octaval

Variant of octave

octave definition

oc·tave (äktiv, -tāv′)

noun

    1. the eighth day following a church festival, counting the festival day as the first
    2. the entire period between the festival and this day
  1. a group of eight lines of verse; specif., the first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet
  2. any group of eight
  3. Fencing a position of thrust or parry in which the hand is rotated with the palm up
  4. Music
    1. the eighth tone of an ascending or descending diatonic scale, or a tone seven degrees above or below a given tone in such a scale
    2. the interval of seven diatonic degrees between a tone and either of its octaves
    3. the series of tones contained within this interval, or the keys of an instrument producing such a series
    4. a tone and either of its octaves sounded together
    5. an organ stop producing tones an octave above those ordinarily produced by the keys struck

Etymology: OFr < L octava, fem. of octavus, eighth < octo, eight

adjective

  1. consisting of eight, or an octave
  2. Music producing tones an octave higher an octave key

Related Forms:

  • octaval oc·ta′·val (äk tāvəl, āktə vəl) adjective

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.