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eighth note

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noun Music.
a note having one eighth of the time value of a whole note; quaver.
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Origin of eighth note

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use eighth note in a sentence

  • Sixteenth-notes may be used in place of the eighth-note, but should be approached and left step-wise.

  • The second and third movements each occupy the duration of an eighth-note.

    The Fascinating Boston|Alfonso Josephs Sheafe
  • In the second bar a note which the editor had taken for an eighth-note was explained by the Composer as being a grace-note.

    The Shadow World|Hamlin Garland
  • In a slow tempo it may serve you to think of the second eighth-note of the triplet as being subdivided into two sixteenths.

    Piano Playing|Josef Hofmann

British Dictionary definitions for eighth note

eighth note

noun
US and Canadian music a note having the time value of an eighth of a semibreveAlso called (in Britain and certain other countries): quaver
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
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