musicaln.
/ˈmjuːzᵻkl/, U.S. /ˈmjuzək(ə)l/ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > [noun]
organeOE
orgleeOE
gleea1225
instrumentc1300
organum1342
organyc1400
musicala1450
musical instrument?c1450
organ1772
dulcimer1890
axe1955
a1450 (?c1421) J. Lydgate Siege Thebes (Arun.) (1911) 222 (MED) The Musycal, the lusty instrument, I mene the harpe most melodious.
c1500 in Grose's Antiquarian Repertory (1809) IV. 408 All theys musycalls well handilled and orderide in ther kynde Gevithe soundes of swetnes.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > a performance > [noun]
melodyc1300
musical1579
performance?1611
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. May f. 16v Tho to the greene Wood they speeden hem all, To fetchen home May with their musicall.
1598 B. Yong tr. G. Polo Enamoured Diana in tr. J. de Montemayor Diana 443 Who shall tell you of that musicall [Sp. melodia], Which many a Poet..so sweetely shall resound?
3.
a. A musical party; (also in plural) musical entertainment. Cf. musicale n. U.S. in later use.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > [noun] > collectively
musica1382
minstrelsyc1390
set1561
orchestra1770
musical1809
family1842
instrumentarium1893
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > a performance > [noun] > musical party
musical1809
musical soirée1821
soirée musicale1836
musicale1871
1809 Examiner 9 July 442/1 (heading) Boarding school musicals.
1823 I. D'Israeli Curiosities of Lit. 2nd Ser. I. 401 Such fashionable cant terms as ‘theatricals’, and ‘musicals’, invented by the flippant Topham.
1842 T. Hood in New Monthly Mag. Jan. 145 It's not the thing for musicals to set us by the ears.
1887 Cornhill Mag. June 632 Dull dinners and afternoon musicals completed the list of outside amusements.
1912 S. A. Beadle Lyrics of Under World 36 The wife is simply nothing if she can't assert her rights; Cannot attend the socials and the musicals of nights.
1995 City Paper (Baltimore) 31 May 25/3 He actually didn't become involved with the band until the early 90s when they asked him [to] narrate a musical they were performing at a Pittsburgh bohemian nightspot called the Back Room.
b. Originally U.S. A play or film in which singing and dancing play an essential part; a musical comedy.Traditionally, the theatrical musical has been populist and commercial, often tending towards comic or burlesque themes, and as such has been regarded as distinct from opera. More recently, however, it has been argued that the distinction is no longer so clear-cut. See also musical comedy n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > other types of play
king play1469
king game1504
historya1509
chronicle history1600
monology1608
horseplaya1627
piscatory1631
stock play1708
petite pièce1712
mimic1724
ballad opera1730
ballad farce1735
benefit-play1740
potboiler1783
monodrama1793
extravaganza1797
theo-drama1801
monodrame1803
proverb1803
stock piece1804
bespeak1807
ticket-night1812
dramaticle1813
monopolylogue1819
pièce d'occasion1830
interlude1831
mimea1834
costume piece1834
mummers' play1849
history play1850
gag-piece1860
music drama1874
well-made1881
playlet1884
two-decker1884
slum1885
kinderspiel1886
thrill1886
knockabout1887
two-hander1888
front-piece1889
thriller1889
shadow-play1890
mime play1894
problem play1894
one-acter1895
sex play1899
chronicle drama1902
thesis-play1902
star vehicle1904
folk-play1905
radio play1908
tab1915
spy play1919
one-act1920
pièce à thèse1923
dance-drama1924
a mess of plottage1926
turkey1927
weepie1928
musical1930
cliffhanger1931
mime drama1931
triangle drama1931
weeper1934
spine-chiller1940
starrer1941
scorcher1942
teleplay1947
straw-hatter1949
pièce noire1951
pièce rose1951
tab show1951
conversation piece1952
psychodrama1956
whydunit1968
mystery play1975
State of the Nation1980
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > other types
romantic comedy1748
epic1785
pre-release1871
foreign film1899
