descant

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Origin: OF. descant, deschant, F. déchant, discant, LL. discantus, fr. L. dis + cantus singing, melody, fr. canere to sing. See Chant, and cf. Descant, intransitive verb, Discant.

1. Music (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. Sir George Grove

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

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

☞ The term has also been used synonymously with counterpoint, or polyphony, which developed out of the French déchant, 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!— Thomas DeQuincey

Origin: 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.— Joseph Addison

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54