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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



179 words match “TONIC”

INDO-GERMANIC a.
Pertaining to or denoting the Teutonic family of languages as related to the Sanskrit, or derived from the ancient Aryan language.
INTRUSIVE a.
tween the cracks or layers of other rocks. The term is sometimes used as equivalent to plutonic rocks. It is then contrasted with effusive or volcanic rocks. -- In*tru"sive*ly, adv. -- In*tru"sive*ness, n.
KEY n.
A family of tones whose regular members are called diatonic tones, and named key tone (or tonic) or one (or eight), mediant or three, dominant or five, subdominant or four, submediant or six, supertonic or two, and subtonic or seven. Chromatic tones are temporary members of a key, under such names as " sharp four," "fl…
KEYNOTE n.
The tonic or first tone of the scale in which a piece or passage is written; the fundamental tone of the chord, to which all the modulations of the piece are referred; -- called also key tone.
LAUTVERSCHIEBUNG n.
changes which the primitive Indo-European stops, or mute consonants, underwent in the Teutonic languages, probably as early as the 3d century b. c. , often called the first Lautverschiebung, sound shifting, or consonant shifting. (b) A somewhat similar set of changes taking place in the High German dialects (less full…
LAW n.
ly seen in Sanskrit and, with some changes, in Greek and Latin), have undergone in the Teutonic languages. Examples: Skr. bhatr, L. frater, E. brother, G. bruder; L. tres, E. three, G. drei, Skr. go, E. cow, G. kuh; Skr. dha to put, Gr. ti-qe`-nai, E. do, OHG, tuon, G. thun. -- Kepler's laws (Astron.), three important…
LUNAR a.
amed because silver was called luna by the ancient alchemists. -- Lunar cycle. Same as Metonic cycle. See under Cycle. -- Lunar distance, the angular distance of the moon from the sun, a star, or a planet, employed for determining longitude by the lunar method. -- Lunar method, the method of finding a ship's longitu…
MAJOR n.
mise of a syllogism which contains the major term. -- Major scale (Mus.), the natural diatonic scale, which has semitones between the third and fourth, and seventh and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees; the scale of the major mode, of which the third is major. See Scale, and Diatonic. -- Major second (Mus.), a s…
MALL n.
Formerly, among Teutonic nations, a meeting of the notables of a state for the transaction of public business, such meeting being a modification of the ancient popular assembly. Hence:
MARGOSA n.
ge tree of genus Melia (M. Azadirachta) found in India. Its bark is bitter, and used as a tonic. A valuable oil is expressed from its seeds, and a tenacious gum exudes from its trunk. The M. Azedarach is a much more showy tree, and is cultivated in the Southern United States, where it is known as Pride of India, Pride…
MEDIANT n.
The third above the keynote; -- so called because it divides the interval between the tonic and dominant into two thirds.
MILTONIAN a.
Miltonic. Lowell.
MODULATION n.
ifting of the tonality of a piece, so that the harmonies all center upon a new keynote or tonic; the art of transition out of the original key into one nearly related, and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key quite remote. There are also sudden and unprepared modulations.
MOUNTAIN a.
tree of the genus Simaruba (S. amarga) growing in the West Indies, which affords a bitter tonic and astringent, sometimes used in medicine. -- Mountain dew, Scotch whisky, so called because often illicitly distilled among the mountains. [Humorous] -- Mountain ebony (Bot.), a small leguminous tree (Bauhinia variegata)…
NEOPLATONISM n.
hy, of which Plotinus was the chief (A. D. 205-270), and which sought to reconcile the Platonic and Aristotelian systems with Oriental theosophy. It tended to mysticism and theurgy, and was the last product of Greek philosophy.
NEOPLATONIST n.
One who held to Neoplatonism; a member of the Neoplatonic school.
NEPTUNIAN a.
ferred the formation of all rocks and strata to the agency of water; -- opposed to the Plutonic theory.
NOMINAL n.
A name; an appellation. A is the nominal of the sixth note in the natural diatonic scale. Moore (Encyc. of Music. )
OCTAVE n.
The whole diatonic scale itself.
ODAL n.
Among the early and medieval Teutonic peoples, esp. Scandinavians, the heritable land held by the various odalmen constituting a family or kindred of freeborn tribesmen; also, the ownership of such land. The odal was subject only to certain rights of the family or kindred in restricting the freedom of transfer or sale…
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