frivol1903
dramedy1905
film loop1906
first run1910
detective film1911
colour film1912
news film1912
topical1912
cinemicrograph1913
scenic1913
sport1913
newsreel1914
serial1914
sex comedy1915
war picture1915
telefilm1919
comic1920
true crime1923
art house1925
quickie1926
turkey1927
two-reeler1928
smellie1929
disaster film1930
musical1930
feelie1931
sticky1934
action comedy1936
quota quickie1936
re-release1936
screwball comedy1937
telemovie1937
pickup1939
video film1939
actioner1940
space opera1941
telepic1944
biopic1947
kinescope1949
TV movie1949
pièce noire1951
pièce rose1951
deepie1953
misterioso1953
film noir1956
policier1956
psychodrama1956
free film1958
prequel1958
co-production1959
glossy1960
sexploiter1960
sci-fier1961
tie-in1962
chanchada1963
romcom1963
wuxia1963
chick flick1964
showreel1964
mockumentary1965
sword-and-sandal1965
schlockbuster1966
mondo1967
peplum1968
thriller1968
whydunit1968
schlocker1969
buddy-buddy movie1972
buddy-buddy film1974
buddy film1974
science-fictioner1974
screwball1974
buddy movie1975
slasher movie1975
swashbuckler1975
filmi1976
triptych1976
autobiopic1977
Britcom1977
kidflick1977
noir1977
bodice-ripper1979
chopsocky1981
date movie1983
kaiju eiga1984
screener1986
neo-noir1987
indie1990
bromance2001
hack-and-slash2002
mumblecore2005
dark fantasy2007
hack-and-slay2007
gorefest2012
kidult-
1930 Theatre Mag. Aug.–Sept. 28 (heading) Show girls of the summer musicals.
1935 Motion Picture Nov. 28/2 People are ready for musicals again.
1940 Illustr. London News 196 464/1 Some of these ‘musicals’ have proved extremely popular.
1954 T. S. Eliot Confidential Clerk ii. 47 Lucasta. But what about taking me to a concert? Colby. Only the other day I invited you... Lucasta. To go to see that American Musical!
1988 Music & Musicians Internat. May 11/3 Songwriters can write good musicals but composers of scores as a rule cannot write popular songs.
1991 Dateline Mag. Jan. 30/2 (advt.) Hardworking divorced middle aged lady, seeks friends; interests: Christianity,..musicals, weight-watching, letter-writing.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > music appreciation > music lover > [noun]
symphone1572
philharmonic1762
music lover1822
melomaniac1836
melomane1857
musical1861
musicophile1931
1861 Sat. Rev. 21 Sept. 297 A luminous constellation of musicals has risen over Hereford.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
musicaladj.
/ˈmjuːzᵻkl/, U.S. /ˈmjuzək(ə)l/ I. Of or relating to music.† 6. U.S. colloquial. Amusing, humorous; ridiculous. Cf. music n. 11b. Obsolete.
1. Of or belonging to music; concerning or involving music.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > [adjective]
musica1382
musical1447
rural1488
harmonic1570
harmonical1603
pure1605
tuneful1697
melophonic1843
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) 1464 (MED) Orpheus..of me wolde neuer take hede, Nor..oo poynt me teche In musical proporcyon rymes to lede.
J. Metham Amoryus & Cleopes (1916) 549 (MED) Be Hercules the Harp musycal off Orphe Was joynyd to the pole.
a1450 Musical Treat. in Speculum (1935) 10 265 (MED) Tretises diuerse of musical proporcions & of þeire naturis & denominacions.
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1869) II. 229 (MED) Tubal was..not the fynder of instrumentes musicalle [L. musicalium].
c1570 Art of Music (BL Add. 4911) f. 34v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Musical(l The rewlis musicall.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 324 Marsyas roamed with her, who after, being ouercome in a Musicall contention of Apollo, was flayed quicke.
1664 J. Playford Brief Introd. Skill Musick (ed. 4) i. 70 It was my chance lately to be in Company with three Gentlemen at a Musical practice.
1737 H. Carey (title) The musical century in one hundred English ballads.
1790 R. B. Sheridan Let. in T. Moore Life R. B. Sheridan (1825) 468 We had a very pleasant musical party last night at Lord Erskine's.
