half tone

noun

Music.

1. semitone.

Word History and Origins

Origin of half tone¹

First recorded in 1645–55

Example Sentences

Sometimes, as in “September 2006,” the road is clear and the progress steady: about a half tone every 20 seconds, to span two octaves.

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Without the Paris premiere’s first act, in which Carlos and Élisabeth meet and fall in love, the opera now begins in the monastery at San Yuste, haunted by the ghost — or perhaps the living incognito presence — of the old emperor Charles V. As the chorus sings of “l’auguste empereur” who has become ashes and dust — “que cendre et que poussière” — Verdi’s music matches, in its rising half tone, the graduated opening and closing of the French vowels.

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Wispelwey has done it at 397 hertz, a full tone below the modern A tuning, and a semitone, or half tone, below the usual baroque A which is 415 hertz.

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Another glance toward the window, then lowering his voice an additional half tone, and favoring me with a knowing wink, he said: "Have you heard anything concerning him?"

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Selecting a common half tone cut which measured exactly 100 � 69 mm. and dampening the sheets of paper to different degrees of wetness I proceeded to impress the cut on each sheet, using a common roller proof press.

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