pianon.2
/pɪˈanəʊ/, U.S. /piˈænoʊ/ 1.
a. A large keyboard musical instrument in which strings are struck by rebounding hammers when the keys are depressed, with two or three pedals to regulate the volume, timbre, and duration of the sounds produced; a pianoforte. Also: an electric keyboard instrument designed to produce sounds similar to those of this (see also electric piano n. at electric adj. and n. Compounds 1b). Cf. earlier fortepiano n.The invention of the piano is usually ascribed to Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua c1700. In its action it is essentially a dulcimer provided with keys and dampers, but in other respects imitates the harpsichord and clavichord, which it overtook in popularity in the early 19th cent. See also piano action n.Also with defining word indicating size, shape, etc., as grand, square, upright, cottage, player, prepared piano, etc.: see the first element. Cf. also thumb piano n. at thumb n. Compounds 5.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > stringed keyboards > [noun] > pianoforte
pf1724
pianoforte1741
fortepiano1769
piano1772
joanna1846
music box1850
box1902
1772 N.-Y. Gaz. & Weekly Mercury 30 Mar. 3/1 (advt.) John Sheiuble, Organ Builder, from Philadelphia, Makes and repairs all Kinds of Organs, Harpsichords, Spinnets, and Piano.
1798 tr. J.-B. Louvet Emily de Varmont II. 186 I returned to the parlour, and sat down at the piano.
1822 Times 2 Jan. 4/4 (advt.) Modern Household Furniture..noble and brilliant Pier Glass..two Pianoes, rich cut Glass, and other Effects.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby ii. 6 The notes of pianos and harps float in the evening time round the head of the mournful statue.
1866 H. B. Stowe Little Foxes 115 If a piano is tuned to exact concert pitch, the majority of voices must fall below it.
1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin vi. 100 Yaller 'air, she 'as, an' blue eyes, an' plays th' pianner wonderful, 'er ma sez.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. 39 I..sang a number of his songs, some with piano, the rest to the harp accompaniment of Sidonie Goosens.
1981 J. Johnston Christmas Tree 130 There was a piano, a beautiful Steinway concert grand.
2002 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 May 67/3 The modern piano, with its enhanced capacity for sustaining and projecting sound, also seems to encourage exaggerated performances.
b. The art of playing the piano; (also) piano-playing or piano music, esp. of a particular style.cocktail, party, stride piano, etc.: see the first element.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > playing instruments > playing keyboard instrument > [noun] > playing piano
pianoforting1822
piano1841
piano-playing1844
pianism1892
pianistics1938
1841 Times 17 June 2/3 A widow lady and daughters..receive 12 young ladies as parlour boarders at 60 guineas per annum, which sum includes English, French, piano, writing, [etc.].
1915 W. Cather Song of Lark ii. viii. 216 She had always told herself that she studied piano to fit herself to be a music teacher.
1946 J. Cary Moonlight viii. 55 I was looking forward to some real old romantic piano, with the genuine macassar flavour.
1992 New Republic 8 June 34/2 Jelly is torn between the demands of his aristocratic family, who make him practice classical piano, and the more colorful enticements of Storyville.
2. U.S. slang (chiefly in African-American usage). = spare-rib n.
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the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > part or joint of animal > [noun] > ribs
ribOE
short rib1592
spare-rib1596
middle rib1747
piano1911
1911 J. W. Horsley I Remember xi. 254 Ingenuity and humour are sometimes the parents of slang terms... I was reminded by..‘piano’ for ribs of beef.
1942 Z. N. Hurston in Amer. Mercury July 96/1 Piano, spare ribs (white rib-bones suggest piano keys).
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.
piano accompaniment n.
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1829 in Catal. Prints: Polit. & Personal Satires (Brit. Mus.) (1954) XI. 187 With a Piano Accompaniment arranged to the Air ‘Home! Sweet Home!’
1984 C. Sigal in Listener 26 July 33/1 Piano accompaniment to old nickelodeon silents was considered indispensable by most managements.
piano concerto n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > music on specific instrument > [noun] > keyboard music > on piano
pianoforte concerto1837
pianoforte sonata1838
finger passage1847
piano concerto1851
piano part1854
piano sonata1859
chop-sticks1893
novelette1893
five-finger exercise1903
piano rag1922
1851 Encycl. Americana VI. 472/2 His [sc. Hummel's] greatest compositions are his two great piano concertos.
1934 A. L. Bacharach Musical Compan. iv. 598 There are far greater depths in the two piano concertos of Brahms.
1991 Classic CD Dec. 31/3 Mozart..writes what could be called a swan-song of piano concertos.
piano cover n.
