discant

American  

[dis-kant, dis-kant] / ˈdɪs kænt, dɪsˈkænt /

noun

1. Music. Also discantus a 13th-century polyphonic style with strict mensural meter in all the voice parts, in contrast to the metrically free organum of the period.

2. descant.

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verb (used without object)

1. descant.

discant British  

noun

1. a variant of descant descant descant

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verb

1. a variant of descant descant descant

Other Word Forms

• discanter noun

Etymology

Origin of discant

1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin discanthus; descant

Example Sentences

Seu viri curas pia nupta mulcet, Seu fovet mater sobolem benigna, Sive cum libris novitate pascet Sedula mentem; Sit memor nostri, fideique merces, Stet fides constans, meritoque blandum Thraliae discant resonare nomen Littora Skiae.

From Life of Johnson, Volume 5 Tour to the Hebrides (1773) and Journey into North Wales (1774) by Boswell, James

Then the spirit moving her, she began to discant on things past and people vanished.

From The Ghost Girl by Stacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere)

Sit memor nostri, fideique solvat Fida mercedem, meritoque blandum Thraliae discant resonare nomen         Littora Skiae.

From Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 The Works of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D., in Nine Volumes by Johnson, Samuel

Du, Eberle aus Freiburg,     Du bist ein Musikant, Top-sawyer on de counterpoint     Und buster in discant, To dee de soul of musik     All innerly ish known, Du canst mit might fullenden     De art of orgel-ton.

From The Breitmann Ballads by Leland, Charles Godfrey

From Agricola onwards transverse flutes formed a complete family, said to comprise the discant, the alto and tenor, and the bass— respectively.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various