Jump To:

• melos
  melos

  noun

  the succession of musical tones constituting a melody.
• Melos
  Melos

  noun

  a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the SW Aegean: statue, Venus de Milo, found here 1820. 51 sq. mi. (132 sq. km).

melos

¹ American  

[mel-os, -ohs, mee-los, -lohs] / ˈmɛl ɒs, -oʊs, ˈmi lɒs, -loʊs /

noun

1. the succession of musical tones constituting a melody.

---

Melos ² American  

[mee-los, -lohs, mel-os, -ohs, mee-laws] / ˈmi lɒs, -loʊs, ˈmɛl ɒs, -oʊs, ˈmi lɔs /

Also Milos.

noun

1. a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the SW Aegean: statue, Venus de Milo, found here 1820. 51 sq. mi. (132 sq. km).

---

Melos British  

/ ˈmiːlɒs /

noun

1. Modern Greek name: Mílos.  an island in the SW Aegean Sea, in the Cyclades: of volcanic origin, with hot springs; centre of early Aegean civilization, where the Venus de Milo was found. Pop: 4771 (2001). Area: 132 sq km (51 sq miles)

---

Other Word Forms

• Melian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of melos

First recorded in 1730–40, melos is from the Greek word mélos song, tune

Example Sentences

“After all,” she notes, “melodrama comes from melos, which means ‘music,’ ‘honey’; a drama queen is, nonetheless, a queen.”

From The New Yorker • Oct. 31, 2019

Charles A. Taylor, 78, blood-&-thunder dramatist of the '90s; in Glendale, Calif. Five of his melos were running at once on Broadway in 1892.

From Time Magazine Archive

The earlier poets of the melos were for the most part natives of 'the sprinkled isles, Lily on lily that overlace the sea.'

From Love, Worship and Death Some Renderings from the Greek Anthology by Rodd, Rennell

Even in its heyday, though the parts were ever so independent of one another, the mass of tone forms a great melody, or melos, moving on a firm harmonic foundation in the lowest part.

From Purcell by Runciman, John F.

This word melos is also applied to the peculiar style of vocal solo found in Wagner's music dramas.

From Music Notation and Terminology by Gehrkens, Karl Wilson