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1845 G. Meade Let. 16 Oct. in Life & Lett. (1913) I. 32 I have been tempted to get a couple [of Mexican blankets] for you, as they would make beautiful piano or table covers.
1908 M. K. Waddington Chateau & Country Life in France ii. 59 I am sure I shall end my days..bending over a frame making portières or a piano-cover.
1999 Jrnl. Asian Stud. 58 370 Merchants transported phulkaris to London and New York to be used as ‘exotic draperies’, that is, curtains, piano covers, or other household furnishings.
piano duet n.
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1837 Times 15 Feb. 1/1 Quadrilles as piano duets, by Chaulieu.
1943 H. L. Mencken Diary 11 Aug. (1989) 269 We also tackled Schubert's ‘Rosamunde’ ballet as a piano duet.
1991 M. Wyman Evelyn Hart 33 They all competed at the local music festivals, Evelyn and Elly often playing piano duets together.
piano lesson n.
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1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xvi. 143 Devoted to her mamma and her piano-lesson.
a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. iv. 68 He was insurance agent, toilet soap agent, piano tuner, giver of piano lessons.
1992 New Republic 10 Aug. 35/2 Other boys laughed at him for his glasses, his piano lessons, his bookishness.
piano master n.
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1852 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. July 80/1 For a year past I have a poor devil of a piano-master who walks a league a-day through the mud to give me a lesson.
1997 St. Petersburg Times (Florida) (Nexis) 12 Jan. (Business section) 1 h Early jazz piano masters like Duke Ellington and Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines.
piano music n.
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1823 W. T. Moncrieff Cataract of Ganges iii. ii. 44 (stage direct.) Piano Music—Mokarra sleeps.
1977 J. McClure Sunday Hangman xiv. 163 A pile of piano music—half-eaten by termites.
2004 New Woman May 59/2 All posh cutlery, plinky-plonky piano music and glitzy chandeliers.
piano packing case n.
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1884 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Gaz. 19 Jan. 7/1 A piano packing-case about ten feet high.
1932 Times 24 Mar. 18/4 Week-end visitors, it was said, were putting up buildings made of piano packing cases.
piano piece n.
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1847 Times 11 June 9/1 Now on sale,..new music, bound in classed volumes: songs,..waltzes, piano pieces, [etc.].
1900 Dict. National Biogr. at White, Alice Mary Meadows She composed many piano pieces, songs and duets.
1994 New Yorker 24 Oct. 105/1 His piano pieces were a link across a century and a half to the clavecinists.
piano practice n.
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1841 Times 23 July 1/4 (advt.) A young lady desires an appointment in a superior school to superintend the piano practice to the more advanced, and to instruct others in music and French.
2000 Newsweek 1 Jan. 65/1 Intense piano practice can fool the brain into using a single chunk of neural real estate to process sensation from several fingers.
piano recital n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > a performance > [noun] > concert > types of
Philharmonic concert1740
benefit-concert1759
chamber concert1760
recital1762
Dutch concert1774
concert performance1777
philharmonica1796
musical soirée1821
sacred concert1832
soirée musicale1836
promenade concert1839
pianoforte recital1840
ballad concert1855
piano recital1855
Monday pop1862
Pop1862
promenade1864
popular1865
Schubertiad1869
recitative1873
organ recital1877
pop concert1880
smoker1887
smoke concert1888
café concert1891
prom1902
smoke-ho1918
smoking-concert1934
hootenanny1940
opry1940
Liederabend1958
1855 Knoxville (Iowa) Jrnl. 1 Oct. On one occasion he attended a piano recital given by the son of a minister.
1950 L. Salter Going to Concert 99 At everything but piano recitals, there is a second person involved who has it..in his power to turn the whole affair into a success or a failure.
1990 D. McFarland Music Room 19 Father..is giving a piano recital, annihilating a Beethoven sonata.
piano recording n.
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1921 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 12 Jan. 11/8 (advt.) A new range in piano recording has been turned.
