vocaladj.n.

Brit.

/ˈvəʊkl/, U.S.

/ˈvoʊk(ə)l/

Forms: late Middle English vocaal, late Middle English–1500s vocale, late Middle English– vocal, 1500s vocalle, 1500s–1600s vocall, 1600s uocal, 1600s uocall; also Scottish pre-1700 vaucal, pre-1700 wocal.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin vōcālis.

Etymology: < classical Latin vōcālis having an articulate voice, able to speak, (of things) producing a sound, sonorous, having a notable voice, (of musical instruments) producing a tuneful sound, (in grammar) of or relating to vowels, in post-classical Latin also uttered or expressed by the voice (frequently from 12th cent. in British sources; from c1400 with specific reference to prayer), of or relating to the voice (from 12th cent. in British sources), nominal, so-called (frequently from 13th cent. in British sources), conveyed by word of mouth, oral (from 13th cent. in British sources), of or relating to words, verbal (from 14th cent. in British sources) < vōc- , vōx voice n. + -ālis -al suffix¹.Compare Middle French, French vocal spoken, expressed in speech (late 14th cent.; late 16th cent. or earlier with specific reference to prayer), of or relating to the articulation of a word (late 14th cent.), of or relating to the voice (early 15th cent.). Compare also Catalan vocal (14th cent.), Spanish vocal (late 13th cent.), Italian vocale (early 14th cent.). Specific senses. In the specific use in heraldry (see sense vocal arms n. at Compounds 2) after French parlant (1640 or earlier in this sense, in armes parlantes ). With the specific use as noun in sense B. 1 compare classical Latin vōcālis (feminine) ‘vowel’, which was borrowed into many other European languages. Compare e.g. Old French vocal , Middle French vocal , vocale , French †vocale (late 13th cent. as feminine noun, end of the 15th cent. as masculine noun), Spanish vocal (early 15th cent.), Italian vocale (beginning of the 14th cent.), German Vokal (15th cent. as vocal ; in early use also with Latin inflectional endings), in the same sense. Compare earlier vowel n. In sense B. 2 in early use after the specific post-classical Latin use of classical Latin vōcālis (early 17th cent. or earlier in this sense); in quot. 1811 after Spanish vocal (late 18th cent. or earlier in this sense).

A. adj.

I. Senses relating to the voice or the capacity to speak, sing, etc.

a. Of prayer: spoken aloud, esp. as opposed to prayer expressed in the mind (frequently contrasted with mental; cf. mental adj.¹ 2).

ΚΠ

?a1425 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Lamb. 472) (2000) i. xxvii. l. 685 This matier of praier, whiche is callid vocal.

c1460 Tree & 12 Frutes (McClean) (1960) 18 (MED) Vocal prayer is praier made bi mowth a cordyng with þe soule.

1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Com. Prayer sig. Ppp iiij Let vs se whether the Scriptures..wyll allow any vocall prayer, that is, when the mouth vttereth the peticions with voyce.

1671 A. Woodhead tr. Life St. Teresa i. vi. 314 If Vocal Prayer be made, as it should, even Mental is an ingredient into it.

1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women II. xi. 227 Vocal prayer, whether more or less articulate, will be found..by far the most proportioned to the human..faculties.

1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity II. ix. 151 Instead of the ancient severities [of penance], vocal prayers came to be all that was enjoined.

1862 London Rev. & Weekly Jrnl. 26 July 84 The dangers of unreality and self-delusion with which vocal prayers were beset.

1884 W. E. Addis & T. Arnold Catholic Dict. 569 St. Benedict supposes that some of his monks will pray after the vocal prayers of the office with tears and application of heart.

1937 Hispania 20 112 Santa Teresa insists on the necessity of vocal prayer, but always accompanied by mental prayer.

2006 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 5 Aug. (Final ed.) e10 Many classical writings point to four kinds of vocal prayer: adoration, thanksgiving, petition and propitiation.

b. gen. Uttered by, or involving the use of, the voice; spoken, oral; of the nature of speech.For use referring specifically to singing, see sense A. 3.

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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > vocal sound

vocala1460

vocular1832

phonic1841

phonal1859

a1460 Knyghthode & Bataile (Pembr. Cambr. 243) l. 1272 (MED) Signys vocal in wacch and in bataile Be made, as wacch woordis, [etc.].

c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 213 (MED) Þe labour of meditacioun..passiþ þe oþer vocal labour of preising and preiyng.

1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue f. 53^v Why then do they make accompt of it, but as a vocall word, and outward sounde?

1608 Bp. J. Hall Epist. I. vi. 66 It cannon be denied, that all the substance of prayer is in the heart; the vocall sound is but a complement.

1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 232 Messengers, who deliver their missives by vocal relation.

1757 T. Gray Ode II iii. ii, in Odes 20 What strains of vocal transport round her play!

1781 R. P. Jodrell Illustr. Euripides II. 293 There was a political use derived from the vocal ejaculation, and instrumental clangor so peculiar to these Pagan Rites.

1860 F. W. Farrar Ess. Origin Lang. i. 19 The mere possession of vocal cries not different from those of animals.

1886 J. Ruskin Præterita II. vi. 191 John Hobbs, called always..George, to distinguish him, in vocal summons, from my father and me.

1910 Amer. Jrnl. Ophthalmol. Dec. 375 He kept..bobbing his head between his knees and performing other wild movements and vocal ejaculations.

1958 E. Kimbrough And Right Good Crew vi. 76 That she should have volunteered to make vocal inquiry made me realize hunger had sapped her resistance.

2014 Daily Record & Sunday Mail (Nexis) 9 Nov. (Seven Days section) 40 There are many other ways to reward, such as physical contact, ball throwing, playing tuggy, vocal praise and so on.

c. Phonetics. Produced or uttered with vibration of the vocal cords; voiced. Now somewhat rare.

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the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > voiced or voiceless sound gen > [adjective] > voiced or voicing

vocal1668

sonant1808

vocalizing1809

vocular1812

voiced1850

phonetic1864

phonic1877

sonantizing1879

sonantic1892

sonorant1899

1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. iii. xii. §2. 369 (Zh) the sonorous Consonant, and (Sh) its correspondent mute, are framed by a percolation of the breath, betwixt the tongue rendered concave, and the teeth both upper and lower: The first being vocal, the other mute.

1669 W. Holder Elem. Speech 53 B. is Vocal, Labial, Occluse.

1796 L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 2) 7 The semi-vowels may be subdivided into vocal and aspirated. The vocal are those which are formed by the voice; the aspirated, those formed by the breath.

1847 Proc. Philol. Soc. (1848) 3 72 Examples beginning with a vocal letter are found both in the Chinese and in other languages.

1874 H. Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 538 There can be no doubt that the f in Early Old English was vocal like the Welsh f.

1908 M. Summers Man.: First Lessons in Reading iii. 73 Vocal th is taught first because it is the one more frequently used in the Primer.

1954 I. R. Ewing & A. W. G. Ewing Speech & Deaf Child xi. 182 The aspirate H is also usually classed as a fricative consonant, but it has, of course, no vocal equivalent.

†d. Of a letter in a word, syllable, etc.: actually uttered or sounded. Obsolete. rare.Only recorded in works by Samuel Johnson.

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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > utterance of vocal sound > uttered

pronounced1511

uttereda1586

vocal1751

upraised1871

out-loud1899

1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 88. ⁋11 There is reason to believe that the silent e which our ancestors added to the most of our monosyllables,..was once vocal.

1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. at E Afterwards it [sc. the letter e] was in poetry either mute or vocal, as the verse required.

a. Designating the parts of the body of a person or animal that are involved in vocalization, as vocal organ, vocal tract, etc. In later use also: of, relating to, or affecting such a part, esp. a vocal cord.vocal cord, vocal fold, vocal sac: see Compounds 2.

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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > concerned in production of voice

vocal?a1450

?a1450 tr. Macer Herbal (Stockh.) (1949) 124 (MED) If þe veyne þe voys comeþ out by be sharp or har, oþer be colde..þis medycyn..wole make þe veyne softe and lyþe..This decoccion wole in þe same wise destruy þe cough and..purge wel þe reumes þat fallen doun fro þe hede and of þe vocale veyne.

1576 T. Newton tr. L. Lemnie Touchstone of Complexions ii. vi. f. 141^v The heart, by help of the Lunges, the vocal Artery and tongue (which serueth for vtteraunce of woordes and internall deuises) expresseth and vttereth the cogitations and meanings of the mynde.

1578 J. Banister Hist. Man iv. f. 50^v Thus farre of the vocall organ, in describyng wherof as appeareth, is great dissention among the Authors.

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια vi. x. 365 They are also called the Vocall nerues, because if they bee wounded, the creature looseth his voyce.

1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. xxxvi. 318 Who would looke curiously into the motions of the dispositions of a beastes vocal instruments.

1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Recurrent Nerves, by some called Vocal, because they are spent upon the Instruments of Speech.

1751 J. Harris Hermes iii. ii. 318 What these Vocal Organs precisely are, is not in all respects agreed by Philosophers and Anatomists.

1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 429/2 The upward current of air passing through the larynx produces an effect on the vocal ligaments.

1887 M. Thompson Sylvan Secrets 93 At best the reptilian vocal apparatus is rudimentary in the extreme.

1913 R. B. Faulkner Tonsils & Voice 318 Vocal nodules. They arise from vocal excesses, overwork, or bad management of the voice.

1977 D. Fry Homo Loquens iii. 30 The process of articulation..depends on continual changes in the shape of the vocal tract, and hence in its acoustic properties.