1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India I. iii. vii. 297 Musical science is said to have declined like all others.
1892 Law Times, Weekly Notes 188/1 The defendant had a musical evening regularly once a week.
1947 A. Einstein Music Romantic Era xviii. 350 The musical construction of a sonata or a sonata-movement does not follow real or idealized feelings.
1973 Black World Nov. 20/2 If a student of jazz were to exhibit the..total ignorance about Western art music that most members of the musical establishment exhibit toward jazz, he would be termed a musical illiterate.
1987 A. Aronson Shakespeare & Rembrandt xi. 118 Repeatedly Shakespeare uses musical images to distinguish sanity from insanity.
2. † b. figurative. Harmonious, well-proportioned. Obsolete.
a. Tuneful, melodious, pleasing to the ear; having the nature or character of music, as distinguished from mere noise.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > [adjective] > having musical quality
musicala1449
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adjective]
musicala1449
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > pleasantness of sound > [adjective] > musical or harmonious
musica1382
cordant1382
melodiousa1425
musicala1449
consonant?1521
warbling1549
harmoniousc1550
tunable1579
symphonical1589
symphoniacal1650
symphonious1652
consonous1654
harmonic1667
symphonous1814
symphonic1864
a1449 J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 766 The Vnycorn, by musical swetnesse, Atwen too maydenys is take and hath a fal.
a1500 Hymnal in R. S. Loomis Medieval Stud. in Memory G. S. Loomis (1927) 466 (MED) Owr voyce armonicall Reysownyng owt, ymmortall god on live, En hansyng the with twnes musicall.
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) xvi. 76 The lytle byrdes swetely dyd syng With tunes musicall in the fayre mornyng.
1576 A. Fleming tr. J. Caius Of Eng. Dogges 35 Dogges..which are taught..to daunce in measure at the musicall sounde of an instrument.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iv. i. 109 Marke the musicall confusion Of hounds and Echo in coniunction. View more context for this quotation
a1668 W. Davenant First Days Entertainm. Rutland-House in Poems (1672) 344 Would he not have you Cough but..with a musical concordance to the rest that have taken cold?
1720 J. Welwood in Rowe tr. Lucan Pharsalia Pref. 43 The Versification [is] both musical and adapted to the subject.
1782 W. Cowper Progress of Error in Poems 14 Musical as the chime of tinkling rills.
1831 J. Wilson Unimore vi. 13 Steep water-falls, for ever musical, Keep dinning on.
1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country i. 27 What is this..makes The musicalest buzzing at my ear?
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. III. 43 A murmur which began as a soft, gentle, blowing sound..may..increase to a loud musical bruit in the course of a single week.
1908 Daily Chron. 12 Dec. 4/6 Verse is called musical by a rather silly misuse of words.
1951 J. Masters Nightrunners of Bengal v. 64 He forced a small musical burp and giggled.
1998 New Yorker 23 Feb. 139/1 He had high cheekbones, clear eyes, and a musical voice.
ΚΠ
1643 W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. App. 77 Out of which things, the moderate and musicall state of the Commonweale which we enjoy, is moulded and made up.
1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV clvi. 81 Vastness which grows—but grows to harmonize—All musical in its immensities.
1892 J. A. Symonds Life Michelangelo (1899) II. 5 No edifice..is..more musical in linear proportion than the Church of S. Andrea at Mantua.
3. Skilled or trained in music; having a natural aptitude for learning or performing music; fond of music.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > [adjective] > skilfully
musicala1500
virtuoso1853
virtuose1873
society > leisure > the arts > music > music appreciation > music lover > [adjective]
musicala1500
music-loving?1613
philharmonic1740
a1500 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 58 (MED) The trones al Most musycall, Syng the heuenly Kery.
c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 401 (MED) As a poet musykall made he melody.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. i. 229 Hot. Now I perceiue the diuell vnderstands Welsh,..Birlady he is a good musition. La. Then should you be nothing but musicall, For you are altogither gouernd by humors. View more context for this quotation
1624 T. Heywood Γυναικεῖον ii. 65 All such banquetters be either musicall or learned.
1685 J. Dryden Albion & Albanius Pref. sig. (b)2v The English I confess, are not altogether so Musical as the French.
1702 R. Steele Funeral ii. 28 There's the Spinet Mr. Campley, I know you're Musical.
1782 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music II. 29 Its Notation seems a subject of enquiry not unworthy the curiosity of musical readers.