1993 Classic CD June 57/4 It is impossible to imagine finer piano recordings.
piano rehearsal n.
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1898 Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Daily Jrnl. 3 May Margaret Hill and Florence Maxfield gave an interesting piano rehearsal for their parents.
1938 M. Ludwig tr. L. Lehmann Midway in My Song xxvi. 225 At the piano rehearsal I trembled so much that I could scarcely sing my program.
1990 Classical Music 20 Jan. 31/1 The piano rehearsals are a kind of..bird's-eye view, I call it, and then with the orchestra you can work on the detail.
piano solo n.
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1838 Times 31 Aug. 1/1 Sole publishers of..Le Bouquet des Dames, and Galops, as piano solos.
1923 J. Reith Diary 19 Mar. (1975) 131 There was no piano solo so I..got him to play Schubert's ‘Marche Militaire’.
1993 Rolling Stone 8 July 29/1 An extended, jazzy piano solo.
piano soloist n.
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1882 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 26 July Three of the best piano soloists among the pupils had offered their services.
1991 N.Y. Times 24 Nov. i. 69/3 Nichol Hlinka and Michael Byars whizzed through ‘Tarantella’, a virtuosic pas de deux for which Jerry Zimmerman was the piano soloist.
piano teacher n.
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1807 Salmagundi 18 Apr. 157 Every paper-hanger, every piano teacher, and every dancing-master in the city were enlisted in their service.
1914 H. Wells (title) Ears, brain and fingers. A text book for piano teachers and pupils.
1992 Chatelaine June 51/1 A quick temper and sharp tongue that make her seem a bit like your childhood piano teacher from hell.
piano transcription n.
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1874 Atlantic Monthly May 634/1 Difficulties beset the amateur on every side from the variety of clefs, and a want of dexterity in reading music or in improvising piano transcriptions.
1981 Dict. National Biogr. 1961–70 at Cohen, Harriet A Bach Book for Harriet Cohen..consisted of piano transcriptions of chorale preludes and cantata movements.
b. Objective.
piano buying n.
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1899 Cent. Mag. Oct. (end matter) (advt.) Valuable information about piano-buying, including our unique easy payment plans.
1970 Iowa City Press-Citizen 21 Oct. Mr. Exner responds to many questions about piano buying and care.
piano maker n.
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1851 Tioga (Wellsboro, Pa.) Eagle 29 May Our piano makers muster in great force and will have to sustain an arduous rivalry.
1993 Dict. National Biogr.: Missing Persons 566/1 The four sons and three daughters of James Rolfe, piano maker.
piano pounder n.
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1883 W. D. Howells Register ii. 36 Some piano-pounder is there.
1985 Gettysburg (Pa.) Times 29 Apr. 16 Rock 'n' roll piano pounder Jerry Lee Lewis.
piano practising n.
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1870 Punchinello 13 Aug. 307/2 Might we find neighborhoods willing to take the resumption of piano-practicing in the forgiving spirit of the Christmas-time.
1993 H. Gardner Creating Minds iii. 52 When his sister's piano practising annoyed him, the piano was removed from the house.
piano strumming n.
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1856 tr. H. Heine Romanzero in Westm. Rev. Jan. 23 I hear nothing but the rolling of vehicles, hammering, quarrelling, and piano-strumming.
1984 R. Chambers in J. Joyce Dubliners (1988) 111 The preparatory piano strumming is background noise to Gabriel's anecdote.
c. Instrumental.
piano-distracted adj.
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1903 Westm. Gaz. 31 Aug. 2/3 Probably more neighbours are piano-distracted than annoyed by marital disagreements.
C2. † piano-failure n. Obsolete = pianist's cramp n. at pianist n. Compounds 2.† piano monitor n. Obsolete a bar of metal placed a few inches above and in front of the keys of a piano, on which learners may rest the wrists.
piano accordion n. an accordion incorporating a small vertical keyboard, like that of a piano.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > other keyboard instruments > [noun] > concertina or accordion
accordion1830
concertina1834
melophone1841
melophonic guitar1842
flutina1859
piano accordion1860
lantum1876
melodeon1880
squeeze-box1909
squiffer1914
bandoneon1925
box1929
organetto1983
1860 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 10 Mar. 464/1 A kind of piano-accordion, played by a young girl.
