Nearby Words

quartet

[kwawr-tet] Origin

quar·tet

[kwawr-tet]
noun
1.
any group of four persons or things.
2.
an organized group of four singers or players.
3.
a musical composition for four voices or instruments.
Also, especially British, quar·tette.


Origin:
1765–75; < Italian quartetto, diminutive of quarto < Latin quartus fourth
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Quartet is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Collins
World English Dictionary
quartet or quartette (kwɔːˈtɛt)
 
n
1.  See string quartet a group of four singers or instrumentalists or a piece of music composed for such a group
2.  any group of four: a quartet of fast bowlers
 
[C18: from Italian quartetto, diminutive of quarto fourth]
 
quartette or quartette
 
n
 
[C18: from Italian quartetto, diminutive of quarto fourth]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

quartet
1773, "musical composition for four instruments or voices," from Fr. quartette, from It. quartetto, dim. of quarto "fourth," from L. quartus "fourth." Meaning "set of four singers or musical performers" is from 1814.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

quartet definition


A group of four musicians or singers; also, a piece of music for four instruments or voices.

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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