1832 J. Jekyll Corr. (1894) 294 At night we had four musical artistes.
1896 ‘Iota’ Quaker Grandmother 67 What! Do you take me for a musical person?
1949 F. Towers Tea with Mr. Rochester 19 She is very musical, and has perfect pitch.
1988 F. Kaplan Dickens i. 27 The family was musical. His mother loved dancing. His sister Fanny had..piano and voice lessons.
4. Mathematics. = harmonic adj. 5a. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > numerical arrangement > [adjective] > of sets > of sequences > progression
geometrical1543
harmonical1569
progressional1570
musical1589
equidifferent1696
harmonic1706
synharmonic1850
preferred1922
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. i. 53 A triple proportion, to wit, the Arithmeticall, the Geometricall, and the Musicall.
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises i. xxii. f. 10 Of Musicall proportion called in Latine Harmoniaca proportio.
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1255 Plato..intending to declare harmonically the harmony of the foure elements of the soule..in each interval hath put downe two medieties of the soule, and that acording to musical proportion.
1806 C. Hutton Course Math. (ed. 5) I. 119 Musical Proportion is when, of three numbers, the first has the same proportion to the third, as the difference between the first and second, has to the difference between the second and third.
1806 C. Hutton Course Math. (ed. 5) I. 119 When numbers are in musical progression, their reciprocals are in arithmetical progression.
1939 Amer. Math. Monthly 46 596 The invention of the so-called musical proportion is attributed to one of these: a. Mendelssohn; b. the Babylonians; c. Bach; d. the French.
1972 M. Kline Math. Thought iii. 32 If p and q are two numbers..the proportion p:(p + q)/2 = 2pq/(p + q):q was called the musical proportion.
5.
a. Of a dramatic work, etc.: accompanied by or set to music; incorporating music.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > [adjective] > accompanied by music
musical1658
accompanied1753
scored1957
1658 J. Burbury tr. G. Gualdo Priorato Hist. Christina Queen of Swedland 456 Musical Playes [It. drami..in musica]..with rare changes of scenes, intermediums of dances, and most exquisite musick.
1685 J. Dryden Albion & Albanius Pref. sig. (a)2v The Italians..have not only invented, but brought to perfection, this sort of Dramatique Musical Entertainment.
1696 P. A. Motteux Loves of Mars & Venus Pref. sig. a2 This Musical Play or Masque.
1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ II. 138 Theatrical Decorations of Musical, Comical, and Tripudial Interludes.
1770 I. Bickerstaff (title) The recruiting serjeant; a musical entertainment.
1854 H. Morley Jrnl. 15 July (1866) 91 The opera-goer who enjoyed that musical farce..now finds the enjoyment of it trebled by the addition of Ronconi's..drolleries.
1894 World 21 Feb. 23/1 This type of musical farce is not an elevating or intellectual art-form.
1937 M. Allingham Dancers in Mourning i. 1 The Buffer, the musical show which had been built on..his book.
1992 Cent. Home June 7 (advt.) Musical fireworks displays designed by masters of pyrotechnology from around the world.
b. Of a mechanical device or other object: equipped with a mechanism that plays music.See also musical box n.
ΚΠ
1721 New-Eng. Courant 6–13 Nov. 2/2 By letters from Dublin we are informed, that the ingenious Mr. John Finney of that Place, has lately invented and made a wonderful Machine, or Astronomical and Musical Clock, the chief performances of which are as follow: viz. At the End of every three Hours, or at Pleasure, it plays a Variety of Minuets, Marches, [etc.].
1821 M. Wilmot Let. 16 Apr. (1935) 105 The musical bonbon box, and other trifles to amuse the children.
1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 66 Pocket Organ, or Musical Snuff-box.
