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Bourdon
Definitions
- 1 A surname from French.
- 1 The burden or bass of a melody. archaic
"The earth tremors resumed and made a bourdon to the loud psalms that they sang, interspersed with the odd ode of Horace recited by Silas."
- 2 Unadapted borrowing from French bourdon; a pilgrim's staff. historical
"The left hand was gone, this held the bourdon or pilgrim's staff, a small portion only of which appeared over the scrip."
- 3 A flute stop on an organ of 8', 16' or 32', generally characterized by a low, dark tone.
- 4 a pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone wordnet
- 5 The drone pipe of a bagpipe.
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 The lowest-pitched stop of an organ.
"The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ."
- 7 The lowest-pitched bell of a carillon.
- 8 A large, low-pitched bell not part of a diatonically tuned ring of bells.
- 9 A bumblebee, genus Bombus.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“accompaniment”), from Old French bordon, from Medieval Latin burdō, burdōnem (“drone”). The modern pronunciation and form (for *burdon) is influenced by modern French bourdon.
Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“pilgrim's staff”), from Old French bordon, from Medieval Latin burdō, burdōnem (“pilgrim's staff”). The modern pronunciation and form is also influenced by modern French bourdon.
See also for "bourdon"
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Unscramble this word: bourdon