12 results for: Acoustic

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

a·cous·tic

Audio Help [uh-koo-stik] Pronunciation Key

–adjective Also, a·cous·ti·cal.

1.	pertaining to the sense or organs of hearing, to sound, or to the science of sound.

2.	(of a building material) designed for controlling sound.

Music.

a.	of, pertaining to, or being a musical instrument whose sound is not electrically enhanced or modified.

b.	arranged for or made up of such instruments: an acoustic solo; an acoustic group.

–noun

4.	Obsolete. a remedy for deafness or imperfect hearing.

[Origin: 1595–1605; < Gk akoustikós. See acouasm, -tic

]

—Related forms

a·cous·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Acoustic

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

a·cous·tic Audio Help (ə-kōō'stĭk) Pronunciation Key
adj. also a·cous·ti·cal (-stĭ-kəl)

Of or relating to sound, the sense of hearing, or the science of sound.
1. Designed to carry sound or to aid in hearing.
2. Designed to absorb or control sound: acoustic tile.
3. Of or being an instrument that does not produce or enhance sound electronically: an acoustic guitar; an acoustic bass.
4. Being a performance that features such instruments: opened the show with an acoustic set.
Music
1. Of or being an instrument that does not produce or enhance sound electronically: an acoustic guitar; an acoustic bass.
2. Being a performance that features such instruments: opened the show with an acoustic set.

n. Music
An acoustic instrument.

[Greek akoustikos, pertaining to hearing, from akouein, to hear; see kous- in Indo-European roots.]

a·cous'ti·cal·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
acoustic

1605, from Fr. acoustique, from Gk. akoustikos "pertaining to hearing," from akoustos "heard, audible," from akouein "to hear," from copulative prefix a- + koein "to mark, perceive, hear," from PIE base *(s)keu- "to notice, observe" (see caveat). Acoustics is attested from 1683. Acoustic guitars (as opposed to electric) first attested 1966.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

acoustic
adjective
1.	of or relating to the science of acoustics; "acoustic properties of a hall"
noun
1.	a remedy for hearing loss or deafness

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version) - Cite This Source - Share This
acoustic [əˈkuːstik] adjective

having to do with hearing or with sound
Example: This hall has acoustic problems.

Arabic:	صَوْتِي، سَمَعِي
Chinese (Simplified):	听觉的
Chinese (Traditional):	聽覺的
Czech:	akustický
Danish:	akustisk
Dutch:	akoestisch
Estonian:	akustiline
Finnish:	akustinen
French:	acoustique
German:	akustisch
Greek:	ακουστικός
Hungarian:	akusztikai
Icelandic:	heyrnar-, hljómburðar-
Indonesian:	akustik
Italian:	acustico

Japanese:	聴覚の, 音の
Korean:	음향의
Latvian:	akustisks
Lithuanian:	akustinis
Norwegian:	akustisk, lyd-
Polish:	akustyczny, dźwiękowy
Portuguese (Brazil):	acústico
Portuguese (Portugal):	acústico
Romanian:	acustic
Russian:	акустический
Slovak:	akustický, sluchový
Slovenian:	akustičen
Spanish:	acústico
Swedish:	akustisk
Turkish:	akustik, işitsel, işitmeye ait

See also: acoustics

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

a·cous·tic (-kstk) or a·cous·ti·cal (-st-kl)
adj.

Of or relating to sound, the sense of hearing, or the perception of sound.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: acous·tic
Pronunciation: &-'kü-stik
Variant: or acous·ti·cal /-sti-k&l/
Function: adjective
: of or relating to the sense or organs of hearing, to sound, or to the science of sounds <acoustic apparatus of the ear> <acoustic energy>: as a : deadening or absorbing sound <acoustic tile> b : operated by or utilizing sound waves —acous·ti·cal·ly /-k(&-)lE/ adverb

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Acoustic

A*cous"tic\ (#; 277), a. [F. acoustique, Gr. ? relating to hearing, fr. ? to hear.] Pertaining to the sense of hearing, the organs of hearing, or the science of sounds; auditory.

Acoustic duct, the auditory duct, or external passage of the ear.

Acoustic telegraph, a telegraph making audible signals; a telephone.