1876 Manufacturer & Builder Jan. 19/3 The small pieces of the quills are placed on a small cylinder, which, when turned round, sound[s] the strings of small musical toys.
1970 New Yorker 12 Sept. 142/3 (advt.) Musical table of inlaid wood. Music starts when top folds up.
1991 New Scientist 22 June 88/1 A lingerie firm in Tokyo has made a musical bra.
2000 Stuff Dec. 98 While we can see the benefits of..your carry-everywhere PDA being able to play tunes, we're not so sure why you'd want a musical camera.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > [adjective] > amusing or entertaining
sportful1445
solaciousc1450
recreativec1487
good1489
sportsome1533
entertaining1582
divertive1598
pastiming1606
distractful1636
diverting1651
divertising1655
divertissanta1660
lightsome1679
amusive1730
amusing1753
musical1815
fun1827
funsy1958
1815 J. Pickering in Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 3 497 They would say of a man of humour, He is very musical.
1842 Life in West 281 The rule is to ‘gammon a stranger’ who persists in asking questions, telling him something ‘awfully musical.’
1846 F. M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers (1856) vi. 61 Old Green's a musical old critter, you know.
1881 R. T. Cooke Somebody's Neighbors 242 Why..I can't be left to do what I darn please is musical to me.
7. slang. Of a horse: having defective respiration, affected with roaring (see roaring n.1 3). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [adjective] > respiratory disorders
pursick1303
pursivea1425
pursy1440
roaring1509
broken-winded?1523
wind-broken1603
crack-winded1680
thick-windeda1694
musical1831
bellows to mend1854
1831 ‘Nimrod’ Remarks Condition Hunters 97 On hearing his mare more musical than she should be,..I asked him how long she had been a roarer?
1880 Bell's Life in London 28 Aug. 7/1 Street Arab, a plain musical colt of disputed parentage, only proved himself the best of a bad lot in the Badminton Plate.
1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 157/2 Man sagt von einem solchen [sc. asthmatischen] Pferde wohl auch: he, she has musical propensities.
1900 M. H. Hayes Among Horses Russia Introd. 8 His skewbald Joseph, who was a beautifully shaped hunter,..though musical.
8. Of or relating to the Muses of classical mythology. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > relating to the muse
musical1490
Heliconian1557
Pierian1591
Castalian1602
1490 W. Caxton Eneydos Pref. 4 He hath redde the ix. muses, and vnderstande theyr musicalle scyences.
Compounds
C1. † musical-headed adj. Obsolete rare (probably) music-loving.† musical-shell n. Conchology Obsolete = music shell n. 1.
musical appreciation n. = music appreciation n. at music n. and adj. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > music appreciation > [noun]
musical appreciation1850
1850 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 8 June 353/2 Ladies and gentlemen who, beginning with more than the average degree of musical appreciation, think more of what passes upon the stage and in the orchestra than around them.
1929 Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. 24 75 It is possible..in the teaching of ‘musical appreciation’ to inculcate dogmas about what is symbolized by certain musical combinations.
1962 M. Sargent Outl. Music p. v I believe this ‘Outline’ to be more thorough than many popular books on musical appreciation.
musical bow n. any of various simple musical instruments made from a string or strings stretched from end to end of a curved stick, and usually employing a gourd or the player's mouth as a resonator, sound being produced by striking or plucking the strings.
ΚΠ
1897 O. T. Mason in Amer. Anthropologist 10 377 The ‘hool’, a musical instrument played by the Mayas, at Loltun, in Yucatan, adds another area to the distribution of the ‘musical bow.’
1937 Man 37 130/2 One of the oldest and most interesting instruments recorded was the musical bow..in which the single overtones are amplified by the cavities of the head.
