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octave

 - 6 dictionary results

oc⋅tave

  [ok-tiv, -teyv]
Use octave in a Sentence
–noun
1. Music.
a. a tone on the eighth degree from a given tone.
b. the interval encompassed by such tones.
c. the harmonic combination of such tones.
d. a series of tones, or of keys of an instrument, extending through this interval.
2. a pipe-organ stop whose pipes give tones an octave above the normal pitch of the keys used.
3. a series or group of eight.
4. Also called octet. Prosody.
a. a group of eight lines of verse, esp. the first eight lines of a sonnet in the Italian form. Compare sestet (def. 1).
b. a stanza of eight lines.
5. the eighth of a series.
6. Ecclesiastical.
a. the eighth day from a feast day, counting the feast day as the first.
b. the period of eight days beginning with a feast day.
7. one eighth of a pipe of wine.
8. Fencing. the eighth of eight defensive positions.
–adjective
9. pitched an octave higher.
Origin:
1300–50; ME < L octāva eighth part, n. use of fem. of octāvus, equiv. to oct- oct- + -āvus adj. suffix

Related forms:
oc⋅ta⋅val  [ok-tey-vuhl, ok-tuh-] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To octave
oc·tave   (ŏk'tĭv, -tāv')   
n.  

  1. Music

    1. The interval of eight diatonic degrees between two tones of the same name, the higher of which has twice as many vibrations per second as the lower.

    2. A tone that is eight diatonic degrees above or below another given tone.

    3. Two tones eight diatonic degrees apart that are sounded together.

    4. The consonance that results when two tones eight diatonic degrees apart are sounded.

    5. A series of tones included within this interval or the keys of an instrument that produce such a series.

    6. An organ stop that produces tones an octave above those usually produced by the keys played.

    7. The interval between any two frequencies having a ratio of 2 to 1.

    8. The eighth day after a feast day, counting the feast day as one.

    9. The entire period between a feast day and the eighth day following it.

    10. A group of eight lines of poetry, especially the first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet. Also called octet.

    11. A poem or stanza containing eight lines.

  2. Ecclesiastical

    1. The eighth day after a feast day, counting the feast day as one.

    2. The entire period between a feast day and the eighth day following it.

    3. A group of eight lines of poetry, especially the first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet. Also called octet.

    4. A poem or stanza containing eight lines.

  3. A group or series of eight.

    1. A group of eight lines of poetry, especially the first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet. Also called octet.

    2. A poem or stanza containing eight lines.

  5. Sports A rotating parry in fencing.


[Middle English, eighth day after a feast day, from Old French, from Medieval Latin octāva (diēs), from Latin, feminine of octāvus, eighth, from octō, eight; see oktō(u) in Indo-European roots.]
oc·ta'val (ŏk-tā'vəl, ŏk'tə-vəl) adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Cultural Dictionary

octave [(ok-tiv)]

An interval between musical notes in which the higher note is six whole tones, or twelve half tones, above the lower. From the standpoint of physics, the higher note has twice the frequency of the lower. Notes that are an octave apart, or a whole number of octaves apart, sound in some ways like the same note and have the same letter for their names.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

octave 
c.1300, vtaues (pl., from popular O.Fr. form otaves), later reformed, from M.L. octava, from L. octava dies "eighth day," fem. of octavus "eighth," from octo (see eight). Originally "period of eight days after a festival," also "eighth day after a festival" (counting both days, thus if the festival was on a Sunday, the octaves would be the following Sunday). Verse sense of "stanza of eight lines" is from c.1586; musical sense of "note eight diatonic degrees above (or below) a given note" is first recorded 1656, from L. octava (pars) "eighth part."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

Octave language
A high-level interactive language by John W. Eaton, with help from many others, like MATLAB, primarily intended for numerical computations. Octave provides a convenient command line interface for solving linear and nonlinear problems numerically.
Octave can do arithmetic for real and complex scalars and matrices, solve sets of nonlinear algebraic equations, integrate functions over finite and infinite intervals, and integrate systems of ordinary differential and differential-algebraic equations.
Octave has been compiled and tested with g++ and libg++ on a SPARCstation 2 running SunOS 4.1.2, an IBM RS/6000 running AIX 3.2.5, DEC Alpha systems running OSF/1 1.3 and 3.0, a DECstation 5000/240 running Ultrix 4.2a, and Intel 486 systems running Linux. It should work on most other Unix systems with g++ and libg++.
Octave is distributed under the GNU General Public License. It requires gnuplot, a C++ compiler and Fortran compiler or f2c translator.
Latest version: 2.0.16 (released 2000-01-30), as of 2000-06-26.
home.
(ftp://ftp.che.wisc.edu/pub/octave/) or your nearest GNU archive site.
E-mail: .
(2000-06-27)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Encyclopedia

octave

in music, an interval whose higher note has a sound-wave frequency of vibration twice that of its lower note. Thus the international standard pitch A above middle C vibrates at 440 hertz (cycles per second); the octave above this A vibrates at 880 hertz, while the octave below it vibrates at 220 hertz.

Learn more about octave with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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