2004 R. A. Suthers in P. Marler & H. Slabbekoorn Nature's Music ix. 272/2 The avian vocal organ, the syrinx, is located deep in the chest in an air sac.

2009 Clin. Neurophysiol. 120 336 The method to elicit and record CoMEPs [= corticobulbar motor evoked potentials] in vocal muscles shows reliable results.

b. More generally: of or belonging to the voice; relating to the use of the voice to produce or utter sounds, words, etc.Overlapping with sense A. 3b when referring specifically to the singing voice.

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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective]

vocal1655

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > relating to voice

vocal1655

voiceful1821

1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 1 Though his [sc. Charles's] vocall impediment accompanyed him till the fatall stroke.

1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 283 Let my right Hand forget her Art; My Tongue her vocal Gift resign, And Sacred Verse no more be mine!

1795 W. Mason Ess. Eng. Church Music ii. 154 They must still endeavour to hit that precise medium in the vocal faculty, which pronounces and sings at the same time.

1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop ii. lxii. 145 Mr. Quilp was certainly entertaining himself with vocal exercise.

1862 H. W. Fuller On Dis. Chest i. iii. 18 This ‘vocal fremitus’ is more pronounced in adults than in children.

1912 Trans. 34th Ann. Meeting Amer. Laryngol. Assoc. 119 (title) When should singers having vocal disability be allowed to resume work?

1994 Evening Standard (Nexis) 23 Sept. 31 A vocal impediment so severe that she could barely be understood.

2012 West Briton (Nexis) 10 July 37 There will be a free voice work and singing session to help improve and maintain vocal health for speaking and singing for pleasure.

a. Of music: that is sung or intended for singing; performed by or composed for a singer or singers; (sometimes) spec. unaccompanied by instruments; a cappella. Often opposed to instrumental.

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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > [adjective]

vocal1586

vocalistic1853

1586 Praise of Musicke i. 7 And first to begin as best beseemeth, with vocall Musicke, being sounded with a liuely instrument the toung of man.

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 486 Giving herselfe to learne poesie, and likewise vocall musicke.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 276 The Morning being ushered in with Vocal and Instrumental Musick.

1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 26 This was more like good singing and good music than any vocal piece that had preceded it.

1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 22/1 In the accompaniment to vocal music, much greater freedom of imitation is allowable than in the voice part.

1917 Musician Jan. 73/1 The choir specializes in a cappella music, and Russian vocal music in particular.

1942 Observer 30 Aug. 2/5 When I hear of Benjamin Britten carrying a bundle of excellent new vocal works under his arm, I am delighted.

2013 New Yorker 11 Mar. 34/3 She exposed him to contemporary classical music, especially vocal music.

b. Of, relating to, or connected with singing.

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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > [adjective] > relating to singing

vocal1736

cantatory1836

vocalistic1853

1736 W. Tans'ur Compl. Melody (ed. 3) ii. sig. K4^v The Vocal Scale by way of Sol, Fa and the Instrumental Scale by way of Letters.

1819 C. Butler Hist. Mem. Eng., Irish & Sc. Catholics (ed. 2) II. xlv. 344 Greek music..was governed by rhythm and..quarter-tones made a part of its regular vocal scale.

1875 Appleton's Jrnl 20 Nov. 667/2 Wachtel is unmistakably manly and strong in the quality and style of his singing. It is not merely in the tempestuous rush of his high notes when he sings forte passages, but ingrained in the quality of his vocal timbre.

1957 High Fidelity Apr. 65/1 The presence in the Viennese company of the castrato Gaetano Guadagni dictated the vocal range of the role of Orpheus.

1997 Spirit No. 8 73/1 Vocal acrobatics that sound like a scat singer on speed.

2008 JazzTimes May 133/2 Combining tight modern jazz with the vocal talents of Washington, D.C.'s most creative freestylists.

4. Possessing a voice; having the capacity to speak, sing, etc.; (also) producing or uttering sounds, words, etc., at a particular point in time; making a sound with the voice.

a. Of a person or animal.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > having voice

voiceful1598

vocal1601

tongued1635

voiceda1821

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 233 Brought there were thither..such [frogs] as would crie in the water: and that whole kind still remaineth vocall.

1668 H. More Divine Dialogues iii. xxxiv. 528 As probable as the black Hunter ranging the Forest with his vocal, but invisible, Hounds in Fountainbleau.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 339 These insects are generally vocal in the midst of summer.

c1792 Encycl. Brit. IX. 529/1 The organs of all vocal animals are so formed, as, upon any particular impulse, to utter sounds.

1849 D. Bishop Introd. to Study of Mind 39 The human voice, in its tone and accent, is more pure and sonorous than any power of sound which distinguishes the vocal animals.

1877 J. Tyndall in Daily News 2 Oct. 2/5 Though the mechanical theory of a vocal Heavenly multitude proves untenable.

1911 Proc. Delaware County Inst. Sci. 6 135 That pleasure or pain makes a difference in the tones of vocal insects is not improbable.

1971 Classical Jrnl. 67 176 Other vocal birds besides the cuckoo are the bobolink, bob white, chickadee, pewee, pewit, and whippoorwill.

2016 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 24 May Capybaras..are vocal animals, communicating through barks, whistles, huffs and purrs.

b. figurative and in extended use.

(a) Of an inanimate thing, place, etc.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 7.

ΚΠ

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 770 Brasse is verie vocall, resonant, and (as one would say) a blab of the tongue.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 530 He..with Serpent Tongue Organic, or impulse of vocal Air, His fraudulent temptation thus began.

1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 159 The poet's or historian's page, by one Made vocal for th' amusement of the rest.

1797 R. Southey Lett. from Spain Retrospective Musings p. xix Many a stream That from the neighbouring hill descended clear Wound vocal thro' the valley.

1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 156 There are seven steam-hammers..and a remarkably vocal saw for cutting red-hot iron.

1904 C. Scollard Lyric Bough 30 Runs from tree to vocal tree An elusive harmony; Now a whisper faint and fleeting, Now a chorus full and free.

2004 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 8 Apr. pm16 The effect is almost puzzle-like, the 26 canvases conversing with each other and the now-very-vocal walls behind them.

†(b) spec. (chiefly poetic). Of (part of) a musical instrument. Obsolete.

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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > [adjective] > by quality of sound

softa1525

lofty1598

vocal1649

alto1802

contrabass1834

soprano1856

baritone1876

monophonous1878

tinny1904

sopranino1907

plinky1926

1649 G. Wither Vaticinium Votivum 12 Somtimes Hee Hunt's, and with his Vocal Horn, Summon's Aurora, and the loitering Morn.

a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1664 (1955) III. 378 A new invented Instrument of Musique,..made vocal by a Wheele, & a Zone of parchment that rubb'd horizontaly against the Strings.

1743 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Odes (new ed.) I. iii. i. 23 Nor chaunt of birds, nor vocal lyre To him can sleep afford.

1760 F. Fawkes tr. Anacreon Odes in tr. Anacreon Wks. i. 5 Rapt I strike the vocal Shell—Hark—the trembling Chords rebel.

1854 W. K. Kelly tr. Tibullus Elegies 366 in Erotica 366 O'er all the vocal strings his fingers stray, The vocal strings his fingers glad obey.

†5. figurative. Conveying impressions or ideas as if by speech; expressive, eloquent. Obsolete.

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the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > high significance, expressiveness > [adjective] > characterized by being

significant1581

speakingc1595

vocal1608

expressful1621

vocal speaking1649

expressive1718

signific1795

speechful1820

expressionable1892

1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 134 By a mute and silent way it ascendeth, and bringeth all things mortall to a vocall iustice, which speaketh in action though not in voyce.

1611 Bp. J. Hall Epist. III. v. i. 7 Accusations are vocall, Apologies dumbe.

1697 J. Evelyn Numismata Introd. 1 Medals..(give me leave to call them) Vocal Monuments of Antiquity.

1720 R. Welton tr. T. Alvares de Andrade Sufferings Son of God I. xiii. 343 The Multitude of my successive Miseries might become Vocal, and never cease to Importune Thy Mercy.

1724 R. Welton Substance Christian Faith 209 That vocal blood and those speaking wounds.

1897 Garden 24 Apr. 294/3 Every leaf is vocal, and the air is full of the moist fragrance of the earth.

1923 Country Life 24 Feb. 238/2 The primrose is vocal of my childhood.

†6. Expressed by means of specific names or designations. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia iii. i. 65 The Propriety of Possessions..may be deuided into Vocall and Evidential. Vocall Propriety denotates the Properties of particulars by due Appellation.

†7. Chiefly poetic. Full of (vocal) sound; sounding, resounding. Frequently with by or with. Obsolete.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 4b(a).

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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > resonance or sonority > [adjective] > of sounds

resonant1592

sonorous1632

vocal1667

sepulchral1796

round1832

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > vocal sound > full of

vocal1667

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 204 Hill, or Valley, Fountain, or fresh shade Made vocal by my Song.

1717 A. Pope Eloisa to Abelard in Wks. 424 Such plain roofs as piety could raise, And only vocal with the Maker's praise.

1748 J. Hervey Contempl. Night in Medit. & Contempl. (ed. 2) II. 49 She [sc. the Screech-Owl] flies the vocal Grove, and shuns the Society of all the feathered Choir.

1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches viii. 288 The inland streams..are vocal in spring with the shrill chirping of millions of frogs.

1879 Preachers' Analyst Jan. 28/2 The summer evening is vocal with the melodious warbling of many birds.

a. Uttering or expressing one's views or opinions freely, loudly, or vehemently; vociferous, outspoken.

