Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Portamento
‖
Porˊta-men′to
,Noun.
[It., fr.
portare
to carry.] (Mus.)
In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.
Definition 2024
portamento
portamento
English
Noun
portamento (plural portamentos or portamenti)
- (music) A smooth, gliding transition from one note to another; used especially with stringed instruments, and sometimes on brass.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 945:
- The music was feral, Eastern in scale, flattened seconds and sixths, and a kind of fretless portamento between
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 945: