nounWord forms: plural -los music1. a. (in playing the violin, cello, etc) the rapid repetition of a single note produced by a quick back-and-forth movement of the bow
b. the rapid reiteration of two notes usually a third or greater interval apart (fingered tremolo)
Compare trill1 (sense 1) 2. (in singing) a fluctuation in pitch
Compare vibrato 3. a vocal ornament of late renaissance music consisting of the increasingly rapid reiteration of a single note
4. another word for tremulant
Word origin
C19: from Italian: quavering, from Medieval Latin
tremulāre to
tremble