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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
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1828 Noah Webster Dictionary
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1828.mshaffer.com › Word [descant]

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descant

DESCANT, n.

1. A song or tune composed in parts.

2. A song or tune with various modulations.

The wakeful nightingale

All night long her amourous descant sung.

3. A discourse; discussion; disputation; animadversion, comment, or a series of comments.

4. The art of composing music in several parts. Descant is plain, figurative and double.

Plain descant is the ground-work of musical compositions, consisting in the orderly disposition of concords, answering to simple counterpoint.

Figurative or florid descant, is that part of an air in which some discords are concerned.

Double descant, is when the parts are so contrived, that the treble may be made the base, and the base the treble.

DESCANT, v.i.

1. To run a division or variety with the voice, on a musical ground in true measure; to sing.

2. To discourse; to comment; to make a variety of remarks; to animadvert freely.

A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions.


Evolution (or devolution) of this word [descant]

1828 Webster1844 Webster1913 Webster

DESCANT, n.

1. A song or tune composed in parts.

2. A song or tune with various modulations.

The wakeful nightingale

All night long her amourous descant sung.

3. A discourse; discussion; disputation; animadversion, comment, or a series of comments.

4. The art of composing music in several parts. Descant is plain, figurative and double.

Plain descant is the ground-work of musical compositions, consisting in the orderly disposition of concords, answering to simple counterpoint.

Figurative or florid descant, is that part of an air in which some discords are concerned.

Double descant, is when the parts are so contrived, that the treble may be made the base, and the base the treble.

DESCANT, v.i.

1. To run a division or variety with the voice, on a musical ground in true measure; to sing.

2. To discourse; to comment; to make a variety of remarks; to animadvert freely.

A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions.

DES'CANT, n. [Sp. discante, discantar; dis and L. canto, to sing. See Cant. The Fr. dechanter has a different sense.]

  1. A song or tune composed in parts.
  2. A song or tune with various modulations. The wakeful nightingale All night long her amorous descant sung. – Milton.
  3. A discourse; discussion; disputation; animadversion, comment, or a series of comments.
  4. The art of composing music in several parts. Descant is plain, figurative and double. Plain descant is the ground-work of musical compositions, consisting in the orderly disposition of concords, answering to simple counterpoint. Figurative or florid descant, is that part of an air in which some discords are concerned. Double descant, is when the parts are so contrived, that the treble may be made the base, and the base the treble. – Bailey. Encyc.

DES-CANT', v.i.

  1. To run a division or variety with the voice, on a musical ground in true measure; to sing. – Bailey. Johnson.
  2. To discourse; to comment; to make a variety of remarks; to animadvert freely. A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions. Addison.

Des"cant
  1. Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song.

    (b)
  2. To sing a variation or accomplishment.
  3. A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments.

    Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant! De Quincey.

  4. To comment freely; to discourse with fullness and particularity; to discourse at large.

    A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions. Addison.

1828 Webster1844 Webster1913 Webster

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Descant

DESCANT, noun

1. A song or tune composed in parts.

2. A song or tune with various modulations.

The wakeful nightingale

All night long her amourous descant sung.

3. A discourse; discussion; disputation; animadversion, comment, or a series of comments.

4. The art of composing music in several parts. descant is plain, figurative and double.

Plain descant is the ground-work of musical compositions, consisting in the orderly disposition of concords, answering to simple counterpoint.

Figurative or florid descant is that part of an air in which some discords are concerned.

Double descant is when the parts are so contrived, that the treble may be made the base, and the base the treble.

DESCANT, verb intransitive

1. To run a division or variety with the voice, on a musical ground in true measure; to sing.

2. To discourse; to comment; to make a variety of remarks; to animadvert freely.

A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions.

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Word of the Day

importance

IMPORT'ANCE, n.

1. Weight; consequence; a bearing on some interest; that quality of any thing by which it may affect a measure, interest or result. The education of youth is of great importance to a free government. A religious education is of infinite importance to every human being.

2. Weight or consequence in the scale of being.

Thy own importance know.

Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.

3. Weight or consequence in self-estimation.

He believes himself a man of importance.

4. Thing implied; matter; subject; importunity. [In these senses, obsolete.]

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FI'BRIL, n. A small fiber; the branch of a fiber; a very slender thread.

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