Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Diapason
Diˊa-pa′son
,Noun.
[L., fr. Gr.
διαπασῶν
(i. e., ἡ διά πασῶν χορδῶν συμφονία
the concord of the first and last notes, the octave); διά
through + πασῶν
, gen. pl. of πᾶσ
all: cf. F. diapason
. Cf. Panacea
.] 1.
(Gr. Mus.)
The octave, or interval which includes all the tones of the diatonic scale. Compare
disdiapason
. 2.
Concord, as of notes an octave apart; harmony.
The fair music that all creatures made . . .
In perfect
In perfect
diapason
. Milton.
3.
The entire compass of tones; the entire compass of tones of a voice or an instrument.
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The
The
diapason
closing full in man. Dryden.
4.
A standard of pitch; a tuning fork;
as, the French normal
. diapason
5.
One of certain stops in the organ, so called because they extend through the scale of the instrument. They are of several kinds, as
open diapason
, stopped diapason
, double diapason
, and the like. Webster 1828 Edition
Diapason
DIAPASON
, DIAPASE,Noun.
1.
In music, the octave or interval which includes all the tones.2.
Among musical instrument-makers, a rule or scale by which they adjust the pipes of organs, the holes of flutes, &c., in due proportion for expressing the several tones and semitones.Diapason-diapente, a compound consonance in a triple ratio, as 3 to 9, consisting of 9 tones and a semitone, or 19 semitones; a twelfth.
Diapason-diatessaron, a compound concord, founded on the proportion of 8 to 3, consisting of eight tones and a semitone.
Diapason-ditone, a compound concord, whose terms are as 10 to 4, or 5 to 2.
Diapason-semiditone, a compound concord, whose terms are in the proportion of 12 to 5.
Definition 2024
diapason
diapason
See also: diapasón
English
Noun
diapason (plural diapasons)
- the range or scope of something, especially of notes in a scale, or of a particular musical instrument
- 1934: the piano curving like a conch, corollas giving out diapasons of light — Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer
- 1961: he could hear nothing except the rattle of the crickets and the swelling diapason of the frogs — Graham Greene, A Burnt-Out Case
- the musical octave
- 1818: 2 to 1, which is a duple ratio, forms the [symphony] diapason — Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras Tr. Thomas Taylor (page 328)
Translations
the range or scope of something, especially of notes in a scale, or of a particular musical instrument
French
Etymology
Latin diapason, from Ancient Greek διαπασων (diapasōn), that is διά (diá) + πασων (pasōn) (χορδων (khordōn)) ‘through all (notes)’.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dja.pa.zɔ̃/
Noun
diapason m (countable and uncountable, plural diapasons)
- (music, uncountable) range, diapason
- (countable) a tuning fork