1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 788/1 The application of the..piano keyboard (hence the term ‘Piano Accordion’) was made by Bouton, of Paris, in 1852.
2001 Yahoo! Internet Life Nov. 106/2 By the end of this impromptu concert, he'd wielded a Cajun button squeeze-box, another piano accordion, a Jew's harp, and his ubiquitous harmonica.
piano bar n. originally U.S. a bar in which live piano music, esp. jazz, is played.
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the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking place > [noun] > tap-room or bar > other bars
public bar1654
American bar1856
wine room1865
last chance saloon1869
four-ale1883
private bar1892
saloon bar1902
cocktail bar1908
cocktail lounge1934
porter bar1935
lounge bar1937
wine bar1938
dive bar1940
gay bar1947
open bar1947
piano bar1947
sherry-bar1951
public1957
leather bar1961
private1963
ouzeri1964
karaoke bar1977
1947 Nevada State Jrnl. 24 Apr. 10/4 (advt.) Announcing the re-opening of Swede and Jack's piano bar.
1989 Holiday Which? Sept. 187/2 With only two discos, two piano bars and one jazz club, evening entertainment centres around a meal and a stroll.
2000 P. Moore Full Montezuma (2001) xxv. 417 Rumour had it that Woody Harrelson was spotted jamming with the house band up in the piano bar as well.
piano bench n. a wide piano stool, esp. designed to seat two players side-by-side.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > stringed keyboards > [noun] > pianoforte > stool
piano stool1830
piano bench1893
1893 Cent. Mag. Feb. 503/1 Mr. Van Loon..conveyed himself..over to a piano-bench where the girl was seated.
1992 S. Birdsell Chrome Suite i. vii. 143 Aunt Rita posed on the edge of the piano bench, elegant in a narrow black sheath dress.
piano case n. the resonant wooden box enclosing the mechanism of a piano; (also) a case for transporting a piano.
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1829 Times 13 Mar. 3/3 They saw three chairmen conveying a piano-case, and scarcely able to proceed with the burden.
1850 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1849: Arts & Manuf. 300 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (31st Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 20, Pt. 1) VI What I claim..is a piano case or trunk lock.
1908 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 117. 210/2 Every Beckwith piano case..is double veneered inside and outside.
1994–5 Prairie Fire: Canad. Mag. New Writing Winter 46 I am larger than average, but not as big as those people they bury in piano cases.
piano-conductor n. a musician who conducts a band or orchestra while playing the piano; frequently attributive, designating a score used by such a conductor.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > conductor or leader > [noun] > conductor > from piano
piano-conductor1908
1908 J. Fredericks (title) Dandy Dan Two Step & Cake Walk piano-conductor [i.e. score for piano-conductor].
1934 S. R. Nelson All about Jazz ii. 43 The piano-conductor part of a commercial orchestration is very similar.
1999 C. P. Jacobs in D. W. McCaffrey & C. P. Jacobs Guide Silent Years Amer. Cinema i. 8 These were available in a variety of arrangements, usually for solo piano, organ or piano-conductor.., small orchestra, and large orchestra.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders affecting muscles > [noun] > spasm or cramp > type of spasm > occupational > specific
telegraphist's cramp1875
telegrapher's cramp1877
weavers' cramp1881
telegrapher's palsy1882
pianist's cramp1887
charley horse1888
piano-failure1897
watchmaker's cramp1899
1897 G. V. Poore Nervous Affections of Hand v. 111 The frequency of piano-failure is not very great. I..have seen only twenty-one cases in a period extending over many years.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 12 In cases of piano-failure, I always examine carefully the extensors of the wrist and fingers.
piano hinge n. a long, narrow hinge which runs the full length of one or both of the surfaces to which it is joined.
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1905 Washington Post 18 July Printing Frames, with piano hinges.
1993 Outdoor Canada Mar. 56/2 (advt.) This Stowline truck safe has triple deadbolt locking and a Medeco key lock. Full length piano hinge.
piano lamp n. an adjustable standard lamp of a type intended to be used by pianists.
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1886 Star & Sentinel 11 May Drawing Room, Piazza and Piano Lamps.
1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 280/2 (caption) Hooded piano lamp.