1990 New Age Oct. 52/3 There's the secret of the South American berimbau, the single-stringed musical bow.
musical chime n. a set of bells arranged to play a tune, a carillon.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > percussion instrument > bell > [noun] > set of bells
ring1549
chime1550
peal1630
set1771
carillon1774
musical chime1798
1798 C. Cruttwell Univ. Gazetteer I. at Birmingham In each steeple is a set of musical chimes.
1884 Atlantic Monthly May 629/2 The purpose of the musical chimes..was to usher in this fruitless interval.
musical clock n. a clock which plays short tunes at regular intervals, as on the hour, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > other types of clock
watch-clock1592
German clock1598
quarter clocka1631
wheel-clock1671
table clocka1684
month clock1712
astronomical clock1719
musical clock1721
repeater1725
Tompion1727
pulling clock1733
regulator1735
eight-day clock1741
regulator clock1750
French clock1757
repetition clock1765
day clock1766
striker1778
chiming clock1789
cuckoo-clock1789
night clock1823
telltale1827
carriage clock1828
fly-clock1830
steeple clock1830
telltale clock1832
skeleton clock1842
telegraph clock1842
star clock1850
weight-clock1850
prison clock1853
crystal clock1854
pillar scroll top clock1860
sheep's-head clock1872
presentation clock1875
pillar clock1880
stop-clock1881
Waterbury1882
calendar-clock1884
ting-tang clock1884
birdcage clock1886
sheep's head1887
perpetual calendar1892
bracket clock1894
Act of Parliament clock1899
cartel clock1899
banjo-clock1903
master clock1904
lantern clock1913
time clock1919
evolutionary clock1922
lancet clock1922
atomic clock1927
quartz clock1934
clock radio1946
real-time clock1953
organ clock1956
molecular clock1974
travelling clock2014
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > musical box > [noun] > musical clock
musical clock1721
1721Musical clock [see sense 5b].
1855 A. Trollope Warden xvi. 268 A musical clock began to play.
1998 Western Daily Press (Electronic ed.) 3 Mar. My father bought my mother a lovely musical clock... Every quarter of an hour it would play the tune Home Sweet Home.
musical dramatist n. a person skilled at communicating drama by musical means; a creator of music dramas.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > composing music > composer > [noun] > composer by type of music
fuguist1789
symphonist1789
melodist1826
threnodist1827
instrumentalist1838
melophonist1847
polyphonist1864
musical dramatist1866
operettist1867
tone poet1874
orchestrator1875
French Impressionist1876
monodist1888
romantic1892
neoclassicist1899
orchestralist1899
variationist1900
mensuralist1901
tone-painter1903
impressionist1908
pre-Romantic1918
phrase-maker1924
polytonalist1925
atonalist1929
dodecaphonist1953
serialist1954
twelve-toner1955
miniaturist1962
minimalist1969
tonalist1982
1866 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 375 Gluck, the great musical dramatist, says [etc.].
1885 G. B. Shaw How to become Musical Critic (1960) 73 The most subtle and profound of all musical dramatists.
1963 Listener 3 Jan. 45/1 Compared with the microcosm created by the greatest musical dramatists his [sc. Puccini's] world is limited in subject-matter.
musical drive n. an exhibition of military horsemanship in which the horses pull along equipment to the accompaniment of music.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > type of show or spectacle > [noun] > military show
tattoo1742
musical ride1886
musical drive1930
1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 31 May 1/3 The musical drive by ‘J’ Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, was carried out at the gallop.
musical ear n. [compare ear n.1 6] an aptitude (esp. intuitive or untrained) for learning, playing, or appreciating music; musical sensibility; also in plural.
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1660 E. Waterhouse Disc. Arms & Armory To Rdr. The notes of a good composure melodious to musical eares.
1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind v. §7 A child that has a good musical ear, may be put to sleep..by the modulation of musical sounds.
1874 A. H. Sayce Princ. Compar. Philol. vi. 246 The musical ear is..the creation of a high civilisation.
1993 Osho Everyday Meditator 154/1 If you have a musical ear, if you have a heart which can understand music—not only understand but feel.—then a mantra will be helpful.
musical festival n. = music festival n. at music n. and adj. Compounds 2.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > a performance > [noun] > music festival
stethva1612
festival1753
music festival1790
musical festival1804
Eisteddfod1822
Sängerfest1865
mod1891
Oireachtas1896
songfest1903
biennial1928
pop festival1951
folkfest1963
fleadh1966
rockfest1966
fleadh cheoil1972
festie1988
1804 J. Collins Scripscrapologia 82 (title) On hearing the young and beautiful Mrs. Second sing at the Musical Festival, in Birmingham.
