appoggiatura

[uh-poj-uh-too r-uh, -tyoo r-uh; Italian ahp-pawd-jah-too-rah]

noun Music.

a note of embellishment preceding another note and taking a portion of its time.

Origin of appoggiatura

1745–55; < Italian: a propping, equivalent to appoggiat(o), past participle of appoggiare to support (see ap-¹, podi(um), -ate¹) + -ura -ure

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Examples from the Web for appoggiatura

Historical Examples of appoggiatura

And, finally, where the Appoggiatura cannot ascend, it cannot descend.
Observations on the Florid Song
Pier Francesco Tosi
I will not leave them a place for adding the least appoggiatura.
The Life of Rossini
Henry Sutherland Edwards
In this case it is not an "appoggiatura," and should be played short.
On the Execution of Music, and Principally of Ancient Music
Camille Saint-Sans
But Frdric Chopin, nuance, cadence, appoggiatura—there you have it.
The So-called Human Race
Bert Leston Taylor
The situation is quite the same in regard to the appoggiatura.
How to Sing
Lilli Lehmann

British Dictionary definitions for appoggiatura

appoggiatura

noun plural -ras or -re (-rɛ)

music an ornament consisting of a nonharmonic note (short or long) preceding a harmonic one either before or on the stressSee also acciaccatura (def. 2)

Word Origin for appoggiatura

C18: from Italian, literally: a propping, from appoggiare to prop, support

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012