1997 P. Gulley Front Porch Tales 139 When I need a flashlight I use our piano lamp and a long extension cord.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > stringed keyboards > [noun] > pianoforte > device for keeping hands in position
hand mould1819
chiroplast1842
piano monitor1842
chiro-gymnast1845
wrist-guide1861
1842 G. W. Francis Dict. Arts Piano-Monitor.
piano part n. the part assigned to the piano in concerted music.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > music on specific instrument > [noun] > keyboard music > on piano
pianoforte concerto1837
pianoforte sonata1838
finger passage1847
piano concerto1851
piano part1854
piano sonata1859
chop-sticks1893
novelette1893
five-finger exercise1903
piano rag1922
1854 Harper's Mag. July 226/1 He rose up, and sitting down to the clavecin,..performed the piano part of this chef-d'oeuvre.
1934 A. L. Bacharach Musical Compan. v. 482 There are..modern chamber works weighted with piano parts that make as heavy demands on virtuosity as any concerto.
1991 Sunday Times 8 Sept. 8/5 The piano part has a brooding, improvisatory quality.
piano quartet n. a quartet written for piano and three other instruments (usually violin, viola, and cello); (also) an ensemble for playing such quartets.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > pieces for specific number of performers > [noun] > quartet
quatuor1724
quartetto1758
quartet1773
pianoforte quartet1847
piano quartet1862
1862 Times 21 Feb. 1/3 Messrs. Ernst Pauer and Harold Thomas..will perform Ascher's Piano Quartet ‘Concordantia’.
1934 A. L. Bacharach Musical Compan. viii. 488 During the same four years he wrote..the first of his piano quartets.
1985 Observer 16 June 19/1 ‘The Marriage of Figaro’..reduced for six solo singers and a piano quartet, given in what looks like a budget touring production.
piano quintet n. a quintet written for piano and four other (usually string) instruments; (also) an ensemble for playing such quintets.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > pieces for specific number of performers > [noun] > quintet
quintet1764
quintetto1764
pianoforte quintet1828
piano quintet1865
1865 tr. L. Spohr Autobiogr. (1969) II. 97 I immediately set to work and finished before leaving London the first subject of the piano-quintet Op. 52.
1925 E. Sackville-West Piano Quintet i. 1 A piano quintet, they were to start in a month's time upon a professional tour on the Continent.
2001 Daily Tel. 18 Oct. 24/2 It is set to Schumann's gorgeous piano quintet, with dancers in short electric blue.
piano rack n. a rack above the keyboard on a piano, on which music can be placed.
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1843 N. P. Willis in New Mirror 11 Nov. 96/2 Truly the public are not likely to die in ignorance of songs which stand on every piano-rack in the country.
1989 A. C. Rich Time's Power (1989) 4 The rented upright in the summer rental One Hundred Best-Loved Songs on the piano rack.
piano rag n. a rag (rag n.5 2a) for performance on the piano.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > music on specific instrument > [noun] > keyboard music > on piano
pianoforte concerto1837
pianoforte sonata1838
finger passage1847
piano concerto1851
piano part1854
piano sonata1859
chop-sticks1893
novelette1893
five-finger exercise1903
piano rag1922
1920 I. Stravinsky (title) Piano-rag-music.]
1922 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press Telegram 14 Apr. 5/2 Piano Rags..Mr. Belleheumer.
1972 Jazz & Blues Oct. 32/1 (advt.) Joshua Rifkin's first Nonesuch album of piano rags.
2003 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 7 Sept. d7 Not all of the performances were as successful as the debut of Walker's intricate, quirky piano rag.
piano reduction n. a transcription for piano of music for an orchestra or other ensemble (cf. reduction n. 14e).
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society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > [noun] > reductions
pianoforte score1846
piano score1862
reduction1867
piano reduction1939
1939 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 10 Oct. 10/3 Manuscripts, with piano reduction of the score, must be submitted to the manager.
1966 Listener 29 Dec. 976/2 A piano reduction of the second Prologue of Romeo and Juliet.
1998 Daily Tel. 18 Mar. 15/1 Once recording began and music lovers turned passive, the piano reduction virtually disappeared.
piano roll n. a roll used in a pianola or player-piano; = music roll n. 2.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > [noun] > pianola roll
music roll1878
roll1899
pianola roll1905
piano roll1912
1912 Fort Wayne (Indiana) News 4 Sept. 4/2 The piano roll makers have..featured the gems of the opera and have issued a dozen or more different rolls.