1852 C. Dickens Our Bore in Househ. Words 9 Oct. 75/1 He was at the Norwich musical festival.
1994 Toronto Life June 46/1 The city held its first musical festival in 1886 at the Caledonia Curling Club.
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1587 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Iland Brit. (new ed.) ii. vi. 166/1 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) I The nobilitie..whose cookes are for the most part musicall headed Frenchmen.
musical ride n. an exhibition of equestrian skill which involves riding to music; (also) = musical drive n.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > special movements performed by trained horse > [noun] > performed to music
musical ride1886
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > type of show or spectacle > [noun] > military show
tattoo1742
musical ride1886
musical drive1930
1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day (ed. 3) xviii. 180 An exhibition of equestrian skill of the Life or Horse Guards, known as a Musical Ride. This ‘Musical Ride’ is a kind of equestrian dance executed with extraordinary precision.
1905 Globe (Toronto) 2 Sept. 1/2 Thousand crowded the arena and watched..a musical ride by the police.
1978 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ont.) 15 July 15/2 Among the top attractions is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride which will be staged both Friday and Saturday night, July 21–22, beginning at 9 o'clock.
musical sand n. = singing sand n. at singing adj. Compounds.
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1858 H. Miller Cruise of Betsey xiii. 223 I spent some time beside the Bay of Laig in re-examining the musical sand, in the hope of determining the peculiarities on which its sonorous qualities depended.
1915 New Phytologist 14 55 An interesting..experience was afforded by coming upon a stretch of musical sand.
1983 New Oxf. Compan. Music II. 1219/2 Musical Sand. The phenomenon of sounds emitted by masses of sand..has been explained as due to the rubbing together of millions of clean and incoherent grains of quartz, free from angularities or roughness.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Gastropoda > [noun] > superorder Branchifera > order Prosobranchiata > section Siphonostomata > family Volutidae > member of
musical-shell1666
music shell1666
rhomb-shell?1711
rhomb1815
1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands 125 It may be called the Musical-shell [Fr. coquillage..musical], because on the out-side of it there are blackish lines, full of notes.
musical theorist n. a student of or expert in music theory.
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1878 G. W. Bullen tr. Theory Mus. §448. 170 All the musical theorists have thought it necessary to follow the mathematicians.
1992 Byte Jan. 149/2 None of these linguists, musical theorists, and language experts have found SNOBOL a difficult language to master.
musical theory n. = music theory n. at music n. and adj. Compounds 2.
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1860 Harper's Mag. Mar. 549/2 Its subtle criticisms on musical theory and execution.
1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 58/3 Instructors of musical theory inhabit the larger cities, for if they went to smaller spots..they would surely starve.
1988 G. J. Whitrow Time in Hist.: Evol. Gen. Awareness iv. 40 This led many later Greek thinkers to regard musical theory as a branch of mathematics.
musical watch n. a watch which plays short tunes at regular intervals, as on the hour, etc.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > watch > [noun] > particular types of watch
German watch1611
larum watch1619
clock-watch1625
minute watch1660
pendulum watch1664
watch1666
alarm watch1669
finger watch1679
string-watch1686
scout1688
balance-watch1690
hour-watch1697
warming-pan1699
minute pendulum watch1705
jewel watch1711
suit1718
repeater1725
Tompion1727
pendulum spring1728
second-watch1755
Geneva watch1756
cylinder-watch1765
watch-paper1777
ring watch1788
verge watch1792
watch lamp1823
hack1827
bull's-eye1833
vertical watch1838
quarter-repeater1840
turnip1840
hunting-watch1843
minute repeater1843
hunter1851
job watch1851
Geneva1852
watch-lining1856
touch watch1860
musical watch1864
lever1865
neep1866
verge1871
independent seconds watch1875
stem-winder1875
demi-hunter1884
fob-watch1884
three-quarter plate1884
wrist-watch1897
turnip-watch1898
sedan-chair watch1904
Rolex1922
Tank watch1923
strap watch1926
chatelaine watch1936
sedan clock1950
quartz watch1969
pulsar1970
1864 Ladies' Repository Sept. 572/1 A Musical Watch.—‘The Sieur Ranzonet..has made a watch, of the common pocket size, in which he has fixed an instrument of his own invention which plays an air enduo.’
