Music. The highest part in harmonized musical composition; the soprano part. Cf. treble, adj. 2

Early Music. A part pitched higher than the treble and quatreble; a high-pitched song or voice. Now historical.

Early Music. In improvised descant: a voice part pitched higher than the treble, beginning and ending a twelfth above the plainsong. Cf. quinible, n.…

= treble, n. 4. Obsolete. rare.

In thirteenth- and fourteenth-century polyphonic vocal music, the third voice part, next but one above the tenor.

In choral music: the highest voice part in an ensemble, a cantus. Also: a person who sings this part. Cf. soprano, n. 1a.

As a count noun. Music. The upper melodic part in a composition. Obsolete.

A fifth vocal line in addition to the usual four in a vocal composition.