Definition of "octave"

octave

/ˈɒktɪv/

noun
plural octaves
1. (music) An interval of twelve semitones spanning eight degrees of the diatonic scale, representing a doubling or halving in pitch frequency.
2. (music) The pitch an octave higher than a given pitch.
3. (music) A coupler on an organ which allows the organist to sound the note an octave above the note of the key pressed (cf sub-octave)
4. (poetry) A poetic stanza consisting of eight lines; usually used as one part of a sonnet.
  Quotations
  With mournful melody it continued this octave.
  a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912,
5. (fencing) The eighth defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword out straight at knee level.
  Quotations
  If they always do a lateral parry quarte, and never a semicircular octave, that gives you an opening.
  2009, Ray Finkleman, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
6. (Christianity) The day that is one week after a feast day in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church.
  Quotations
  […] the Chamberlains' records of the companies' visits to their towns are, for the most part, not precisely dates, but merely group them together […] within their annual accounting period which normally […] ran from Michaelmas (29 September) to Michaelmas, or its octave (6 October).
  2000, John Southworth, Shakespeare the Player
  It was extended to the entire Church by 1814, and then in 1913 the feast was transferred to September 15, the octave day of the Birth of Mary and the day after the Exaltation of the Cross.
  2014, Jennifer Gregory Miller, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
7. (Christianity) An eight-day period beginning on a feast day in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church.
  Quotations
  Of an Octave the Office is said. or at least commemorated, (when any Sunday or Feast intervene), for eight successive days.
  1870, The Night Hours of the Church, trans. Rev. J. M. Neale
8. A small cask of wine, one eighth of a pipe.
9. (mathematics, obsolete) An octonion.
10. (signal processing) Any of a number of coherent-noise functions of differing frequency that are added together to form Perlin noise.
11. (astrology) The subjective vibration of a planet.
  Quotations
  Mercury then joins its higher octave and generous counterpart Jupiter early next week, and it opens gates of opportunity.
  2016, Kristin Fontana, The Beach Reporter
verb
third-person singular simple present octaves, present participle octaving, simple past and past participle octaved
1. Alternative form of octavate
adjective
not comparable
1. (obsolete) Consisting of eight; eight in number.
  Quotations
  Boccace […] is said to have invented the octave rhye
  1700, [John] Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]

Definition of "octave"

octave

noun

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verb

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