English

Noun

melisma ‎(plural melismas or melismata)

1. (music) A passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text, as in Gregorian chant.
   • 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre 2008, p. 38:

     At the top of the hill in the archway of the main house, an eyeless old man sat on a bucket, scratching at a two-stringed gourd, warbling weird melismas on a madman's text.

   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     A choir sang one of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The mournful melisma accompanied the slow procession to the palace built by Herod the Great, at present untenanted.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see Citations:melisma.

Translations

References

• melisma in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Portuguese

Noun

melisma m (plural melismas)

1. (music) melisma (a passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text)

Spanish

Noun

melisma m ‎(plural melismas)

1. melisma