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the mind > language > speech > [adjective] > free or unrestrained > of speaker

vocal1844

1844 Morning Chron. 8 Oct. The seven cities who contended for the birth of Homer were not more vocal in importunity than is the serenade of impassioned capitalists to embrace the fair territory which our Pelhams and our Handleys have metamorphosed from sand-heaps to fruitfulness.

1881 Pall Mall Gaz. 10 Feb. 1/1 That policy [of coercion in Ireland] may have done something to pacify..an influential and highly vocal class in England.

1916 Survey 15 July 415/2 Some of the leading, if less vocal, people were with him.

1965 Ebony Aug. 141/1 This complicated structure of authority is the target of the Negro protest movement's most vocal and militant spokesmen.

2006 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 5 Mar. (Suburban section) 1 Vocal parents have griped for years that Mayor Bloomberg's elimination of community school boards robbed them of their rightful power.

b. Uttered or expressed loudly or vehemently; characterized by vociferous expressions of opinion.

ΚΠ

1882 Los Angeles Daily Times 26 Oct. Railroad employés are subject to all manner of annoyances—notably annoying questions and vocal demands.

1924 Times 27 May 17/3 They are bound also to await the best, which is not necessarily the first or the most vocal, opinion.

1971 Trusts & Estates July 555/2 Perhaps the most vocal debate in the public domain today centres on economic nationalism.

2005 E. Murrar Oracle iv. 295 They had ignored her very vocal protestations regarding the slip of gold material they planned to put her in.

II. Senses relating to vowels.

9. Of the nature or character of a vowel; consisting of a vowel or vowels; vocalic.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > having character of

vocal1589

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. xv. 107 The foote [Tribrachus] of three short times is very hard to be made by any of our trissillables vnles they be compounded of the smoothest sort of consonants or sillables vocals.

1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments To Rdr. 7 Also E vocall, for E dipthong.

1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ II. at I They give it [sc. i, j] a name from its consonant use, we from the vocal.

1807 R. Southey Lett. from Eng. I. 279 As their delicate ears could bear none but vocal terminations.

1818 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1 246 The vocal sounds are those which are represented in alphabets by the letters we call vowels.

1914 A. T. Robertson Gram. Greek New Test. in Light of Hist. Res. viii. 324 On the short vocal ending of the subjunctive and its connection with the indicative one may recall ἔδομαι, πίομαι, ϕάγομαι in the N. T. [= New Testament].

2001 Jewish Q. Rev. 92 172 The form of fem. pl. participle with vocal ending..is quite common.

†10. Connected with the utterance of vowel sounds. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective]

vowellisha1637

vocalic1782

monophthongal1783

vocular1813

vocalistic1848

phthongal1875

vocal1887

vocoid1943

the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > relating to

vocalic1851

vocal1887

1887 Alienist & Neurologist 8 7 The vocal (vowel) mechanism is the first that is manifested in the child.

B. n.

†1. A vowel; a vocalic sound or letter. Cf. sense A. 9. Obsolete.

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the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [noun]

vowelc1308

vocalc1570

monophthong1616

vowel-sound1795

oral1885

vocalic1902

c1570 Art of Music (BL Add. 4911) f. 36^v in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Vocal(l The fyve vocalis..of the quhilkis ewrie ane salbe tane for ane simpill noit of plane sang.

1577 R. Stanyhurst Treat. Descr. Irelande i. f. 2/1, in R. Holinshed Chron. I In corruption of common talke we find that V. with his vocale, is easily lost, and suppressed. So we saie ere for euer, nere for neuer.

1624 W. Ingpen Secrets of Numbers 49 There bee seauen changes of voices, seuen physicall and naturall mouings: seuen vocals among the Grecians.

1666 J. Eliot Indian Gram. Begun 4 I taught our Indians first to lay out a Word into Syllables, and..to make it up with the right Letters, viz. if it were a simple sound, then one Vocall made the Syllable.

1710 Gram. Eng. Tongue i. 4 Tho' we have in English no more Characters of perfect Sounds, yet we have fifteen Vocals; each of these five having two distinct sounds.

1853 A. H. Wehrhan tr. A. B. Marx Universal School Music iii. 129 By means of articulation, a series of various sounds is produced. Of these are the sounds known by the name of vowels, or vocals.

1886 T. E. Hill Hill's Man. of Social & Business Forms 48/1 These sounds are divided into three classes—vocals, sub-vocals, and aspirates. The vocals consist of a pure tone only, as a, e, i, o, u.

1921 C. S. Case Pract. Treat. Technics & Princ. Dental Orthopedia (ed. 2) ix. ii. 426 The Vocals, or Vowel Oral Elements, whose symbols in the English language are a, e, i, o, u, and final y, are those utterances which impart to speech its main voice tones.

†2. A member of a religious or administrative body who is entitled to vote in elections. Obsolete.Cf. note in etymology on the origin of this sense.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > other clergy > [noun] > Roman Catholic with right to vote

vocala1660

a1660 P. S. Aphorismical Discov. iv. ii. xv, in J. T. Gilbert Contemp. Hist. Ireland (1880) II. 109 In Conaght, on the 15th of August, 1650, all the vocalls of the whole province [of Irish Franciscans] there apeeringe, and of Carons faction..were the undernamed (though not all, but some, before theire transgression were vocalls).

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) A Man must have been a Religious a certain number of Years, to be a Vocal.

1811 W. Jacob Trav. South of Spain x. 63 Padre Gill, and the other patriots, blushed at such an associate, and, to remove the disgrace from their body, sent him as a vocal to the Central Junta.

†3. Phonetics. A voiced consonant. Cf. sense A. 1c. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > consonant > [noun] > voiced

vocal1669

soft1727

1669 W. Holder Elem. Speech 78 To soften the Occluse Gingival Consonants, by a kind of..addition of a Spirital..to a Vocal producing the Vowel.

1773 J. Herries Elements Speech ii. ii. 114 Let the aspirates of s and sh be as rustling as possible, while their kindred vocals of z and zh are emitted with the clearest energy.

1793 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 3 293 Aspirates are formed in the same manner as their vocals, with respect to position of the organs, but are produced only by the breath.

1889 E. Shaftesbury Lessons in Voice Culture v. 52 Next to the liquids the vocals are the most beneficial to the voice. They occupy a middle ground and consist of the following letters: B, D, G hard, V and Z.

a. A piece of music featuring singing; a song or other vocal composition. Now somewhat rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > [noun]

songeOE

wisea1000

chant1587

voice-music1600

charm1633

vocal1769

minstrelsy1863

1769 Private Lett. from Amer. in Eng. iv. 12 Every full moon they had a regular concert of vocals and instrumentals in the very public house we baited at.

1858 Athenæum 21 Aug. 241/1 Le Brigand..is an ‘instrumental’ (to illustrate the silliness of the ungrammatical jargon forced on us by those who fancy that they are foreign and reverential in so doing) which we like less than ‘vocals’ by its writer which we have seen.

1934 S. R. Nelson All about Jazz iv. 84 A succession of vocals in radio music is sometimes tiresome.

1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy viii. 203 Almost all [the records] are ‘vocals’ and the styles of singing much advanced beyond what is normally heard on the Light Programme of the B.B.C.

b. Singing; an instance of this. Often with more specific reference: the voice considered as an instrument; (also) the sung part of a song or other vocal composition; a sung melody or other vocal line.

(a) In singular.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > [noun] > vocal part in music

voice1593

voice part1869

vocal1928

vox1974

1928 S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge i. 30 She felt more kind of called to the music line, and she was taking vocal and piano.

1938 D. Baker Young Man with Horn iv. ii. 201 He had them pretty heavily arranged, with a transitional passage before every vocal.

1968 Blues Unlimited Sept. 26 For strange vocal try to hear Daniel Brown's version.

1975 A. Ayckbourn Norman Conquests 14 He does a dance to the music and sings as the vocal starts.

2014 DJ Mag Apr. 65/1 The track was a bassline stomper, a grimy slab of sub-low and brutal snares, rolled in the sugary sweetness of an R&B vocal.

(b) In plural (now the more usual form). Cf. vox n.²

ΚΠ

1933 N. Y. Times 26 Feb. x. 10/6 The Men About Town Trio supply the vocals.

1935 Hot News May 4/3 I'm certain also that you'll find Eddie Miller a grand clarinet—swing, hot intonations, marvellous backgrounding for the vocals, and tasteful improvisation.

1946 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets xiii. 311 In barrel-house vein are his records..with vocals by Joe Turner.

1983 Sunday Tel. 9 Oct. 24/2 The cost of a machine with a complete package of 400 songs with the vocals edited out, is £600.

2017 Times (Nexis) 5 Sept. 53 Playing guitar and bass, with Fagen on keyboards and vocals, he formed Steely Dan.

†5. poetic. Vocal faculty; power of speech. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > [noun] > faculty or power of speech

speech?a1000

speaka1300

carpc1400

utterance1474

speakingc1480

discourse1609

languagea1616

verbalness1647

vocal1838

speechfulness1880

1838 E. B. Barrett Seraphim & Other Poems ii. 112 Hath language left thy lips, to place Its vocal in thine eye?

Compounds

C1. In combination with another adjective, with the sense ‘both vocal and ——’, as vocal-auditory, vocal-gestural, vocal-linguistic, etc. Cf. voco- comb. form.

ΚΠ

1901 J. Jastrow in Psychol. Rev. 8 8 The why and wherefore of speech as a vocal auditory process.

1918 McEvoy Mag. Feb. 374/1 The syllable method is the fittest of methods for reading which is primarily a vocal-aural affair, and hence itself syllabic.

1963 H. Werner & B. Kaplan Organismic-developmental Approach Lang. ii. x. 132 A matrix of bodily movements and vocal-intonational patterns.

1974 C. R. Peters in R. W. Wescott Lang. Origins v. 93 The vocal-gestural redundancies which frequent our conversation.

1981 Amer. Speech 56 130 Sign language is as adequate for the deaf as any vocal-auditory language is for a hearing person.

2015 New Indian Express (Nexis) 30 Dec. Gilles' sound installation..explores ideas of the relation between racial purity and vocal-linguistic characteristics developed in Nazi Germany.

C2.

† vocal arms n. Heraldry Obsolete rare arms in which the charges make indirect reference to or suggest a pun on the bearer's name, title, occupation, etc.; cf. allusive arms n. at allusive adj. Compounds, canting arms at canting adj.² 5.Also in some later dictionaries.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > [adjective] > types of arms

fixal1486

familiar1646

vocal arms1728

canting arms1738

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Arms Speaking, or Vocal Arms, are those wherein the Figures bear an Allusion to the Name of the Family.

vocal coach n. a person who provides tuition or training for singers; spec. one who works with singers to help them rehearse and prepare for performances (as opposed to one who teaches the art and technique of singing); cf. vocal coaching n., voice coach n. at voice n. Compounds 2.In the more specific sense frequently contrasted with voice teacher.

ΚΠ

1885 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Disp. 29 Aug. 10/4 Mme. Marchesi, the great vocal coach for aspiring prime donne.

1914 Music News 13 Nov. 27/1 Among practices generally condemned are:..the pretense to teach more than one branch of music, whether by the voice teacher..or by the pianist under color of vocal coach.

1968 D. Nicholson Turn on to Stardom iv. 68 They [sc. natural professional singers] study only the popular types of music and they usually study with a vocal coach, rather than a voice teacher.

2004 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 26 Nov. A top vocal coach who has worked with leading lights in the music industry believes Northern Ireland singers are the stars of the future.

vocal coaching n. the action or practice of working as a vocal coach (see vocal coach n.); tuition or training for singers.

ΚΠ

1889 Entr'acte & Limelight 12 Oct. 6/2 They would..be treated to a musical education and vocal coaching by tip-top masters.

1951 Musical Q. 37 324 Vocal production is supervised by the students' voice instructor, diction and additional vocal coaching is handled by a highly experienced operatic singer.

1983 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 21 Apr. (Late City Final ed.) b16/5 Mr. Horne later went into private teaching and vocal coaching.

2017 Lichfield Mercury (Nexis) 21 Dec. 4 To reach the standards required to sing in the cathedral the choristers receive vocal coaching from singing teacher Ailsa Cochrane.

vocal cord n. (also vocal chord) [after French corde vocale (A. Ferrein 1744, in Hist. de l'Acad. royale des sci. 1741 422)] a thin white fold of mucous membrane extending from the thyroid cartilage to the arytenoid cartilage on either side of the larynx, the vibration of which in exhaled air produces, and determines the pitch of, vocal sounds.The usual form is now vocal cord; cf. discussion at cord n.¹ and chord n.¹

ΚΠ

1757 Lit. Mag. Feb. 64/2 These he [sc. Dr. Ferrein] calls the vocal strings or chords.

1825 J. Rennie Art of improving Voice & Ear ii. 24 Ferrein and others..have compared it to a violin, the vocal chords being in this instance supposed to perform the office of strings.

1905 Post-graduate 20 1147 The singer's nodule is a very small warty callosity produced by local attrition and may be frequently seen attached to a perfectly healthy vocal chord.

2010 Church Times 22 Oct. 18/2 Now boys are trained to force the chest voice into the higher registers, causing strain, damage to the vocal cords, and an early voice break.

vocal fry n. originally and chiefly Linguistics and Phonetics a rough or creaky quality in very low-pitched speech or utterance; a register of the voice or manner of speaking characterized by this; also attributive in vocal fry phonation, vocal fry register, vocal fry voice, etc.Vocal fry is produced by slow, irregular vibration of the vocal cords and is so called because of a perceived resemblance to the sizzling sound produced when food is fried.

ΚΠ

1955 C. T. Brown Introd. Speech xvii. 332 Most women..are sensitive to vocal fry and adjust to avoid it.

1967 Jrnl. Speech & Hearing Res. 10 302 Although..[the authors of one study] estimated that a frequency range of 20–90 Hz would be reasonable for vocal fry register, several subjects in this study produced mean vocal fry phonations below 20 Hz.

1973 R. H. Colton & H. Hollien in J. W. Large Vocal Reg. in Singing 117 Listeners were able to distinguish..harsh voices from vocal fry voices at a very high level of accuracy.

1992 J. M. Watanabe Maya Saints & Souls in Changing World p. xvi Vowels acquire considerable vocal fry, or ‘creaky voice’.

2016 Guardian (Nexis) 15 Apr. Dong..explains that he practiced his English by watching Keeping up with the Kardashians, which results in his using their signature vocal fry and upspeak.

vocal fold n. (a) (also true vocal fold) = vocal cord n.; (b) (in full false vocal fold) a thick pink fold of mucous membrane attached to each side of the vestibule of the larynx, above the vocal cords.

ΚΠ

1866 R. Owen On Anat. Vertebr. II. xx. 225 These structures, concomitant with the single glottis and pair of vocal folds in the lower or true larynx, relate to the faculty, so remarkable in these singular birds, of imitating human speech.

1960 Jrnl. Speech & Hearing Res. 3 159/1 An investigator observed the image of the subject's vocal folds in the laryngeal mirror.

2000 J. Sundberg in J. Potter Cambr. Compan. Singing xix. 233 A few millimetres above the vocal folds there is another pair of folds, also covered by mucous membrane. These are called the false vocal folds..or the ventricular folds.

vocal line n. [compare line n.² 7h] a sung melody; the main vocal part of a song or other vocal composition.

ΚΠ

1912 Musical Times June 377/1 There is a beauty about the voice part of this song that constantly responds to the words, yet the vocal line remains a composite and continuous whole.

1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! iii. 190 The disparity between the vocal line and its harmonic background [in Les Noces].

1961 Listener 21 Dec. 1089/3 The music takes shape by means of a simple recitative-like vocal line, modal, flexible, limpid, with an orchestral part of matching directness and simplicity.

2006 A. Summers One Train Later vii. 115 A swirling rush of dense, washy keyboards, repeated vocal lines, and drum patterns that fall outside any traditional song formats.

vocal sac n. [after German Stimmhöhle (1818 in the passage translated in quot. 1827), lit. ‘vocal cavity’] Zoology a distensible pouch of skin in the throat of an animal, esp. a male frog or toad, used for vocalization; cf. throat sac n. at throat n. Compounds 6.

ΚΠ

1827 R. T. Gore tr. C. G. Carus Introd. Compar. Anat. Animals II. i. ii. 199 The Solipeda are distinguished by very spacious vocal sacs.

1844 C. Knight Pict. Museum Animated Nature II. 130/1 The vocal sac of the male [Marbled Toad] is capable of great extension.

1950 Illustr. London News 15 Apr. 588/2 By inflating the loose skin of the vocal sacs at the sides of the head the male sings with a voice which is surprisingly loud.

2005 J. L. Behler & D. A. Behler Frogs 120/1 Male R. darwinii keep the tadpoles in their vocal sac for about fifty days.

vocal score n. Music a score of a piece of vocal music showing the voice parts in full, typically with each voice part on a separate stave, but with the accompanying instrumental parts either reduced (often to a keyboard arrangement) or omitted.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > [noun] > score > type of score

full score1786

vocal score1819

short score1876

compressed score1877

open score1899

condensed score-

1819 T. Busby Hist. Mus. II. 253 No longer confining his sacred compositions to the solitary accompaniment of the organ, he enriched and emblazoned his vocal scores with a variety of instrumental parts.

1857 A. Ainger in E. Sichel Life & Lett. A. Ainger (1906) 43 I..shall place myself in a snug corner of the hall, with the vocal score in my hands.

1959 I. Gershwin Lyrics on Several Occasions 83 The vocal score would be printed by that time.

2016 Observer (Nexis) 18 Dec. No formal dress, no vocal scores (they sing from memory) and, perhaps most crucially, no conductor.

† vocal speaking adj. Obsolete rare conveying impressions or ideas as if by speech; expressive, eloquent; = sense A. 5.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > high significance, expressiveness > [adjective] > characterized by being

significant1581

speakingc1595

vocal1608

expressful1621

vocal speaking1649

expressive1718

signific1795

speechful1820

expressionable1892

1649 J. Owen Ουρανων Ουρανια 36 The works of God..are vocall speaking works: the minde of God is in them.

vocal wave adj. [after post-classical Latin unda vocalis (1595 or earlier), itself after Arabic mawj al-ṣawtī (11th cent.), lit. ‘sonant wave’] a wave of (vocal) sound; (now) esp. a sound wave produced by speech or singing.

ΚΠ

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 610 By the percussion of the Ayre there are generated certaine circles which mooue one another till by succession they come to the Organ of hearing: which continuation of the Ayre thus beaten Auicen and the antient Anatomists call vndam vocalem, the vocall waue.

1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 4 As in the report of a Piece, the eye being the nimbler sense, discernes the discharge before any intelligence by conduct of the vocall Wave arrive at the eare.

1878 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 28 Mar. When the vocal waves strike the diaphragm it is moved from the speaker to a distance regulated by the strength of the waves.

1961 Bull. Hist. Med. Jan. 424 The sense of hearing comprehends the voice or vocal wave and whatever sound flows to that place.

