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A fall of the voice in reading or speaking, especially at the end of a sentence.

To utter in a loud or distinct voice; -- often with off; as, to call, or call off, the items of an account; to call the roll of a military company. No parish clerk who calls the psalm so clear. Gay.

A musical composition in which the voice begin one after another, at regular intervals, succesively taking up the same subject. It either winds up with a coda (tailpiece), or, as each voice finishes, commences anew, thus forming a perpetual fugue or round. It is the strictest form of imitation. See Imitation.…

To speak in a whining voice, or an affected, sinsong tone.

Speaking in a whining tone of voice; using technical or religious terms affectedly; affectedly pious; as, a canting rogue; a canting tone. - Cant"ing*ly, adv. -- Cant"ing*ness, n. Canting arms, Canting heraldry (Her.), bearings in the nature of a rebus alluding to the name of the bearer. Thus, the Castletons bear thre…

A song or air for one or more voices, of Provençal origin, resembling, though not strictly, the madrigal.

balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide; as, a casting voice. How much interest casts the balance in cases dubious! South.

net which is cast and drawn, in distinction from a net that is set and left. -- Casting voice, Casting vote, the decisive vote of a presiding officer, when the votes of the assembly or house are equally divided. "When there was an equal vote, the governor had the casting voice." B. Trumbull. -- Casting weight, a wei…

A male person castrated for the purpose of improving his voice for singing; an artificial, or male, soprano. Swift.

ed from its true signification; as, "To take arms against a sea of troubles. " Shak. "Her voice was but the shadow of a sound." Young.

To utter with a melodious voice; to sing. The cheerful birds . . . do chant sweet music. Spenser.

A cock, so called from the clearness or loundness of his voice in crowing.

To use magic arts or occult power; to make use of charms. The voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Ps. lviii. 5.

en repeated or subsequently referred to in a sentence; thus, If e'er to bless thy sons My voice or hands deny, These hands let useful skill forsake, This voice in silence die. Dwight.

Indistinct in utterance, as the voice of a person affected with strong emotion.

Inclined to choke, as a person affected with strong emotion. "A deep and choky voice." Aytoun. The allusion to his mother made Tom feel rather chokey. T. Hughes.

A composition of two or more parts, each of which is intended to be sung by a number of voices.

A wave of the voice embracing both a rise and fall or a fall and a rise on the same a syllable. Walker.

nsive; as, to clear land of trees or brushwood, or from stones; to clear the sight or the voice; to clear one's self from debt; -- often used with of, off, away, or out. Clear your mind of cant. Dr. Johnson. A statue lies hid in a block of marble; and the art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous matter. Add…

your foes combine, And seem your own destruction to design Dryden. So sweet did harp and voice combine. Sir W. Scott.