1965 Listener 1 Apr. 501/2 They did make a considerable number of piano-rolls, but with the ascendancy of the gramophone in the twenties, these perforated screeds of paper were relegated to the lumber-room of the past.
2001 Classic FM Aug. 28/1 There are four piano rolls of Mahler, made in 1905.
piano scarf n. = piano shawl n.
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1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 239/1 Piano Scarf, all silk plush, good sorted colors.
1980 M. Robinson Housekeeping viii. 172 She was wrapped in a dusty purple shawl that was fringed like a piano scarf.
piano school n. a method of playing the piano, or of teaching piano-playing; an establishment where piano-playing is taught.
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1871 Harper's Mag. July 294/1 In this [instrumentation] he [sc. Thalberg] was original, and is really the founder of the present piano school.
1888 New Eng. Mag. Sept. 457 There are numerous other music schools conducted by masters in some special line, especially piano-schools.
1911 J. Huneker F. Liszt 425 Joseffy was reported as having been discovered in the wilds above Tarrytown playing two-voiced inventions of Bach, and writing a new piano school.
2000 Ebony Sept. 1 Kenneth and his wife Crystal called local piano schools, trying to find a teacher to nurture Jordan's talent.
piano score n. a score containing music to be played on the piano, esp. a condensed arrangement of orchestral music.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > [noun] > reductions
pianoforte score1846
piano score1862
reduction1867
piano reduction1939
1862 J. D. Willard (title) Arion: a collection of four-part songs for male voices, in separate vocal parts with piano score.
1929 H. Crane Let. 26 Feb. (1965) 339 They've promised to publish The Bridge—on sheets as large as a piano score.
1998 Dancing Times May 711/1 We also have a copy of the piano score arranged by Constant Lambert.
piano shawl n. a shawl (typically with a fringed edge) of a type used to drape over a piano.
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1963 Citizen-Advertiser (Auburn, N.Y.) 20 July 2/4 Thickly fringed skirts. Some of these were shown with fringed piano shawls.
1986 New Yorker 17 Nov. 98/2 She is wearing the drawing-room piano shawl as an evening wrap.
2000 Daily Tel. 30 June 23/3 Finer and far more feminine than a pashmina, piano shawls have replaced the velvet-trimmed little cardigans as the accessory of the moment.
piano sonata n. a sonata for solo piano.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > music on specific instrument > [noun] > keyboard music > on piano
pianoforte concerto1837
pianoforte sonata1838
finger passage1847
piano concerto1851
piano part1854
piano sonata1859
chop-sticks1893
novelette1893
five-finger exercise1903
piano rag1922
1859 A. J. Munby Diary 25 May in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 33 Songs, serious & comic: piano-sonatas, and duets and trios with violin and violoncello.
1924 M. Kennedy Constant Nymph xvi. 214 A piano sonata which Sebastian was to play at a concert.
1995 Daily Express 17 Mar. 48/2 A warts-and-all portrayal of the genius who wrote piano sonatas as often as other people write cheques.
piano trio n. a trio written for a piano and two other instruments (usually violin and cello); (also) an ensemble for playing such trios.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > pieces for specific number of performers > [noun] > trio
terzetto1724
trio1724
pianoforte trio1825
piano trio1866
1866 Times 15 Nov. 1/4 This evening at the Pavillion. Piano trios by Beethoven.
1960 Hawarden (Iowa) Independent 23 Jan. 1/8 She was a talented pianist and played in a piano trio.
1998 Gramophone Jan. 77/3 The stirring Largo, an unmistakable outgrowth of the Largo from Shostakovich's Second Piano Trio.
piano writing n. (style of) composition for the piano.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > composing music > [noun] > composing for piano
pianism1844
piano writing1871
1871 N.Y. Herald 13 Feb. 6/4 One or two of the cadenzas show very little acquaintance with piano writing on the part of the composer.
1946 E. Lockspeiser in A. L. Bacharach Brit. Music xv. 196 There is often clumsiness in the piano-writing, too monotonous an insistence on pattern, or a lack of finish in the way he handles a phrase.
1987 Musical Opinion Feb. 46/2 Mr Martineau was equally at home in successfully capturing the delicate traceries of the composer's piano writing.
Derivatives
piˈano-like adj.