2012 Jrnl. Accounting Res. 50 355 Measuring the level of cognitive dissonance contained in the vocal wave for each observation.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	vocal
释义	vocaladj.n. Brit. /ˈvəʊkl/, U.S. /ˈvoʊk(ə)l/ Forms: late Middle English vocaal, late Middle English–1500s vocale, late Middle English– vocal, 1500s vocalle, 1500s–1600s vocall, 1600s uocal, 1600s uocall; also Scottish pre-1700 vaucal, pre-1700 wocal. Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin vōcālis. Etymology: < classical Latin vōcālis having an articulate voice, able to speak, (of things) producing a sound, sonorous, having a notable voice, (of musical instruments) producing a tuneful sound, (in grammar) of or relating to vowels, in post-classical Latin also uttered or expressed by the voice (frequently from 12th cent. in British sources; from c1400 with specific reference to prayer), of or relating to the voice (from 12th cent. in British sources), nominal, so-called (frequently from 13th cent. in British sources), conveyed by word of mouth, oral (from 13th cent. in British sources), of or relating to words, verbal (from 14th cent. in British sources) < vōc- , vōx voice n. + -ālis -al suffix¹.Compare Middle French, French vocal spoken, expressed in speech (late 14th cent.; late 16th cent. or earlier with specific reference to prayer), of or relating to the articulation of a word (late 14th cent.), of or relating to the voice (early 15th cent.). Compare also Catalan vocal (14th cent.), Spanish vocal (late 13th cent.), Italian vocale (early 14th cent.). Specific senses. In the specific use in heraldry (see sense vocal arms n. at Compounds 2) after French parlant (1640 or earlier in this sense, in armes parlantes ). With the specific use as noun in sense B. 1 compare classical Latin vōcālis (feminine) ‘vowel’, which was borrowed into many other European languages. Compare e.g. Old French vocal , Middle French vocal , vocale , French †vocale (late 13th cent. as feminine noun, end of the 15th cent. as masculine noun), Spanish vocal (early 15th cent.), Italian vocale (beginning of the 14th cent.), German Vokal (15th cent. as vocal ; in early use also with Latin inflectional endings), in the same sense. Compare earlier vowel n. In sense B. 2 in early use after the specific post-classical Latin use of classical Latin vōcālis (early 17th cent. or earlier in this sense); in quot. 1811 after Spanish vocal (late 18th cent. or earlier in this sense). A. adj. I. Senses relating to the voice or the capacity to speak, sing, etc. 1. a. Of prayer: spoken aloud, esp. as opposed to prayer expressed in the mind (frequently contrasted with mental; cf. mental adj.¹ 2). ΚΠ ?a1425 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Lamb. 472) (2000) i. xxvii. l. 685 This matier of praier, whiche is callid vocal. c1460 Tree & 12 Frutes (McClean) (1960) 18 (MED) Vocal prayer is praier made bi mowth a cordyng with þe soule. 1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Com. Prayer sig. Ppp iiij Let vs se whether the Scriptures..wyll allow any vocall prayer, that is, when the mouth vttereth the peticions with voyce. 1671 A. Woodhead tr. Life St. Teresa i. vi. 314 If Vocal Prayer be made, as it should, even Mental is an ingredient into it. 1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women II. xi. 227 Vocal prayer, whether more or less articulate, will be found..by far the most proportioned to the human..faculties. 1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity II. ix. 151 Instead of the ancient severities [of penance], vocal prayers came to be all that was enjoined. 1862 London Rev. & Weekly Jrnl. 26 July 84 The dangers of unreality and self-delusion with which vocal prayers were beset. 1884 W. E. Addis & T. Arnold Catholic Dict. 569 St. Benedict supposes that some of his monks will pray after the vocal prayers of the office with tears and application of heart. 1937 Hispania 20 112 Santa Teresa insists on the necessity of vocal prayer, but always accompanied by mental prayer. 2006 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 5 Aug. (Final ed.) e10 Many classical writings point to four kinds of vocal prayer: adoration, thanksgiving, petition and propitiation. b. gen. Uttered by, or involving the use of, the voice; spoken, oral; of the nature of speech.For use referring specifically to singing, see sense A. 3. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > vocal sound vocala1460 vocular1832 phonic1841 phonal1859 a1460 Knyghthode & Bataile (Pembr. Cambr. 243) l. 1272 (MED) Signys vocal in wacch and in bataile Be made, as wacch woordis, [etc.]. c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 213 (MED) Þe labour of meditacioun..passiþ þe oþer vocal labour of preising and preiyng. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue f. 53^v Why then do they make accompt of it, but as a vocall word, and outward sounde? 1608 Bp. J. Hall Epist. I. vi. 66 It cannon be denied, that all the substance of prayer is in the heart; the vocall sound is but a complement. 1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 232 Messengers, who deliver their missives by vocal relation. 1757 T. Gray Ode II iii. ii, in Odes 20 What strains of vocal transport round her play! 1781 R. P. Jodrell Illustr. Euripides II. 293 There was a political use derived from the vocal ejaculation, and instrumental clangor so peculiar to these Pagan Rites. 1860 F. W. Farrar Ess. Origin Lang. i. 19 The mere possession of vocal cries not different from those of animals. 1886 J. Ruskin Præterita II. vi. 191 John Hobbs, called always..George, to distinguish him, in vocal summons, from my father and me. 1910 Amer. Jrnl. Ophthalmol. Dec. 375 He kept..bobbing his head between his knees and performing other wild movements and vocal ejaculations. 1958 E. Kimbrough And Right Good Crew vi. 76 That she should have volunteered to make vocal inquiry made me realize hunger had sapped her resistance. 2014 Daily Record & Sunday Mail (Nexis) 9 Nov. (Seven Days section) 40 There are many other ways to reward, such as physical contact, ball throwing, playing tuggy, vocal praise and so on. c. Phonetics. Produced or uttered with vibration of the vocal cords; voiced. Now somewhat rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > voiced or voiceless sound gen > [adjective] > voiced or voicing vocal1668 sonant1808 vocalizing1809 vocular1812 voiced1850 phonetic1864 phonic1877 sonantizing1879 sonantic1892 sonorant1899 1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. iii. xii. §2. 369 (Zh) the sonorous Consonant, and (Sh) its correspondent mute, are framed by a percolation of the breath, betwixt the tongue rendered concave, and the teeth both upper and lower: The first being vocal, the other mute. 1669 W. Holder Elem. Speech 53 B. is Vocal, Labial, Occluse. 1796 L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 2) 7 The semi-vowels may be subdivided into vocal and aspirated. The vocal are those which are formed by the voice; the aspirated, those formed by the breath. 1847 Proc. Philol. Soc. (1848) 3 72 Examples beginning with a vocal letter are found both in the Chinese and in other languages. 1874 H. Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 538 There can be no doubt that the f in Early Old English was vocal like the Welsh f. 1908 M. Summers Man.: First Lessons in Reading iii. 73 Vocal th is taught first because it is the one more frequently used in the Primer. 1954 I. R. Ewing & A. W. G. Ewing Speech & Deaf Child xi. 182 The aspirate H is also usually classed as a fricative consonant, but it has, of course, no vocal equivalent. †d. Of a letter in a word, syllable, etc.: actually uttered or sounded. Obsolete. rare.Only recorded in works by Samuel Johnson. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > utterance of vocal sound > uttered pronounced1511 uttereda1586 vocal1751 upraised1871 out-loud1899 1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 88. ⁋11 There is reason to believe that the silent e which our ancestors added to the most of our monosyllables,..was once vocal. 1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. at E Afterwards it [sc. the letter e] was in poetry either mute or vocal, as the verse required. 2. a. Designating the parts of the body of a person or animal that are involved in vocalization, as vocal organ, vocal tract, etc. In later use also: of, relating to, or affecting such a part, esp. a vocal cord.vocal cord, vocal fold, vocal sac: see Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > concerned in production of voice vocal?a1450 ?a1450 tr. Macer Herbal (Stockh.) (1949) 124 (MED) If þe veyne þe voys comeþ out by be sharp or har, oþer be colde..þis medycyn..wole make þe veyne softe and lyþe..This decoccion wole in þe same wise destruy þe cough and..purge wel þe reumes þat fallen doun fro þe hede and of þe vocale veyne. 1576 T. Newton tr. L. Lemnie Touchstone of Complexions ii. vi. f. 141^v The heart, by help of the Lunges, the vocal Artery and tongue (which serueth for vtteraunce of woordes and internall deuises) expresseth and vttereth the cogitations and meanings of the mynde. 1578 J. Banister Hist. Man iv. f. 50^v Thus farre of the vocall organ, in describyng wherof as appeareth, is great dissention among the Authors. 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια vi. x. 365 They are also called the Vocall nerues, because if they bee wounded, the creature looseth his voyce. 1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. xxxvi. 318 Who would looke curiously into the motions of the dispositions of a beastes vocal instruments. 1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Recurrent Nerves, by some called Vocal, because they are spent upon the Instruments of Speech. 1751 J. Harris Hermes iii. ii. 318 What these Vocal Organs precisely are, is not in all respects agreed by Philosophers and Anatomists. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 429/2 The upward current of air passing through the larynx produces an effect on the vocal ligaments. 1887 M. Thompson Sylvan Secrets 93 At best the reptilian vocal apparatus is rudimentary in the extreme. 1913 R. B. Faulkner Tonsils & Voice 318 Vocal nodules. They arise from vocal excesses, overwork, or bad management of the voice. 1977 D. Fry Homo Loquens iii. 30 The process of articulation..depends on continual changes in the shape of the vocal tract, and hence in its acoustic properties. 