate numbers, those in the second line being triangular, and represented thus: . 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. . . . 1, 3, 6, 10, etc. . . . . . . . etc. 1, 4, 10, 20, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'descant'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Descant'