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half note

noun Music.
  1. a note equivalent in time value to one half of a whole note; minim.
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Origin of half note

First recorded in 1590–1600
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for half-note

Historical Examples

  • But if a man may falter, shall we not forgive to a trombone even a half-note?

    From the Easy Chair, vol. 1

    George William Curtis

  • It may safely be said however that the sign always indicates that a half-note has a beat.

  • The suspension, instead of being sustained as a half-note, may be repeated on the second quarter, as at c.

  • For the present the suspension should not be less than a half-note or its rhythmic equivalent in the ornamental resolution.

  • A half-note with one dot lasts three-quarters, with two dots it lasts seven-eighths.

    Piano Playing

    Josef Hofmann

British Dictionary definitions for half-note

half-note

noun
  1. US and Canadian a note having the time value of half a semibreveAlso called: minim
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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