duetn.
/djʊˈɛt/, /dʒʊˈɛt/, U.S. /d(j)uˈɛt/ 1.
a. A musical composition for two performers; a performance by two singers or instrumentalists. In later use also: a performance by two dancers.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > pieces for specific number of performers > [noun] > duet
duo1590
duetto1709
duet1725
duettino1763
1725 L. Theobald Harlequin Sorcerer ii. 14 Duet. Pluto and Proserpine.
1757 (title) Apollo's Cabinet..an accurate Collection of English and Italian Songs, Cantatas, and Duetts.
1797 A. Radcliffe Italian I. i. 33 They..opened the serenade with a duet.
1830 Examiner 485/2 The melody which threads the first duet.
1884 F. M. Crawford Rom. Singer (ed. 2) I. 47 You can..take me to her house to sing duets, as part of her lesson.
1922 A. Haddon Green Room Gossip vi. 138 His..duets with Miss Muriel George have reached a top-line position on the halls.
1960 ‘Miss Read’ Fresh from Country (1962) iv. 51 Two of the mothers settled themselves at the piano and gave a spirited, if inaccurate, duet.
1984 B. Taper Balanchine (1987) 54 Shortly afterward he choreographed another romantic duet—Poème, to music by Zdenĕk Fibich—that he danced with Danilova.
2007 Time Out N.Y. 20 Sept. 143/2 ‘Honest James’, an acoustic duet with Carter, is an instant masterpiece.
b. In extended use: a sound or action likened to a duet, esp. in being made or carried out by two people or things simultaneously.
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1761 Life & Extraordinary Hist. J. Taylor II. vii. 201 The sympathizing Dicky echoed Groan for Groan. A sorrowful Duet it was, no doubt.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxii. 59 When Miggs had finished her solo, her mistress struck in again, and the two together performed a duet.
1862 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia III. xi. iii. 77 Dispute which rose crescendo in disharmonious duet.
1878 Trans. Royal Soc. Edinb. 9 626 We now insert in the coil a piece of soft iron, and we have a duet of two undistinguishable ticks.
1909 Power & Engineer 27 Apr. 781/2 A duet of two horse laughs and another round of drinks ended the confession.
1947 E. R. Seary S. Afr. Short Stories 228 The male and female [birds] are inseparable and their duets are variously described: ‘bok, bok kiririe’, [etc.].
2011 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 66/1 I would attempt to disrupt the turn-taking ‘wait and parse’ pattern that computers understand, and create a single, flowing duet of verbal behavior.
2. A pair of people or things; a couple, a duo.Earliest in attributive use.
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the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun]
pairc1300
couple1365
paira1382
gemels1382
pair1391
yokea1425
brace1430
binarya1464
match1542
twin1569
binity?1578
twoa1585
couplement1596
Gemini1602
couplet1604
twain1607
duad1660
dyad1675
duet1749
tway?a1800
doublet1816
two-group1901
two-grouping1901
coupling1961
1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 96 We were landed at a publick house in Chelsea, hospitably commodious for the reception of duet-parties of pleasure.
1857 Dublin Univ. Mag. June 747/2 Blind? shouted the duet of friends; why, he sees well enough.
1890 Daily News 13 Sept. 3/1 Two sisters..wore recently an original duet of gowns in these colours.
1977 J. March Adv. Org. Chem. (ed. 2) ii. 59 These cyclobutadiene-metal complexes may be looked upon as systems containing an aromatic duet.
1993 Gourmet Jan. 46/1 We were about to plunge tiny spoons into a duet of amuse-gueules.
2002 G. Toledo Hanging of Old Brown ii. 37 A strange duet indeed, Adams and Calhoun.
Compounds
General attributive.
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1749Duet-parties [see sense 2].
1762 G.-A. Gallini Treat. Art of Dancing 282 Venus and Adonis form a pas-de-deux, or duet-dance.
1836 S. Smith Mem. (1855) II. 383 I have fallen into the duet life, and it seems to do very well.
1937 Tempo July 9/1 Carl Kress and Dick McDonough..uphold the traditions of..Eddie Lang, especially in their recent duet discs.
1973 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 86 340 The kind of timing required for the duet numbers began to slip.
2008 Time Out N.Y. 10 Apr. 138/3 He's in duet mode this week with a true fire-starter, blues-dripping guitarist Russell Malone.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
duetv.
/djʊˈɛt/, /dʒʊˈɛt/, U.S. /d(j)uˈɛt/ intransitive. To perform or take part in a duet. Often with with. Also in extended use.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform music [verb (intransitive)] > perform duet
duet1822
1822 Ld. Byron Let. 12 July (1979) IX. 183 When you can spare time from duetting, coquetting, and claretting with your Hibernians of both sexes, let me have a line from you.
1879 G. Meredith Egoist II. ii. 29 As accordantly coupled..as a drum duetting with a bass-viol.
1915 G. Fitch Homeburg Memories viii. 181 Our band plays ‘Poet and Peasant’ with..Ad Smith and Henry Aultmeyer duetting perfectly.
1978 Billboard 5 Aug. 52/2 They duetted on eight numbers.
2005 Time Out N.Y. 7 Apr. 131/3 Years of romantic missteps and addiction duetted with Sill's warmth and spirituality to imbue her music with..knee-buckling ambivalence.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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