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all' ottava

American  
[ahl uh-tah-vuh, ahl-lawt-tah-vah] / ˌɑl əˈtɑ və, ˌɑl lɔtˈtɑ vɑ /

noun

Music.

  1. a direction (8va), placed above or below the staff to indicate that the passage covered is to be played one octave higher or lower respectively.

Etymology

Origin of all' ottava

1815–25; < Italian: literally, at the octave

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.