Piano
[pɪ'ænəʊ] or [pɪ'æno]
Definition
(noun.) a keyboard instrument that is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds.
(noun.) (music) low loudness.
(adj.) used chiefly as a direction or description in music; 'the piano passages in the composition' .
(adv.) used as a direction in music; to be played relatively softly.
Checked by Jeannette--From WordNet
Definition
(a. & adv.) Soft; -- a direction to the performer to execute a certain passage softly, and with diminished volume of tone. (Abbrev. p.)
(a.) Alt. of Pianoforte
Checker: Lowell
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of seeing a piano, denotes some joyful occasion. To hear sweet and voluptuous harmony from a piano, signals success and health. If discordant music is being played, you will have many exasperating matters to consider. Sad and plaintive music, foretells sorrowful tidings. To find your piano broken and out of tune, portends dissatisfaction with your own accomplishments and disappointment in the failure of your friends or children to win honors. To see an old-fashioned piano, denotes that you have, in trying moments, neglected the advices and opportunities of the past, and are warned not to do so again. For a young woman to dream that she is executing difficult, but entrancing music, she will succeed in winning an indifferent friend to be a most devoted and loyal lover.
Typed by Jack
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience.
Checker: Trent
Unserious Contents or Definition
A tool frequently used in building a Rough House.
Checked by Debbie
Examples
- I don't tell amusing stories, he said curtly, and walked across to the piano. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- He bore it as long as he could, then went to his piano and began to play. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Oh, I do not mind singing, said Caliphronas, going to the piano; if the words of my songs were translated, you would find them very harmless. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Oh there's Ma speaking to the man at the piano! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The rest get among the spittoons and pipes or lean against the piano. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- She had been trying the new piano all the morning. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- If you would be so kind, said Eunice, vacating her seat at the piano, which action brought a frown to the face of her watchful mother. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- And he sat down to the piano, and rattled a lively piece of music. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- In this room, too, there was a cabinet piano, quite new and of superior tone; also an easel for painting and a pair of globes. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- As I left the piano Miss Fairlie turned a page of the music, and touched the keys again with a surer hand. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Thank you so much, said Eunice, coming over to the piano. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- At my request Miss Fairlie placed herself at the piano. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- She kept her place at the piano, and I kept mine at the card-table. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The story of the piano, that queen of musical instruments, involves the whole history of the art of music. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Upon my proposing to read them, she went to the piano. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Half-a-dozen assistants were at his beck to remove the pianos, &c. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- As far aloft as I could see the stems and branches and twigs were as smooth and as highly polished as the newest of American-made pianos. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- The pitch of pianos, from the lowest bass note to the very highest treble, varies from 27 to about 3500 vibrations per second. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Mine is dishes and dusters, and envying girls with nice pianos, and being afraid of people. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- The young ladies of the Conservatoire, being very much frightened, made rather a tremulous exhibition on the two grand pianos. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Checked by Dale