cadence
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (3)
- (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verseSynonyms: metermetremeasurebeatType of poetic rhythm, rhythmic patternKinds metrical foot, catalexis, scansion, common measure
- the close of a musical sectionType of passage, musical passageKinds plagal cadence, amen cadence
- a recurrent rhythmical seriesSynonyms: cadencyType of rhythmicity
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. cadence, cadens, LL. cadentia a falling, fr. L. cadere to fall; cf. F. cadence, It. cadenza. See Chance.
1. The act or state of declining or sinking. obsolete
Now was the sun in western cadence low.— John Milton
2. A fall of the voice in reading or speaking, especially at the end of a sentence.
3. A rhythmical modulation of the voice or of any sound; as, music of bells in cadence sweet.
Blustering winds, which all night long Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men o'erwatched.— John Milton
The accents... were in passion's tenderest cadence.— Sir Walter Scott
4. Rhythmical flow of language, in prose or verse.
Golden cadence of poesy.— William Shakespeare
If in any composition much attention was paid to the flow of the rhythm, it was said (at least in the 14th and 15th centuries) to be “prosed in faire cadence.”— Edwin Guest
5. Heraldry See Cadency.
6. Horsemanship Harmony and proportion in motions, as of a well-managed horse.
7. Military A uniform time and place in marching.
8. Music (a) The close or fall of a strain; the point of rest, commonly reached by the immediate succession of the tonic to the dominant chord. (b) A cadenza, or closing embellishment; a pause before the end of a strain, which the performer may fill with a flight of fancy.
Imperfect cadence. Music See under Imperfect.
To regulate by musical measure.
These parting numbers, cadenced by my grief.— Ambrose Philips
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54