chord1
/kɔːd
/- From the tramping funeral rhythm of the opening movement to the ominous major - minor chords of the finale, the symphony offers precious little respite from its tragic purpose.
- Prokofiev's daunting cluster chords and rapid fire pianistic flourishes held no terrors for her.
- The top note of the chord identifies major, while the middle note identifies minor.
- Havard Wiik's piano is crucial throughout; his spare, unfussy chording recalls the economy of Monk or Herbie Nichols, while his solos are logical, melodic and direct.
- Though I suspect Vaananen's instrument has more prosaic origins, he extracts a magical sound from it, from staccato guitar like chording to bell-like swirls.
- Subverting the derivative subterranean drift of the rest of the album, Smith allows dissonant chording and mechanical clanks to disrupt his serene drones.
Usage
See chord2 (usage)
Derivatives
chordal
- Sitting in stark contrast, the Scherzo follows with its bold chordal character, leading to the finale which accelerates to a presto before drawing to a close.
- All pieces are written in a melody and accompaniment style, with the right hand playing the melody and the left hand playing chordal figures or arpeggiations.
- However, when the chordal melody is doubled in both hands, the left-hand part can be difficult to navigate cleanly.
Origin
Middle English cord, from accord. The spelling change in the 18th century was due to confusion with chord2. The original sense was 'agreement, reconciliation', later 'a musical concord or harmonious sound'; the current sense dates from the mid 18th century.
The sense of a group of musical notes was originally spelt cord and was a shortening of accord (Middle English) in the sense ‘bring into harmony’, which came from Latin accordere literally ‘to bring to heart’. The accordion (mid 19th century) ultimately gets its name from the same source. The sort of chord found in mathematics is also a respelling of cord, but this time in the sense ‘rope’. This was a Middle English word from Latin chorda, which came in turn from Greek khorde ‘gut, string of a musical instrument’. The spellings of both chords was changed to be more like their classical sources.
Rhymes
chord2
/kɔːd/- He wrote on the computation of sines and chords.
- The angle at the centre of a circle is twice the angle at the circumference from the same chord.
- To handle the extra power at high altitude, the Columbia 400 incorporates a larger rudder in both chord and span, along with a ventral fin beneath the empennage.
- The 0-52 was not a bad looking aircraft its rotund fuselage being offset by a narrow chord wing with a single strut.
- The radiant barrier is most often attached near the roof, to the bottom surface of the attic truss chords or rafter framing.
- On a practical level, the trusses also provide the framework for the second floor, which is suspended from the bottom chords of the trusses.
- The truss chords were fabricated from rolled tee sections ranging in size from 16.5 by 84.5 in.
- In severe cases, one or more vertebrae may be missing, exposing the spinal chord (part of the nervous system that transmits signals from the nerve endings to the brain).
- It can affect the nervous system in any place, in the brain or the spinal chord.
- The next step is to encourage those fibres to grow into the cell, and out of the cell into the spinal chord, by using a combination of drugs.
- Her agile fingers began working like mad as they strung various wires and chords expertly through the holes.
- The guests' voices faded, as she began to caress the chords of the instrument and raised her soft voice.
Usage
In modern English there are two words spelled chord: the first is the musical term ‘a group of notes sounded together’, and the second is a technical term in mathematics, aeronautics, and engineering. Cord meaning ‘string or rope made from twisted strands’ is etymologically related to the second chord but is now regarded as a distinct word. The anatomical term generally uses the spelling cord (as in spinal cord and vocal cord), although chord is an acceptable variant.
Phrases
strike (or touch) a chord
strike (or touch) the right chord
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the anatomical sense): a later spelling (influenced by Latin chorda 'rope') of cord.