superfluousSUPER'FLUOUS, a. [L. superfluus, overflowing; super and fluo, to flow.] Superfluous interval, in music, is one that exceeds a true diatonic interval by a semitone minor. Superfluous polygamy, (Polygamia superflua,) a kind of inflorescence or compound flower, in which the florets of the disk are hermaphrodite and fertile, and those of the ray, though female or pistiliferous only, are also fertile; designating the second order of the class Syngenesia of Linne. Superfluous sound or tone, is one which contains a semitone minor more than a tone. |