| 释义 |
semiquaver, n. Mus.|ˈsɛmɪkweɪvə(r)|
[semi- 6 a.]
A note half the length of a quaver, the sixteenth part of a semibreve. (Also attrib.)
1576Gascoigne Grief of Joye iv. Wks. 1870 II. 296 Whiles I searcht the semyquaver toyes, the glancing sharpes, the halfenotes. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. Annot. ⁋4 Who inuented the Crotchet, Quauer, and Semiquauer is vncertaine. 1669[see demi- 9]. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. xi. 227 The Author had never heard of a Semiquaver. 1848Rimbault Pianoforte 57 When groups of Quavers, Semiquavers, &c. are to be repeated several times in succession. 1884G. Moore Mummer's Wife xiii, Kate, who did not know a crotchet from a semiquaver.
†b. allusively. A very short space of time. the brief and the semiquaver, jocular amplification of ‘the brief’ (see brief B b.). Obs.
1602Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. C 3 b, The breefe and the semiquauer is, wee must haue the descant you made vpon our names, ere you depart. 1635Quarles Emblems iv. xv, Till then, earth's Semiquaver, mirth, farewell.
Hence semiquaver v. nonce-wd., to drive away with playing semiquavers.
1780Cowper Progr. Err. 127 With wire and catgut he concludes the day, Quavering and semiquavering care away. |