middle C

nounMusic.

the note indicated by the first leger line above the bass staff and the first below the treble staff.

Origin of middle C

First recorded in 1830–40

Words Nearby middle C

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use middle C in a sentence

middle C, on the piano, for instance, is made by waves that reach us at the rate of about 256 per second.
Spirit and Music | H. Ernest Hunt
The note called middle C is considered by physicists as having 256 vibrations a second.
Physics | Willis Eugene Tower
At middle C—the middle of the range of a piano—there was a momentary spurt of extra volume.
Operation: Outer Space | William Fitzgerald Jenkins
The wire, which suspended a weight of twenty-eight pounds, was of the size of the middle C-string of a piano.
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851 | Various
At the first lesson the scale of C major should be played, from middle C to high C, ascending only.
Music As A Language | Ethel Home

British Dictionary definitions for middle C

middle C

noun

music the note graphically represented on the first ledger line below the treble staff or the first ledger line above the bass staff and corresponding in pitch to an internationally standardized fundamental frequency of 261.63 hertz

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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