2004 R. A. Suthers in P. Marler & H. Slabbekoorn Nature's Music ix. 272/2 The avian vocal organ, the syrinx, is located deep in the chest in an air sac. 2009 Clin. Neurophysiol. 120 336 The method to elicit and record CoMEPs [= corticobulbar motor evoked potentials] in vocal muscles shows reliable results. b. More generally: of or belonging to the voice; relating to the use of the voice to produce or utter sounds, words, etc.Overlapping with sense A. 3b when referring specifically to the singing voice. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] vocal1655 the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > relating to voice vocal1655 voiceful1821 1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 1 Though his [sc. Charles's] vocall impediment accompanyed him till the fatall stroke. 1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 283 Let my right Hand forget her Art; My Tongue her vocal Gift resign, And Sacred Verse no more be mine! 1795 W. Mason Ess. Eng. Church Music ii. 154 They must still endeavour to hit that precise medium in the vocal faculty, which pronounces and sings at the same time. 1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop ii. lxii. 145 Mr. Quilp was certainly entertaining himself with vocal exercise. 1862 H. W. Fuller On Dis. Chest i. iii. 18 This ‘vocal fremitus’ is more pronounced in adults than in children. 1912 Trans. 34th Ann. Meeting Amer. Laryngol. Assoc. 119 (title) When should singers having vocal disability be allowed to resume work? 1994 Evening Standard (Nexis) 23 Sept. 31 A vocal impediment so severe that she could barely be understood. 2012 West Briton (Nexis) 10 July 37 There will be a free voice work and singing session to help improve and maintain vocal health for speaking and singing for pleasure. 3. a. Of music: that is sung or intended for singing; performed by or composed for a singer or singers; (sometimes) spec. unaccompanied by instruments; a cappella. Often opposed to instrumental. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > [adjective] vocal1586 vocalistic1853 1586 Praise of Musicke i. 7 And first to begin as best beseemeth, with vocall Musicke, being sounded with a liuely instrument the toung of man. 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 486 Giving herselfe to learne poesie, and likewise vocall musicke. 1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 276 The Morning being ushered in with Vocal and Instrumental Musick. 1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 26 This was more like good singing and good music than any vocal piece that had preceded it. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 22/1 In the accompaniment to vocal music, much greater freedom of imitation is allowable than in the voice part. 1917 Musician Jan. 73/1 The choir specializes in a cappella music, and Russian vocal music in particular. 1942 Observer 30 Aug. 2/5 When I hear of Benjamin Britten carrying a bundle of excellent new vocal works under his arm, I am delighted. 2013 New Yorker 11 Mar. 34/3 She exposed him to contemporary classical music, especially vocal music. b. Of, relating to, or connected with singing. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > [adjective] > relating to singing vocal1736 cantatory1836 vocalistic1853 1736 W. Tans'ur Compl. Melody (ed. 3) ii. sig. K4^v The Vocal Scale by way of Sol, Fa and the Instrumental Scale by way of Letters. 1819 C. Butler Hist. Mem. Eng., Irish & Sc. Catholics (ed. 2) II. xlv. 344 Greek music..was governed by rhythm and..quarter-tones made a part of its regular vocal scale. 1875 Appleton's Jrnl 20 Nov. 667/2 Wachtel is unmistakably manly and strong in the quality and style of his singing. It is not merely in the tempestuous rush of his high notes when he sings forte passages, but ingrained in the quality of his vocal timbre. 1957 High Fidelity Apr. 65/1 The presence in the Viennese company of the castrato Gaetano Guadagni dictated the vocal range of the role of Orpheus. 1997 Spirit No. 8 73/1 Vocal acrobatics that sound like a scat singer on speed. 2008 JazzTimes May 133/2 Combining tight modern jazz with the vocal talents of Washington, D.C.'s most creative freestylists. 4. Possessing a voice; having the capacity to speak, sing, etc.; (also) producing or uttering sounds, words, etc., at a particular point in time; making a sound with the voice. a. Of a person or animal. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > having voice voiceful1598 vocal1601 tongued1635 voiceda1821 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 233 Brought there were thither..such [frogs] as would crie in the water: and that whole kind still remaineth vocall. 1668 H. More Divine Dialogues iii. xxxiv. 528 As probable as the black Hunter ranging the Forest with his vocal, but invisible, Hounds in Fountainbleau. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 339 These insects are generally vocal in the midst of summer. c1792 Encycl. Brit. IX. 529/1 The organs of all vocal animals are so formed, as, upon any particular impulse, to utter sounds. 1849 D. Bishop Introd. to Study of Mind 39 The human voice, in its tone and accent, is more pure and sonorous than any power of sound which distinguishes the vocal animals. 1877 J. Tyndall in Daily News 2 Oct. 2/5 Though the mechanical theory of a vocal Heavenly multitude proves untenable. 1911 Proc. Delaware County Inst. Sci. 6 135 That pleasure or pain makes a difference in the tones of vocal insects is not improbable. 1971 Classical Jrnl. 67 176 Other vocal birds besides the cuckoo are the bobolink, bob white, chickadee, pewee, pewit, and whippoorwill. 2016 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 24 May Capybaras..are vocal animals, communicating through barks, whistles, huffs and purrs. b. figurative and in extended use. (a) Of an inanimate thing, place, etc.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 7. ΚΠ 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 770 Brasse is verie vocall, resonant, and (as one would say) a blab of the tongue. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 530 He..with Serpent Tongue Organic, or impulse of vocal Air, His fraudulent temptation thus began. View more context for this quotation 1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 159 The poet's or historian's page, by one Made vocal for th' amusement of the rest. 1797 R. Southey Lett. from Spain Retrospective Musings p. xix Many a stream That from the neighbouring hill descended clear Wound vocal thro' the valley. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 156 There are seven steam-hammers..and a remarkably vocal saw for cutting red-hot iron. 1904 C. Scollard Lyric Bough 30 Runs from tree to vocal tree An elusive harmony; Now a whisper faint and fleeting, Now a chorus full and free. 2004 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 8 Apr. pm16 The effect is almost puzzle-like, the 26 canvases conversing with each other and the now-very-vocal walls behind them. †(b) spec. (chiefly poetic). Of (part of) a musical instrument. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > [adjective] > by quality of sound softa1525 lofty1598 vocal1649 alto1802 contrabass1834 soprano1856 baritone1876 monophonous1878 tinny1904 sopranino1907 plinky1926 1649 G. Wither Vaticinium Votivum 12 Somtimes Hee Hunt's, and with his Vocal Horn, Summon's Aurora, and the loitering Morn. a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1664 (1955) III. 378 A new invented Instrument of Musique,..made vocal by a Wheele, & a Zone of parchment that rubb'd horizontaly against the Strings. 1743 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Odes (new ed.) I. iii. i. 23 Nor chaunt of birds, nor vocal lyre To him can sleep afford. 1760 F. Fawkes tr. Anacreon Odes in tr. Anacreon Wks. i. 5 Rapt I strike the vocal Shell—Hark—the trembling Chords rebel. 1854 W. K. Kelly tr. Tibullus Elegies 366 in Erotica 366 O'er all the vocal strings his fingers stray, The vocal strings his fingers glad obey. †5. figurative. Conveying impressions or ideas as if by speech; expressive, eloquent. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > high significance, expressiveness > [adjective] > characterized by being significant1581 speakingc1595 vocal1608 expressful1621 vocal speaking1649 expressive1718 signific1795 speechful1820 expressionable1892 1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 134 By a mute and silent way it ascendeth, and bringeth all things mortall to a vocall iustice, which speaketh in action though not in voyce. 1611 Bp. J. Hall Epist. III. v. i. 7 Accusations are vocall, Apologies dumbe. 1697 J. Evelyn Numismata Introd. 1 Medals..(give me leave to call them) Vocal Monuments of Antiquity. 1720 R. Welton tr. T. Alvares de Andrade Sufferings Son of God I. xiii. 343 The Multitude of my successive Miseries might become Vocal, and never cease to Importune Thy Mercy. 1724 R. Welton Substance Christian Faith 209 That vocal blood and those speaking wounds. 1897 Garden 24 Apr. 294/3 Every leaf is vocal, and the air is full of the moist fragrance of the earth. 1923 Country Life 24 Feb. 238/2 The primrose is vocal of my childhood. †6. Expressed by means of specific names or designations. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia iii. i. 65 The Propriety of Possessions..may be deuided into Vocall and Evidential. Vocall Propriety denotates the Properties of particulars by due Appellation. †7. Chiefly poetic. Full of (vocal) sound; sounding, resounding. Frequently with by or with. Obsolete.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 4b(a). ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > resonance or sonority > [adjective] > of sounds resonant1592 sonorous1632 vocal1667 sepulchral1796 round1832 the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > [adjective] > vocal sound > full of vocal1667 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 204 Hill, or Valley, Fountain, or fresh shade Made vocal by my Song. View more context for this quotation 1717 A. Pope Eloisa to Abelard in Wks. 424 Such plain roofs as piety could raise, And only vocal with the Maker's praise. 1748 J. Hervey Contempl. Night in Medit. & Contempl. (ed. 2) II. 49 She [sc. the Screech-Owl] flies the vocal Grove, and shuns the Society of all the feathered Choir. 1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches viii. 288 The inland streams..are vocal in spring with the shrill chirping of millions of frogs. 