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1867 Titusville (Pa.) Morning Herald 11 Oct. Trow's Type Setting and Distributing Machine, a piano-like instrument, that went to work and distributed a stick full of type with the celerity of an old ‘typo’.
1928 Pop. Sci. Monthly Nov. 128/2 The pianolike instrument called a ‘glass-a-tone’ was made from bits of Venetian blinds, broken wineglasses, children's blocks, scrap timber, and some old tin cans.
1992 E. L. Kottick Harsichord Owner's Guide (rev. ed.) iii. 52 The harpsichord needed its massive framing members and metal frames to give it a piano-like ability to maintain tuning and regulation at all times.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pianon.3
/pɪˈanəʊ/, U.S. /piˈænoʊ/ Now rare.
With reference to buildings in Italy: a floor, a storey. Cf. piano nobile n.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > [noun] > floor or storey
stagea1300
storeyc1384
loft1526
floor1585
sollar1585
contignation1592
roof1600
flat1801
piano1835
row1873
level1968
1835 Times 7 Apr. 5/4 They had assembled on the second piano of the house [in Florence], to celebrate a religious ceremony.
1846 C. Dickens Pictures from Italy 127 The interesting window up there, on the first Piano.
1860 N. Hawthorne Marble Faun I. vii. 89 At the Palazzo Cenci, third piano.
1900 Catholic World Feb. 656 On the staircase leading up to the second ‘piano’ the general noticed a small picture of the Madonna.
2004 www.initaly.com 7 Oct. (O.E.D. Archive) The hotel PABA..is located on the second ‘piano’ of a large building 5 minutes from the Colosseum.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pianov.
/pɪˈanəʊ/, U.S. /piˈænoʊ/ colloquial.
intransitive. To play the piano.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > playing instruments > playing keyboard instrument > play keyboard instrument [verb (intransitive)] > play piano
piano1854
to tickle the ivories1930
1854 F. E. Smedley Harry Coverdale's Courtship xlii, in Sharpe's London Mag. July 322/1 She pianos, and I do a little in a mild way on the flute.
1951 Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) 9 Nov. Despite his injured and strapped-up back, Jimmy Durante pianoed and sang..for his old friend.
1997 Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram (Nexis) 10 Feb. (Life & Arts section) 1 W.T. Greer will be singing and pianoing, and the Cavalcade of Stars, a group of celebrity impersonators, will be there, too.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pianoadv.n.1adj.
/ˈpjɑːnəʊ/, /pɪˈɑːnəʊ/, U.S. /piˈɑnoʊ/ A. adv.
1. Music. As a musical direction: softly, quietly.Abbreviated p in musical notation (see P n. Initialisms).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > volume > [adjective] > soft
softa1525
still1541
piano1683
pianissimo1838
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > volume > [adverb] > softly
softa1550
demurelya1616
piano1762
sotto voce1776
society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > directions > [adverb] > for volume
forte1724
fortissimo1724
pf1724
più piano1724
piano1762
rinforzando1775
crescendo1776
mancando1786
sforzando1786
sforzato1786
forzando1828
1683 H. Purcell Sonnata's of III Parts Pref. The English Practitioner..will find a few terms of Art perhaps unusual to him, the chief of which are..Piano.
1724 Short Explic. Foreign Words Musick Bks. Piano, or the Letter P, signifies Soft or Low.
1755 J. Smeaton Diary 22 June in Journey to Low Countries (1938) 16 Striking the key, causes the clapper to strike the Bell, so that the master can play forte or piano.
1762 G. Colman Musical Lady i. ii. 11 O Piano, my dear Lady Scrape, Piano!
1825 M. Lemon Arnold of Winkelried v. iii. 49 (stage direct.) Chorus repeated very piano.
1856 M. C. Clarke tr. H. Berlioz Treat. Mod. Instrumentation 5 Chords of three or four notes..produce rather a bad effect when played piano.
1928 H. Andrews tr. J. de Marliave Beethoven's Quartets ii. 69 Its [sc. the coda's] entry is marked by the principal subject played piano on the first violin.
1995 M. Steinberg Symphony 29 Three times we have heard it, piano, descending gently from E-flat through C to the keynote, A-flat.
