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descant - 6 dictionary results

des⋅cant

  [n., adj. des-kant; v. des-kant, dis-]
Use descant in a Sentence
–noun
1. Music.
a. a melody or counterpoint accompanying a simple musical theme and usually written above it.
b. (in part music) the soprano.
c. a song or melody.
2. a variation upon anything; comment on a subject.
–adjective
3. Music (chiefly British).
a. soprano: a descant recorder.
b. treble: a descant viol.
–verb (used without object)
4. Music. to sing.
5. to comment or discourse at great length.
Also, discant.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME discant, descaunt < AF < ML discanthus, equiv. to L dis- dis- 1 + cantus song; see chant

Related forms:
des⋅cant⋅er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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des·cant   (děs'kānt')   
n.  
  1. also dis·cant (dĭs'-) Music
    1. An ornamental melody or counterpoint sung or played above a theme.
    2. The highest part sung in part music.
  2. A discussion or discourse on a theme.
intr.v.   (děs'kānt', dě-skānt') des·cant·ed, des·cant·ing, des·cants
  1. To comment at length; discourse: "He used to descant critically on the dishes which had been at table" (James Boswell).
  2. also dis·cant (dĭs'kānt', dĭ-skānt') Music
    1. To sing or play a descant.
    2. To sing melodiously.

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus, a refrain : Latin dis-, dis- + Latin cantus, song, from past participle of canere, to sing; see kan- in Indo-European roots.]
des'cant'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.

Twenty doctors expound one text twenty ways, as children make descant upon plain song. --Tyndale.

She [the nightingale] all night long her amorous descant sung. --Milton.

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.

2. A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments.

Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant! --De Quincey.

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.

2. To comment freely; to discourse with fullness and particularity; to discourse at large.

A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions. --Addison.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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descant 
c.1380, from Anglo-Fr. deschaunt, from M.L. discantus "refrain, part-song," from L. dis- "asunder, apart" + cantus "song." Spelling was partly Latinized 16c. Originally "counterpoint;" sense of "talk at length" is first attested 1649.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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descant

(from Latin discantus, "song apart"), countermelody either composed or improvised above a familiar melody. Descant can also refer to an instrument of higher-than-normal pitch, such as a descant recorder. In late medieval music, discantus referred to a particular style of organum featuring one or more countermelodies added to a newly rhythmicized plainsong melody. Discantus in this sense is usually spelled discant in English translation

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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