1899 F. J. Britten Old Clocks & Watches 148 Musical watches of large size with moving figures were a favourite conceit among French makers during the latter part of the eighteenth century.
1952 T. P. C. Cuss Watches xi. 145 On earlier musical watches—at the end of the eighteenth century—a pinned cylinder took the place of the disc.
2000 Daily Mail (Electronic ed.) 1 Aug. There is always one wiseguy in the class who will set off a musical watch or, more often now, a mobile.
C2. In compounds alluding to the game of musical chairs (musical chairs n.).
a. In ad hoc formations denoting any situation which appears to involve a continual change of positions, roles, etc.
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1979 L. Ultan Beautiful Bronx 38 Once a lease ran out..you simply found another landlord who would offer you similar concessions to sign a lease for one of his apartments, until you moved... In this manner, many Bronx families played musical apartments.
1992 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 17 Jan. f1 Right now real estate is having such a difficult time, and we actually had fun with this whole thing... It was like musical houses!
2000 Newsweek (Electronic ed.) 29 May 8 British Prime Minister Tony Blair and wife Cherie will again play musical flats at 10 and 11 Downing Street.
b.
musical arms n. a modification of the game of musical chairs in which the crooked arms of some of the players are used in place of chairs.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > parlour and party games > [noun] > musical bumps or chairs
musical fright1871
musical chairs1877
musical arms1924
musical bumps1932
cakewalk1940
1924 D. C. Minter Children's Parties x. 137 Musical arms. This game is played in the same way as Musical Chairs, without, however, using chairs.
musical beds n. colloquial (a) a situation in which a person engages in a large number of casual sexual relationships in quick succession; (b) a situation in which a number of people are provided with fewer beds than there are people.
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1972 R. Nelson Introd. to Time Trav. for Pedestrians in H. Ellison Again, Dangerous Visions 139 Frightful poems and worse fannish imitation pro fiction, costumes at cons and musical beds, hateful monster movies that we just can't resist.
1996 H. Marks Mr Nice (1998) v. 117 McCann was playing musical beds with Sylvia and Anne, unsuccessfully encouraging Rosie and Vicky to do the same.
2001 Bristol Evening Post (Electronic ed.) 30 Jan. In the course of an hour-long visit [to a hospital] the next day I watched a game of musical beds being played.
musical bumps n. a children's game similar to musical chairs, in which the player who is last to sit on the floor when the music stops is out of the game; also figurative.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > parlour and party games > [noun] > musical bumps or chairs
musical fright1871
musical chairs1877
musical arms1924
musical bumps1932
cakewalk1940
1932 S. G. Hedges Indoor & Community Games vi. 76 Musical Bumps... All march round in single file, while the pianist plays... When the music stops everyone must flop down on the floor—and the one who ‘bumps’ last falls out of the game.
1974 Listener 18 July 85/3 England may not be the world champions at soccer, but we are definitely past-masters at musical bumps.
1999 Express & Echo (Exeter) (Nexis) 29 Jan. 12 He gave prizes for the best dancing and also organised games such as musical bumps and musical chairs.
musical fright n. now rare = musical chairs n.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > parlour and party games > [noun] > musical bumps or chairs
musical fright1871
musical chairs1877
musical arms1924
musical bumps1932
cakewalk1940
1871 Scribner's Monthly Apr. 678/2 ‘Musical fright’ is noisier.
1879 ‘L. Hoffmann’ Drawing-room Amusem. 24 Musical Fright.
musical statues n. a children's game similar to musical chairs, in which anyone failing to stand still when the music stops is required to leave the game.
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1955 J. Grey Party Games for Young Children 50 Musical Statues..lends itself to a party where there are juniors and seniors present.
1994 Scotsman 28 Sept. 11/3 The parents leave and the games begin. I am responsible for deciding who is ‘out’ in musical statues.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1450
adj.1447