Acoustic vessels, brazen tubes or vessels, shaped like a bell, used in ancient theaters to propel the voices of the actors, so as to render them audible to a great distance.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Acoustic

A*cous"tic\, n. A medicine or agent to assist hearing.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Acoustic

Tel"e*graph\, n. [Gr. ? far, far off (cf. Lith. toli) + -graph: cf. F. t['e]l['e]graphe. See Graphic.] An apparatus, or a process, for communicating intelligence rapidly between distant points, especially by means of preconcerted visible or audible signals representing words or ideas, or by means of words and signs, transmitted by electrical action.

Note: The instruments used are classed as indicator, type-printing, symbol-printing, or chemical-printing telegraphs, according as the intelligence is given by the movements of a pointer or indicator, as in Cooke & Wheatstone's (the form commonly used in England), or by impressing, on a fillet of paper, letters from types, as in House's and Hughe's, or dots and marks from a sharp point moved by a magnet, as in Morse's, or symbols produced by electro-chemical action, as in Bain's. In the offices in the United States the recording instrument is now little used, the receiving operator reading by ear the combinations of long and short intervals of sound produced by the armature of an electro-magnet as it is put in motion by the opening and breaking of the circuit, which motion, in registering instruments, traces upon a ribbon of paper the lines and dots used to represent the letters of the alphabet. See Illustration in Appendix.

Acoustic telegraph. See under Acoustic.

Dial telegraph, a telegraph in which letters of the alphabet and numbers or other symbols are placed upon the border of a circular dial plate at each station, the apparatus being so arranged that the needle or index of the dial at the receiving station accurately copies the movements of that at the sending station.

Electric telegraph, or Electro-magnetic telegraph, a telegraph in which an operator at one station causes words or signs to be made at another by means of a current of electricity, generated by a battery and transmitted over an intervening wire.

Facsimile telegraph. See under Facsimile.

Indicator telegraph. See under Indicator.

Pan-telegraph, an electric telegraph by means of which a drawing or writing, as an autographic message, may be exactly reproduced at a distant station.

Printing telegraph, an electric telegraph which automatically prints the message as it is received at a distant station, in letters, not signs.

Signal telegraph, a telegraph in which preconcerted signals, made by a machine, or otherwise, at one station, are seen or heard and interpreted at another; a semaphore.

Submarine telegraph cable, a telegraph cable laid under water to connect stations separated by a body of water.

Telegraph cable, a telegraphic cable consisting of several conducting wires, inclosed by an insulating and protecting material, so as to bring the wires into compact compass for use on poles, or to form a strong cable impervious to water, to be laid under ground, as in a town or city, or under water, as in the ocean.

Telegraph plant (Bot.), a leguminous plant (Desmodium gyrans) native of the East Indies. The leaflets move up and down like the signals of a semaphore.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Acoustic

Ves"sel\, n. [OF. vessel, veissel, vaissel, vaissiel, F. vascellum, dim. of vasculum, dim. of vas a vessel. Cf. Vascular, Vase.]

1. A hollow or concave utensil for holding anything; a hollow receptacle of any kind, as a hogshead, a barrel, a firkin, a bottle, a kettle, a cup, a bowl, etc.

[They drank] out of these noble vessels. --Chaucer.

2. A general name for any hollow structure made to float upon the water for purposes of navigation; especially, one that is larger than a common rowboat; as, a war vessel; a passenger vessel.

[He] began to build a vessel of huge bulk. --Milton.

3. Fig.: A person regarded as receiving or containing something; esp. (Script.), one into whom something is conceived as poured, or in whom something is stored for use; as, vessels of wrath or mercy.

He is a chosen vessel unto me. --Acts ix. 15.

[The serpent] fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom To enter. --Milton.

4. (Anat.) Any tube or canal in which the blood or other fluids are contained, secreted, or circulated, as the arteries, veins, lymphatics, etc.

5. (Bot.) A continuous tube formed from superposed large cylindrical or prismatic cells (trache[ae]), which have lost their intervening partitions, and are usually marked with dots, pits, rings, or spirals by internal deposition of secondary membranes; a duct.

Acoustic vessels. See under Acoustic.

Weaker vessel, a woman; -- now applied humorously. "Giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel." --1 Peter iii. 7. "You are the weaker vessel." --Shak.

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