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to obstruct, but not entirely cut off, the passage, as in l, n, etc.; also, any of the consonants so formed. H. Sweet. Stop bead (Arch.), the molding screwed to the inner side of a window frame, on the face of the pulley stile, completing the groove in which the inner sash is to slide. -- Stop motion (Mach.), an autom…

Made by complete closure of the mouth organs; shut; -- said of certain consonants (p, b, t, d, etc.). H. Sweet.

A subtonic sound or element; a vocal consonant, as b, d, g, n, etc.; a subvocal.

ted; nonvocal; atonic; whispered; aspirated; sharp; hard, as f, p, s, etc.; -- opposed to sonant. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§169, 179, 180.

n other terms, it is a vowel or a diphtong, either by itself or flanked by one or more consonants, the whole produced by a single impulse or utterance. One of the liquids, l, m, n, may fill the place of a vowel in a syllable. Adjoining syllables in a word or phrase need not to be marked off by a pause, but only by such…

ciation, the sound of the following vowel is to be preceded by that of the initial, or consonantal, y.

A sound, of consonantal character, made with a rapid succession of partial or entire intermissions, by the vibration of some one part of the organs in the mouth -- tongue, uvula, epiglottis, or lip -- against another part; as, the r is a trill in most languages.

it was formerly used interchangeably, both letters being then used both as vowels and consonants. U and V are now, however, differentiated, U being used only as a vowel or semivowel, and V only as a consonant. The true primary vowel sound of U, in Anglo-Saxon, was the sound which it still retains in most of the langua…

Not to be accounted for; inexplicable; not consonant with reason or rule; strange; mysterious. -- Un`ac*count"a*ble*ness}, n. -- Un`ac*count"a*bly, adv.

Irresolute; inconsonant; variable; untrustworthy; as, an uncertain person; an uncertain breeze. O woman! in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please! Sir W. Scott.

f the same form with others; agreeing with each other; conforming to one rule or mode; consonant. The only doubt is . . . how far churches are bound to be uniform in their ceremonies. Hooker. Uniform matter, that which is all of the same kind and texture; homogenous matter. -- Uniform motion, the motion of a body when…

Sounded alike in pitch; unisonant; unisonous; as, unison passages, in which two or more parts unite in coincident sound.

Being in unison; unisonant. -- U*nis"o*nal*ly, adv.

Being in unison; unisonant. Busby.

V, the twenty-second letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant. V and U are only varieties of the same character, U being the cursive form, while V is better adapted for engraving, as in stone. The two letters were formerly used indiscriminately, and till a comparatively recent date words containing them wer…

Having the place of articulation on the soft palate; guttural; as, the velar consonants, such as k and hard q.

Vibrating; tremulous; resonant; as, vibrant drums. Longfellow.

er by resonance, as in the case of the vowels, or by obstructive action, as in certain consonants, such as v, l, etc., or by both, as in the nasals m, n, ng; sonant; intonated; voiced. See Voice, and Vowel, also Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 199-202.

To form into voice; to make vocal or sonant; to give intonation or resonance to. It is one thing to give an impulse to breath alone, another thing to vocalize that breath. Holder.

Sound of the kind or quality heard in speech or song in the consonants b, v, d, etc., and in the vowels; sonant, or intonated, utterance; tone; -- distinguished from mere breath sound as heard in f, s, sh, etc., and also whisper.