octave

[ ok-tiv, -teyv ]
See synonyms for octave on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Music.

    • a tone on the eighth degree from a given tone.

    • the interval encompassed by such tones.

    • the harmonic combination of such tones.

    • a series of tones, or of keys of an instrument, extending through this interval.

  2. a pipe-organ stop whose pipes give tones an octave above the normal pitch of the keys used.

  1. a series or group of eight.

  2. Also called octet. Prosody.

    • a group of eight lines of verse, especially the first eight lines of a sonnet in the Italian form.: Compare sestet (def. 1).

    • a stanza of eight lines.

  3. the eighth of a series.

  4. Ecclesiastical.

    • the eighth day from a feast day, counting the feast day as the first.

    • the period of eight days beginning with a feast day.

  5. one eighth of a pipe of wine.

  6. Fencing. the eighth of eight defensive positions.

adjective
  1. pitched an octave higher.

Origin of octave

1
1300–50; Middle English <Latin octāva eighth part, noun use of feminine of octāvus, equivalent to oct-oct- + -āvus adj. suffix

Other words from octave

  • oc·ta·val [ok-tey-vuhl, ok-tuh-], /ɒkˈteɪ vəl, ˈɒk tə-/, adjective

Words Nearby octave

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

How to use octave in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for octave

octave

/ (ˈɒktɪv) /


noun
    • the interval between two musical notes one of which has twice the pitch of the other and lies eight notes away from it counting inclusively along the diatonic scale

    • one of these two notes, esp the one of higher pitch

    • (as modifier): an octave leap See also perfect (def. 9), diminished (def. 2), interval (def. 5)

  1. prosody a rhythmic group of eight lines of verse

  1. (ˈɒkteɪv)

    • a feast day and the seven days following

    • the final day of this period

  2. the eighth of eight basic positions in fencing

  3. any set or series of eight

adjective
  1. consisting of eight parts

Origin of octave

1
C14: (originally: eighth day) via Old French from Medieval Latin octāva diēs eighth day (after a festival), from Latin octo eight

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

Cultural definitions for octave

octave

[ (ok-tiv) ]


An interval between musical notes in which the higher note is six whole tones, or twelve half tones, above the lower. From the standpoint of physics, the higher note has twice the frequency of the lower. Notes that are an octave apart, or a whole number of octaves apart, sound in some ways like the same note and have the same letter for their names.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.