2001 Church Times 24 Aug. 24/1 The choir addresses the saint piano in Polish, then fortissimo in Latin.
2. In extended use: quietly; delicately. Cf. piano piano adv.
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [adverb] > without harshness or gently
lightlyeOE
neshlyeOE
fairOE
neshc1175
softlyc1225
softa1325
hoolya1340
tenderlyc1385
soft and fair(ly)c1391
weakly1398
delicately?a1425
prettilyc1500
gently1533
gentle1548
breathingly1662
blandly1827
sparingly1863
piano1873
gauzily1903
creamily1948
1873 Catholic World Sept. 796/1 It was a thunder-storm played piano.
1941 W. H. Auden New Year Let. i. 17 Singing or sighing as they go: Exalté, piano, or in doubt.
1985 P. Devlin Easing the Passing (1986) xiv. 124 The Solicitor-General sensed at once the nature of the case and opened it piano.
B. n.1
Music. A soft or quiet passage; (also) a soft or gentle tone.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > volume > [noun] > soft tone
pp1724
piano1730
pianissimo1781
1730 in E. F. Rimbault Pianoforte (1860) 149 An harpsichord, on which..may be performed..either in the forts or pianos.
1735 J. Miller Man of Taste iv. 62 I had a great fat She-Creature sat next me, that had got the Ptysick, and wheesed so hideously all the time, that I could not hear a single Piano!
1760 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy I. xxiii. 169 The forte or piano of a certain wind instrument they use.
1773 R. Fergusson Poems 101 Banish vile Italian tricks From out your quorum, Nor fortes wi' pianos mix.
1859 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem II. xcvii. 83 A musical performer, who filled his composition with pianos.
1886 Athenæum 6 Feb. 209/1 Much was left to desire on the score of delicacy, a pianissimo being never obtained, and even a piano but seldom.
1961 A. Hopkins Talking about Symphonies iv. 55 The sheer volume of sound created here is reduced to a sudden piano.
1992 Times 25 Feb. 13/1 Ah, Stella, she had a very good piano.
C. adj.
1. Of music, singing, etc.: soft. Also figurative.
ΚΠ
1756 Mem. Young Lady of Quality III. 277 She admired this Opera to distraction, and accompanied every moving Air in a soft Piano Tone of Voice.
1815 W. Drennan Fugitive Pieces in Verse & Prose 21 Soft piano pipes, and brazen throat Striving for mastery.
1880 G. Grove Dict. Music II. 113/2 Leggiero passages are usually, though not invariably, piano, and they may be either legato or staccato.
1884 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 782/2 The cry for peace will probably become very piano.
1955 Times 12 July 5/4 In piano singing her tone remains as pure as the line remains clearly drawn.
1991 Jrnl. Royal Mus. Assoc. 116 203 The use of forte markings to emphasize just two notes in a passage otherwise piano.
2. In extended use: understated, restrained. Sometimes also: subdued, reserved.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > calmness > meekness or mildness > [adjective]
stillc825
tamec888
mildeOE
lithea1000
daftc1000
meekc1325
lambishc1374
meeklyc1375
benign1377
temperatec1380
quieta1382
gall-lessa1398
mansuetea1425
meeta1425
unwrathful1542
rageless1578
lamb-like?1592
mildya1603
milky1602
pigeon-livered1604
placid1614
spleenless?1615
passive1616
unprovokable1646
milken1648
uncaptious1661
stomachless1727
unindignant1789
pianoa1817
ireless1829
unquarrelsome1830
quiet-goinga1835
uncholeric1834
unoffendable1839
baby-milda1845
quiet-tempered1846
turtlish1855
pathic1857
a1817 J. Austen Persuasion (1818) IV. vi. 120 James Benwick is rather too piano for me. View more context for this quotation
1900 E. Glyn Visits of Elizabeth 188 The Marquis..looked thoroughly worn out and as piano as a beaten dog.
1922 A. Huxley Let. 9 Sept. (1969) 209 Aunt Nettie is with us: but happily she is in a very calm and piano mood so that she is quite an agreeable companion.
1953 E. M. Forster Hill of Devi 138 Very piano and tired, poor dear.
1999 Observer (Nexis) 6 June (Review section) 4 I overheard someone saying, ‘Yes, Richard has been rather piano recently.’ Piano!? You'd be toto bloody sordino if you were in my shoes, darling.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.21772
n.31835
v.1854
adv.n.1adj.1683