volta

¹

[ vohl-tuh, vol-; Italian vawl-tah ]

noun

, Music.

, plural vol·te [vohl, -tey, vol, -, vawl, -te].

1. turn; time (used in phrases):

   una volta (“once”);

   prima volta (“first time”).

Volta

²

[ vohl-tuhor, Italian vawl-tah vol-tuh, vohl- ]

noun

1. Count A·les·san·dro [ah-les-, sahn, -d, r, aw], 1745–1827, Italian physicist.
2. a river in W Africa, in Ghana, formed by the confluence of the Black Volta and the White Volta and flowing S into the Bight of Benin. About 250 miles (400 km) long; with branches about 1,240 miles (1,995 km) long.

volta

¹

/ ˈvɔlta; ˈvɒltə /

noun

1. a quick-moving Italian dance popular during the 16th and 17th centuries
2. a piece of music written for or in the rhythm of this dance, in triple time

Volta

²

/ ˈvɒltə /

noun

1. a river in W Africa, formed by the confluence of the Black Volta and the White Volta in N central Ghana: flows south to the Bight of Benin: the chief river of Ghana. Length: 480 km (300 miles); (including the Black Volta) 1600 km (1000 miles)
2. Lake Volta
   Lake Volta an artificial lake in Ghana, extending 408 km (250 miles) upstream from the Volta River Dam on the Volta River: completed in 1966. Area: 8482 sq km (3275 sq miles)

Volta

³

/ ˈvɔlta; ˈvəʊltə /

noun

1. VoltaAlessandro17451827MItalianSCIENCE: physicist Count Alessandro (alesˈsandro). 1745–1827, Italian physicist after whom the volt is named. He made important contributions to the theory of current electricity and invented the voltaic pile (1800), the electrophorus (1775), and an electroscope

Volta

/ vōl′tə /

1. Italian physicist who in 1800 invented the voltaic pile, which was the first source of continuous electric current. The volt unit of electromotive force is named for him.

Word History and Origins

Origin of volta¹

1635–45; < Italian: a turn; volt ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of volta¹

C17: from Italian: turn; see volt ²

Example Sentences

The subsidiary fair, Volta, was crackling; there, I ran into Katelijne de Backer of the Armory.

From The Daily Beast

Volta actually made this battery, then known as the Voltaic Pile, but he made it because of Galvani's discovery.

From Project Gutenberg

Volta came to see them as produced by chemical action upon two dissimilar metals.

From Project Gutenberg

Volta was one of these, and he also furnished, as will hereafter be seen, a name for one of the units of electrical measurement.

From Project Gutenberg

Back to the Volta, the boundary line between the two empires, fled the routed Ashantees.

From Project Gutenberg

"No" shouts a woman who sells fruit, and who was one of a group on the corner of Via Alessandro Volta.

From Project Gutenberg