OCTAVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Octave

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/ˈɑktɪv/ Listen

noun

Octave n.

The eighth day after a church festival, the festival day being included; also, the week following a church festival. "The octaves of Easter."

(Mus.)

(a)

The eighth tone in the scale; the interval between one and eight of the scale, or any interval of equal length; an interval of five tones and two semitones.

(b)

The whole diatonic scale itself. Note: The ratio of a musical tone to its octave above is 1:2 as regards the number of vibrations producing the tones.

(Poet.) The first two stanzas of a sonnet, consisting of four verses each; a stanza of eight lines. "With mournful melody it continued this octave."

Double octave. (Mus.) See under Double.

Octave flute (Mus.), a small flute, the tones of which range an octave higher than those of the German or ordinary flute; called also piccolo. See Piccolo.

A small cask of wine, the eighth part of a pipe.

adjective

Octave adj. Consisting of eight; eight.

See images of 'Octave'

Etymology of 'Octave'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Octave" Quotes from Famous Books

... bad one of the kind), in burst a fat German woman in a transport of fury, who thought herself ill-used in the allotment of the rooms; squabbling in a very discordant key with the landlady, who followed her "blaspheming an octave higher." Both were apparently viragos of the first order, and the keen encounter of their wits was so loud, that we turned a deaf ear to the German's appeal, and insisted on their choosing another field of battle. ...

— Itinerary of Provence and the Rhone - Made During the Year 1819 • John Hughes

... sometime King of England, and Hugh Le Despenser, sometime Earl of Gloucester, were led captives into Bristol, and delivered to the tigress. But we were not to see them die. Perhaps Saint Luke had interceded for us, as it was in his octave. The King was sent to Berkeley Castle. My father they set on the smallest and poorest horse they could find in the army, clad in an emblazoned surcoat such as he was used to wear. From the moment that he was taken, he would touch no food. And when they reached Hereford, he was so ...

— The Well in the Desert - An Old Legend of the House of Arundel • Emily Sarah Holt

... known to you that the vessels carried more than three hundred petraries and mangonels, and all such engines as are needed for the taking of cities, in great plenty. Never did finer fleet sail from any0port. And this was in the octave of the Feast of St. Remigius (October) in the year of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ twelve hundred and two. Thus did they sail from the port of Venice, as ...

— Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople • Geoffrey de Villehardouin

... was standing by the piano, and as he spoke he struck a crashing octave; "what on earth do ...

— The Iron Woman • Margaret Deland

... voices, teachers usually "place"[5] the medium notes first, roughly speaking, from G to d (for male voices one octave lower). Then the lower notes are developed, mostly by descending scale passages, the lowest note practised being usually C. The high notes are sometimes "placed" by ascending scale passages and arpeggios, but more often by the octave jump and descending scale. ...

— The Psychology of Singing - A Rational Method of Voice Culture Based on a Scientific Analysis of All Systems, Ancient and Modern • David C. Taylor

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