Hypertext Webster Gateway: "piano"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Piano \Pi*a"no\, a. & adv. [It., even, smooth, soft, fr. L.
planus even, level.] (Mus.)
Soft; -- a direction to the performer to execute a certain
passage softly, and with diminished volume of tone. (Abbrev.
p.)
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Piano \Pi*an"o\, Pianoforte \Pi*an"o*for`te\, n. [It. piano soft
(fr. L. planus even, smooth; see {Plain}, a.) + It. forte
strong, fr. L. fortis (see {Fort}).] (Mus.)
A well-known musical instrument somewhat resembling the
harpsichord, and consisting of a series of wires of graduated
length, thickness, and tension, struck by hammers moved by
keys.
{Dumb piano}. See {Digitorium}.
{Grand piano}. See under {Grand}.
{Square piano}, one with a horizontal frame and an oblong
case.
{Upright piano}, one with an upright frame and vertical
wires.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
piano
adj : used chiefly as a direction or description in music; "the
piano passages in the composition" [syn: {soft}] [ant:
{forte}]
n 1: a stringed instrument that is played by depressing keys that
cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds
[syn: {pianoforte}, {forte-piano}]
2: (music) low loudness [syn: {pianissimo}]
adv : used as a direction in music; to be played relatively softly
[syn: {softly}] [ant: {forte}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.