grace noten.
/ˈɡreɪs nəʊt/, U.S. /ˈɡreɪs ˌnoʊt/ 1. Music. An additional note introduced as an embellishment and not essential to the harmony or the melody of a piece. Cf. grace n. 17.On a score grace notes are often printed in smaller type than other notes.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > section of piece of music > ornament > [noun] > grace > grace-note
grace1657
grace note?1790
?1790 Sel. Psalm & Hymn Tunes 4 Grace notes, are little extra notes, by which we arrive at the real note with more taste.
1823 G. Crabb Universal Technol. Dict. Grace Note (Mus.), any note added to a composition as a decoration or improvement.
1864 C. Engel Music Most Anc. Nations 361 These passages..are considered only as grace-notes introduced according to the fancy of the singer.
1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped xxv. 257 Variations, which, as he went on, he decorated with a perfect flight of grace-notes, such as pipers love, and call the ‘warblers’.
1927 A. C. Parker Indian How Bk. ii. xxxiv. 146 It may be that some of the quavering grace notes that he interjected came from an attempt to imitate the flute.
2004 Gramophone Aug. 63/1 Little shakes, grace notes, chord fills and unscheduled ritardandi abound.
2. figurative. A decoration, ornament, embellishment; an addition; a finishing touch.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > completing > [noun] > that which > finishing touch or crowning act
copestone1567
last hand1567
colophon1628
capstone1685
grace stroke1686
finishing stroke1695
coup de grâce1699
touch-up1733
finish1779
crowner1815
coping-stone1860
grace note1922
topper1940
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > [noun] > ornamentation or decoration > an ornament
ornamenta1382
paramentc1395
adornmentc1405
flower1542
furniture1548
furniments1553
bravery1577
grace1579
trim1579
honour1589
outsetc1590
parergy1592
trapping1596
adornation1597
parergon1601
accomplishment1605
bellishment1611
facing1622
decorement1632
embellishment1632
gallantry1633
ornamentals1650
disguisements1655
decorationa1678
buska1687
decorament1727
pretty1736
tahalli1833
chicken fixings1840
ornamentality1842
grace note1922
1922 J. Agate Alarums & Excursions 36 I cannot imagine any more delightful grace-note than that of the little blue flames of the rum omelette which shall enliven her loneliness.
1927 Blackwood's Mag. Dec. 827/1 A lady was holding forth, a born narrator, recklessly lavish of grace-notes and embroidery.
1957 J. Braine Room at Top xx. 177 The extra refinement, the grace-note, was Jack's waving away of my offer to buy the drinks.
1960 Guardian 30 Sept. 12/5 Its architecture, for all its English grace-notes, is fundamentally international.
2008 C. Cleave Other Hand ii. 43 The black Italian marble floor was the only grace-note that had survived our tenancy of the offices.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.?1790