1879 Preachers' Analyst Jan. 28/2 The summer evening is vocal with the melodious warbling of many birds. 8. a. Uttering or expressing one's views or opinions freely, loudly, or vehemently; vociferous, outspoken. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > [adjective] > free or unrestrained > of speaker vocal1844 1844 Morning Chron. 8 Oct. The seven cities who contended for the birth of Homer were not more vocal in importunity than is the serenade of impassioned capitalists to embrace the fair territory which our Pelhams and our Handleys have metamorphosed from sand-heaps to fruitfulness. 1881 Pall Mall Gaz. 10 Feb. 1/1 That policy [of coercion in Ireland] may have done something to pacify..an influential and highly vocal class in England. 1916 Survey 15 July 415/2 Some of the leading, if less vocal, people were with him. 1965 Ebony Aug. 141/1 This complicated structure of authority is the target of the Negro protest movement's most vocal and militant spokesmen. 2006 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 5 Mar. (Suburban section) 1 Vocal parents have griped for years that Mayor Bloomberg's elimination of community school boards robbed them of their rightful power. b. Uttered or expressed loudly or vehemently; characterized by vociferous expressions of opinion. ΚΠ 1882 Los Angeles Daily Times 26 Oct. Railroad employés are subject to all manner of annoyances—notably annoying questions and vocal demands. 1924 Times 27 May 17/3 They are bound also to await the best, which is not necessarily the first or the most vocal, opinion. 1971 Trusts & Estates July 555/2 Perhaps the most vocal debate in the public domain today centres on economic nationalism. 2005 E. Murrar Oracle iv. 295 They had ignored her very vocal protestations regarding the slip of gold material they planned to put her in. II. Senses relating to vowels. 9. Of the nature or character of a vowel; consisting of a vowel or vowels; vocalic. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > having character of vocal1589 1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. xv. 107 The foote [Tribrachus] of three short times is very hard to be made by any of our trissillables vnles they be compounded of the smoothest sort of consonants or sillables vocals. 1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments To Rdr. 7 Also E vocall, for E dipthong. 1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ II. at I They give it [sc. i, j] a name from its consonant use, we from the vocal. 1807 R. Southey Lett. from Eng. I. 279 As their delicate ears could bear none but vocal terminations. 1818 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1 246 The vocal sounds are those which are represented in alphabets by the letters we call vowels. 1914 A. T. Robertson Gram. Greek New Test. in Light of Hist. Res. viii. 324 On the short vocal ending of the subjunctive and its connection with the indicative one may recall ἔδομαι, πίομαι, ϕάγομαι in the N. T. [= New Testament]. 2001 Jewish Q. Rev. 92 172 The form of fem. pl. participle with vocal ending..is quite common. †10. Connected with the utterance of vowel sounds. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] vowellisha1637 vocalic1782 monophthongal1783 vocular1813 vocalistic1848 phthongal1875 vocal1887 vocoid1943 the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > relating to vocalic1851 vocal1887 1887 Alienist & Neurologist 8 7 The vocal (vowel) mechanism is the first that is manifested in the child. B. n. †1. A vowel; a vocalic sound or letter. Cf. sense A. 9. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [noun] vowelc1308 vocalc1570 monophthong1616 vowel-sound1795 oral1885 vocalic1902 c1570 Art of Music (BL Add. 4911) f. 36^v in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Vocal(l The fyve vocalis..of the quhilkis ewrie ane salbe tane for ane simpill noit of plane sang. 1577 R. Stanyhurst Treat. Descr. Irelande i. f. 2/1, in R. Holinshed Chron. I In corruption of common talke we find that V. with his vocale, is easily lost, and suppressed. So we saie ere for euer, nere for neuer. 1624 W. Ingpen Secrets of Numbers 49 There bee seauen changes of voices, seuen physicall and naturall mouings: seuen vocals among the Grecians. 1666 J. Eliot Indian Gram. Begun 4 I taught our Indians first to lay out a Word into Syllables, and..to make it up with the right Letters, viz. if it were a simple sound, then one Vocall made the Syllable. 1710 Gram. Eng. Tongue i. 4 Tho' we have in English no more Characters of perfect Sounds, yet we have fifteen Vocals; each of these five having two distinct sounds. 1853 A. H. Wehrhan tr. A. B. Marx Universal School Music iii. 129 By means of articulation, a series of various sounds is produced. Of these are the sounds known by the name of vowels, or vocals. 1886 T. E. Hill Hill's Man. of Social & Business Forms 48/1 These sounds are divided into three classes—vocals, sub-vocals, and aspirates. The vocals consist of a pure tone only, as a, e, i, o, u. 1921 C. S. Case Pract. Treat. Technics & Princ. Dental Orthopedia (ed. 2) ix. ii. 426 The Vocals, or Vowel Oral Elements, whose symbols in the English language are a, e, i, o, u, and final y, are those utterances which impart to speech its main voice tones. †2. A member of a religious or administrative body who is entitled to vote in elections. Obsolete.Cf. note in etymology on the origin of this sense. ΘΚΠ society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > other clergy > [noun] > Roman Catholic with right to vote vocala1660 a1660 P. S. Aphorismical Discov. iv. ii. xv, in J. T. Gilbert Contemp. Hist. Ireland (1880) II. 109 In Conaght, on the 15th of August, 1650, all the vocalls of the whole province [of Irish Franciscans] there apeeringe, and of Carons faction..were the undernamed (though not all, but some, before theire transgression were vocalls). 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) A Man must have been a Religious a certain number of Years, to be a Vocal. 1811 W. Jacob Trav. South of Spain x. 63 Padre Gill, and the other patriots, blushed at such an associate, and, to remove the disgrace from their body, sent him as a vocal to the Central Junta. †3. Phonetics. A voiced consonant. Cf. sense A. 1c. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > consonant > [noun] > voiced vocal1669 soft1727 1669 W. Holder Elem. Speech 78 To soften the Occluse Gingival Consonants, by a kind of..addition of a Spirital..to a Vocal producing the Vowel. 1773 J. Herries Elements Speech ii. ii. 114 Let the aspirates of s and sh be as rustling as possible, while their kindred vocals of z and zh are emitted with the clearest energy. 1793 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 3 293 Aspirates are formed in the same manner as their vocals, with respect to position of the organs, but are produced only by the breath. 1889 E. Shaftesbury Lessons in Voice Culture v. 52 Next to the liquids the vocals are the most beneficial to the voice. They occupy a middle ground and consist of the following letters: B, D, G hard, V and Z. 4. a. A piece of music featuring singing; a song or other vocal composition. Now somewhat rare. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > [noun] songeOE wisea1000 chant1587 voice-music1600 charm1633 vocal1769 minstrelsy1863 1769 Private Lett. from Amer. in Eng. iv. 12 Every full moon they had a regular concert of vocals and instrumentals in the very public house we baited at. 1858 Athenæum 21 Aug. 241/1 Le Brigand..is an ‘instrumental’ (to illustrate the silliness of the ungrammatical jargon forced on us by those who fancy that they are foreign and reverential in so doing) which we like less than ‘vocals’ by its writer which we have seen. 1934 S. R. Nelson All about Jazz iv. 84 A succession of vocals in radio music is sometimes tiresome. 1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy viii. 203 Almost all [the records] are ‘vocals’ and the styles of singing much advanced beyond what is normally heard on the Light Programme of the B.B.C. b. Singing; an instance of this. Often with more specific reference: the voice considered as an instrument; (also) the sung part of a song or other vocal composition; a sung melody or other vocal line. (a) In singular. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > [noun] > vocal part in music voice1593 voice part1869 vocal1928 vox1974 1928 S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge i. 30 She felt more kind of called to the music line, and she was taking vocal and piano. 1938 D. Baker Young Man with Horn iv. ii. 201 He had them pretty heavily arranged, with a transitional passage before every vocal. 1968 Blues Unlimited Sept. 26 For strange vocal try to hear Daniel Brown's version. 1975 A. Ayckbourn Norman Conquests 14 He does a dance to the music and sings as the vocal starts. 2014 DJ Mag Apr. 65/1 The track was a bassline stomper, a grimy slab of sub-low and brutal snares, rolled in the sugary sweetness of an R&B vocal. (b) In plural (now the more usual form). Cf. vox n.² ΚΠ 1933 N. Y. Times 26 Feb. x. 10/6 The Men About Town Trio supply the vocals. 1935 Hot News May 4/3 I'm certain also that you'll find Eddie Miller a grand clarinet—swing, hot intonations, marvellous backgrounding for the vocals, and tasteful improvisation. 1946 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets xiii. 311 In barrel-house vein are his records..with vocals by Joe Turner. 1983 Sunday Tel. 9 Oct. 24/2 The cost of a machine with a complete package of 400 songs with the vocals edited out, is £600. 2017 Times (Nexis) 5 Sept. 53 Playing guitar and bass, with Fagen on keyboards and vocals, he formed Steely Dan. †5. poetic. Vocal faculty; power of speech. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > [noun] > faculty or power of speech speech?a1000 speaka1300 carpc1400 utterance1474 speakingc1480 discourse1609 languagea1616 verbalness1647 vocal1838 speechfulness1880 1838 E. B. Barrett Seraphim & Other Poems ii. 112 Hath language left thy lips, to place Its vocal in thine eye? Compounds C1. In combination with another adjective, with the sense ‘both vocal and ——’, as vocal-auditory, vocal-gestural, vocal-linguistic, etc. Cf. voco- comb. form. ΚΠ 1901 J. Jastrow in Psychol. Rev. 8 8 The why and wherefore of speech as a vocal auditory process. 1918 McEvoy Mag. Feb. 374/1 The syllable method is the fittest of methods for reading which is primarily a vocal-aural affair, and hence itself syllabic. 