melodizev.
/ˈmɛlədʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈmɛləˌdaɪz/ 1. intransitive. To make or play music; (poetic) to blend melodiously (with).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform music [verb (intransitive)]
dreamOE
to make melodyc1330
to make minstrelsyc1330
note1340
practise?a1425
gest1508
melody1596
music1649
melodize1662
perform1724
spiel1870
1662 J. Sparrow tr. J. Boehme Apol. Perfection in Remainder Bks. 42 A Harmony of God, upon which the Spirit of God would melodise [Ger. spielen].
1794 R. Southey Let. 24 Jan. in C. C. Southey Life & Corr. R. Southey (1849) I. 203 Lightfoot still melodises on the flute.
1811 W. Scott Don Roderick Introd. ii. 4 Yes! such a strain with all o'er-powering measure, Might melodize with each tumultuous sound.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab viii. 102 To murmur through the heaven-breathing groves And melodize with man's blest nature there.
1886 T. Hardy Mayor of Casterbridge I. viii. 95 As the Scotchman again melodised with a dying fall.
1986 Jrnl. (Fairfax County, Va.) 23 May b1/4 The Moody Blues melodize on the 22nd.
2002 G. O'Brien Castaways Image Planet 225 A long-hidden disembodied Bing, a ghost continuing to melodize somewhere just below the level of conscious hearing.
2. transitive. To make melodious; to express in musical form. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > pleasantness of sound > make pleasant sound [verb (transitive)] > make musical or harmonious
harmonize1700
melodizea1727
balance1928
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > produce musical sound [verb (transitive)] > make melodious
attune1667
harmonize1700
melodizea1727
a1727 W. Pattison Cupid's Metamorph. (1728) 214 Nature still strives t' amuse my Mind in vain, 'Till Birds wide-warbling melodize the Plain.
1760 J. Langhorne Ode to River Eden in Poems 19 Whose murmurs melodize my Song.
1766 H. Walpole Let. 11 Jan. (1857) IV. 461 Thy enchanting look Can melodize each note in Nature's book.
1841 I. D'Israeli Amenities Lit. II. 253 These repeated attempts of the learned English..to melodise our orthoepy.
1869 J. Ruskin Queen of Air (1874) 60 Music in which the words and thought lead, and the lyre measures or melodizes them.
1882 A. B. Alcott Ralph Waldo Emerson 36 Afternoon walks furnished the perspectives, rounded and melodized them.
1989 Toronto Star (Nexis) 21 Aug. b6 A little-known Shostakovich gavotte, harmonized so sweetly and melodized so genially that even the ad hoc quality of the performance posed no impediment to its enjoyment.
2006 R. Wilder Daddy needs Drink (2007) 40 At Owl Liquors, they didn't find it unusual that I melodized my request.
3. transitive. To compose a melody for (a song). rare.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > composing music > compose [verb (transitive)] > set to music
set1502
air1608
musicate1614
compose1685
melodize1881
music1897
musicalize1919
1881 J. Doran Drury Lane II. 191 He penned and melodised hundreds of popular songs.
1999 Opera News (Nexis) Aug. 10 With charming modesty, Glover claimed not to have actually composed the work but merely to have ‘melodized’ it.
Derivatives
ˈmelodized adj. now rare
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adjective] > melodious or harmonious
sweetc900
merryOE
softc1230
accordanta1325
well-soundingc1350
cordant1382
sootc1385
songfula1400
melodiousa1425
sugaredc1430
well-toneda1500
tunable1504
dulcea1513
equivalenta1513
consonant?1521
harmonicala1527
harmoniousc1550
consorteda1586
Orphean1593
concentful1595
melodical1596
sweet-recording1598
tuneful1598
sirenical1599
high-tuned1603
nightingale-like1611
soundful?1615
according1626
modulaminous1637
undiscording1645
canorous1646
symphonious1652
concinnous1654
consonous1654
harmonic1667
sirenica1704
symphonial1773
concentual1782
chantant1785
Memnonian1800
melodized1807
Orphic1817
undiscordant1819
concentuous1850
fluting1852
melodic1871
well-orchestrated1872
jarless1876
tuny1885
tunesome1890
1807 Lady Morgan Patriotic Sketches Ireland I. x. 153 A parallel instance of parental and melodized affliction is to be found in Chandler's Travels into Asia Minor.
1840 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Jan. 24 The quasi discords of Sappho's melodized passion—still recurring, and still resolving themselves into music.
1841 H. Smith Moneyed Man III. ix. 240 Her bird-like singing is the melodised cheerfulness of her heart.
2003 S. G. Zvereva Alexander Kastalsky xvi. 155 Kastalsky..strove to create a picture..of life in an ancient Russian town, using transcriptions of folksongs, bilini, spiritual verses, melodized folk cries, instrumental tunes, [etc.].
ˈmelodizer n. rare a person who or thing which provides a melody.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > [noun]
musiciana1398
musickerc1450
music man1569
tuner1579
harmonian1603
minstrel1718
musico1724
harmonist1742
performer1776
executanta1859
musicist1873
melodizer1890
tunester1903
muso1967
muso1977
1890 Temple Bar Dec. 588 Romance!.. O golden melodizer of sweet dreams!
ˈmelodizing n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > [noun]
modulationa1398
timing?1578
tuning1609
musicking1703
melodizing1786
rendering1840
rendition1851
1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music Introd. p. xiv This art of melodizing, if I may so call it, seems in the present age to have reached its acmé.
1818 J. Keats Let. 23 Jan. (1958) I. 214 O golden tongued Romance, with serene Lute!.. Leave melodizing on this wintry day.
1841 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 4 408/2 In the series it lies nearest to yellow, which may be adopted as its melodizing colour.
1990 Boston Globe (Nexis) 31 Oct. (Arts section) 29 [He] has been cast as El Gallo, the show's melodizing narrator.
2004 H. Best in P. A. Basden Exploring Worship Spectrum 69 I am not..speaking against the intonation or melodizing of pure Scripture. I could wish that this practice were a regular part of the song of all worshiping bodies.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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