First recorded in 1590–1600
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Curly’s voice cracked which he’d try to cover up by sliding up or down a half note.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2022
The episode ends ludicrously: as Brownshirts riot around Innitzer's palace, Soprano Wilma Lipp and 200 members of the Wiener Jeunesse Choir huddle primly in the plaza, singing Mozart's Alleluia without skipping a half note.
From Time Magazine Archive
The tied quarters here would sound exactly like a half note crossing the bar line.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Figure 1.43: In any particular section of a piece of music, a half note is always twice as long as a quarter note.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
A note that lasts half as long as a whole note is a half note.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Mr. Dunlop arrived at the brown-brick nursing home nearly four years ago, a strong-willed but slightly bent half-note.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2011
But the soprano who starts a half-note too high will shatter glass and her hopes of auditioning for the Met by the time she gets to the "land of the free."
From Time Magazine Archive
But if a man may falter, shall we not forgive to a trombone even a half-note?
From From the Easy Chair — Volume 01 by Curtis, George William
A half-note with one dot lasts three-quarters, with two dots it lasts seven-eighths.
From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Hofmann, Josef
The answer to the question: "What is that note?" would be "half-note," "eighth-note" according to the denomination of the note in question, whether it was on or off the staff.
From Music Notation and Terminology by Gehrkens, Karl Wilson
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.
