piano1
[pee-an-oh, pyan-oh]
- a musical instrument in which felt-covered hammers, operated from a keyboard, strike the metal strings.
Show More
Origin of piano1
First recorded in 1795–1805; short for pianoforte
piano2
[pee-ah-noh; Italian pyah-naw]Music.
- soft; subdued.
Show More
- softly. Abbreviation: p, p.
Show More
Origin of piano2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for piano
Contemporary Examples
On piano was legendary session man Billy Preston, who co-wrote and recorded the original version one year before Cocker's.
When you left the piano for the Fender Rhodes and various synthesizers and came back to it, did it affect the way you play piano?
It was Littlejohn who drew the iconic image of Snoopy dancing on a piano despite Charles Schulz's protests.
On the piano is a portrait of Lizzie, and replica skulls of the Bordens are displayed in the dining room.
He has played the song on the piano at a charity event and sung it for Russian spy Anna Chapman and her colleagues.
Historical Examples
He took the song from his pocket, and smoothed it out before her on the piano.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
She moved out the day I furnished the rooms upstairs and got the piano.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
She sat down at the piano and played a tune that was popular at the time—I do not remember what.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
The violin and piano are excellent, but on some accounts the hand-organ is the best of all.
But in this hole that we are in, there's no room fitting for my piano.
Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
piano1
- a musical stringed instrument resembling a harp set in a vertical or horizontal frame, played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike the strings and produce audible vibrationsSee also grand piano, upright piano
Show More
Word Origin
C19: short for pianoforte
piano2
- music (to be performed) softlySymbol: p
Show More
Word Origin
C17: from Italian, from Latin plānus flat; see plain 1
Piano
- Renzo. born 1937, Italian architect; buildings include the Pompidou Centre, Paris (1977; with Richard Rogers), the Potsdamer Platz redevelopment, Berlin (1998), and The Shard, London (2012)
Show More
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
Word Origin and History for piano
n.
1803, from French piano (18c.), Italian piano, shortened forms of pianoforte (q.v.). As an adverb, "softly," in musical directions (superlative pianissimo), attested from 1680s. Piano wire attested from 1831.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
piano
A musical direction meaning “to be performed softly”; the opposite of forte. As the name of a musical instrument, it is short for pianoforte.
Show More
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.