1963 H. Werner & B. Kaplan Organismic-developmental Approach Lang. ii. x. 132 A matrix of bodily movements and vocal-intonational patterns. 1974 C. R. Peters in R. W. Wescott Lang. Origins v. 93 The vocal-gestural redundancies which frequent our conversation. 1981 Amer. Speech 56 130 Sign language is as adequate for the deaf as any vocal-auditory language is for a hearing person. 2015 New Indian Express (Nexis) 30 Dec. Gilles' sound installation..explores ideas of the relation between racial purity and vocal-linguistic characteristics developed in Nazi Germany. C2. † vocal arms n. Heraldry Obsolete rare arms in which the charges make indirect reference to or suggest a pun on the bearer's name, title, occupation, etc.; cf. allusive arms n. at allusive adj. Compounds, canting arms at canting adj.² 5.Also in some later dictionaries. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > [adjective] > types of arms fixal1486 familiar1646 vocal arms1728 canting arms1738 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Arms Speaking, or Vocal Arms, are those wherein the Figures bear an Allusion to the Name of the Family. vocal coach n. a person who provides tuition or training for singers; spec. one who works with singers to help them rehearse and prepare for performances (as opposed to one who teaches the art and technique of singing); cf. vocal coaching n., voice coach n. at voice n. Compounds 2.In the more specific sense frequently contrasted with voice teacher. ΚΠ 1885 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Disp. 29 Aug. 10/4 Mme. Marchesi, the great vocal coach for aspiring prime donne. 1914 Music News 13 Nov. 27/1 Among practices generally condemned are:..the pretense to teach more than one branch of music, whether by the voice teacher..or by the pianist under color of vocal coach. 1968 D. Nicholson Turn on to Stardom iv. 68 They [sc. natural professional singers] study only the popular types of music and they usually study with a vocal coach, rather than a voice teacher. 2004 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 26 Nov. A top vocal coach who has worked with leading lights in the music industry believes Northern Ireland singers are the stars of the future. vocal coaching n. the action or practice of working as a vocal coach (see vocal coach n.); tuition or training for singers. ΚΠ 1889 Entr'acte & Limelight 12 Oct. 6/2 They would..be treated to a musical education and vocal coaching by tip-top masters. 1951 Musical Q. 37 324 Vocal production is supervised by the students' voice instructor, diction and additional vocal coaching is handled by a highly experienced operatic singer. 1983 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 21 Apr. (Late City Final ed.) b16/5 Mr. Horne later went into private teaching and vocal coaching. 2017 Lichfield Mercury (Nexis) 21 Dec. 4 To reach the standards required to sing in the cathedral the choristers receive vocal coaching from singing teacher Ailsa Cochrane. vocal cord n. (also vocal chord) [after French corde vocale (A. Ferrein 1744, in Hist. de l'Acad. royale des sci. 1741 422)] a thin white fold of mucous membrane extending from the thyroid cartilage to the arytenoid cartilage on either side of the larynx, the vibration of which in exhaled air produces, and determines the pitch of, vocal sounds.The usual form is now vocal cord; cf. discussion at cord n.¹ and chord n.¹ ΚΠ 1757 Lit. Mag. Feb. 64/2 These he [sc. Dr. Ferrein] calls the vocal strings or chords. 1825 J. Rennie Art of improving Voice & Ear ii. 24 Ferrein and others..have compared it to a violin, the vocal chords being in this instance supposed to perform the office of strings. 1905 Post-graduate 20 1147 The singer's nodule is a very small warty callosity produced by local attrition and may be frequently seen attached to a perfectly healthy vocal chord. 2010 Church Times 22 Oct. 18/2 Now boys are trained to force the chest voice into the higher registers, causing strain, damage to the vocal cords, and an early voice break. vocal fry n. originally and chiefly Linguistics and Phonetics a rough or creaky quality in very low-pitched speech or utterance; a register of the voice or manner of speaking characterized by this; also attributive in vocal fry phonation, vocal fry register, vocal fry voice, etc.Vocal fry is produced by slow, irregular vibration of the vocal cords and is so called because of a perceived resemblance to the sizzling sound produced when food is fried. ΚΠ 1955 C. T. Brown Introd. Speech xvii. 332 Most women..are sensitive to vocal fry and adjust to avoid it. 1967 Jrnl. Speech & Hearing Res. 10 302 Although..[the authors of one study] estimated that a frequency range of 20–90 Hz would be reasonable for vocal fry register, several subjects in this study produced mean vocal fry phonations below 20 Hz. 1973 R. H. Colton & H. Hollien in J. W. Large Vocal Reg. in Singing 117 Listeners were able to distinguish..harsh voices from vocal fry voices at a very high level of accuracy. 1992 J. M. Watanabe Maya Saints & Souls in Changing World p. xvi Vowels acquire considerable vocal fry, or ‘creaky voice’. 2016 Guardian (Nexis) 15 Apr. Dong..explains that he practiced his English by watching Keeping up with the Kardashians, which results in his using their signature vocal fry and upspeak. vocal fold n. (a) (also true vocal fold) = vocal cord n.; (b) (in full false vocal fold) a thick pink fold of mucous membrane attached to each side of the vestibule of the larynx, above the vocal cords. ΚΠ 1866 R. Owen On Anat. Vertebr. II. xx. 225 These structures, concomitant with the single glottis and pair of vocal folds in the lower or true larynx, relate to the faculty, so remarkable in these singular birds, of imitating human speech. 1960 Jrnl. Speech & Hearing Res. 3 159/1 An investigator observed the image of the subject's vocal folds in the laryngeal mirror. 2000 J. Sundberg in J. Potter Cambr. Compan. Singing xix. 233 A few millimetres above the vocal folds there is another pair of folds, also covered by mucous membrane. These are called the false vocal folds..or the ventricular folds. vocal line n. [compare line n.² 7h] a sung melody; the main vocal part of a song or other vocal composition. ΚΠ 1912 Musical Times June 377/1 There is a beauty about the voice part of this song that constantly responds to the words, yet the vocal line remains a composite and continuous whole. 1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! iii. 190 The disparity between the vocal line and its harmonic background [in Les Noces]. 1961 Listener 21 Dec. 1089/3 The music takes shape by means of a simple recitative-like vocal line, modal, flexible, limpid, with an orchestral part of matching directness and simplicity. 2006 A. Summers One Train Later vii. 115 A swirling rush of dense, washy keyboards, repeated vocal lines, and drum patterns that fall outside any traditional song formats. vocal sac n. [after German Stimmhöhle (1818 in the passage translated in quot. 1827), lit. ‘vocal cavity’] Zoology a distensible pouch of skin in the throat of an animal, esp. a male frog or toad, used for vocalization; cf. throat sac n. at throat n. Compounds 6. ΚΠ 1827 R. T. Gore tr. C. G. Carus Introd. Compar. Anat. Animals II. i. ii. 199 The Solipeda are distinguished by very spacious vocal sacs. 1844 C. Knight Pict. Museum Animated Nature II. 130/1 The vocal sac of the male [Marbled Toad] is capable of great extension. 1950 Illustr. London News 15 Apr. 588/2 By inflating the loose skin of the vocal sacs at the sides of the head the male sings with a voice which is surprisingly loud. 2005 J. L. Behler & D. A. Behler Frogs 120/1 Male R. darwinii keep the tadpoles in their vocal sac for about fifty days. vocal score n. Music a score of a piece of vocal music showing the voice parts in full, typically with each voice part on a separate stave, but with the accompanying instrumental parts either reduced (often to a keyboard arrangement) or omitted. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > [noun] > score > type of score full score1786 vocal score1819 short score1876 compressed score1877 open score1899 condensed score- 1819 T. Busby Hist. Mus. II. 253 No longer confining his sacred compositions to the solitary accompaniment of the organ, he enriched and emblazoned his vocal scores with a variety of instrumental parts. 1857 A. Ainger in E. Sichel Life & Lett. A. Ainger (1906) 43 I..shall place myself in a snug corner of the hall, with the vocal score in my hands. 1959 I. Gershwin Lyrics on Several Occasions 83 The vocal score would be printed by that time. 2016 Observer (Nexis) 18 Dec. No formal dress, no vocal scores (they sing from memory) and, perhaps most crucially, no conductor. † vocal speaking adj. Obsolete rare conveying impressions or ideas as if by speech; expressive, eloquent; = sense A. 5. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > high significance, expressiveness > [adjective] > characterized by being significant1581 speakingc1595 vocal1608 expressful1621 vocal speaking1649 expressive1718 signific1795 speechful1820 expressionable1892 1649 J. Owen Ουρανων Ουρανια 36 The works of God..are vocall speaking works: the minde of God is in them. vocal wave adj. [after post-classical Latin unda vocalis (1595 or earlier), itself after Arabic mawj al-ṣawtī (11th cent.), lit. ‘sonant wave’] a wave of (vocal) sound; (now) esp. a sound wave produced by speech or singing. ΚΠ 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 610 By the percussion of the Ayre there are generated certaine circles which mooue one another till by succession they come to the Organ of hearing: which continuation of the Ayre thus beaten Auicen and the antient Anatomists call vndam vocalem, the vocall waue. 1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 4 As in the report of a Piece, the eye being the nimbler sense, discernes the discharge before any intelligence by conduct of the vocall Wave arrive at the eare. 1878 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 28 Mar. When the vocal waves strike the diaphragm it is moved from the speaker to a distance regulated by the strength of the waves. 1961 Bull. Hist. Med. Jan. 424 The sense of hearing comprehends the voice or vocal wave and whatever sound flows to that place. 2012 Jrnl. Accounting Res. 50 355 Measuring the level of cognitive dissonance contained in the vocal wave for each observation. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.n.?a1425
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