duet
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Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Italian duetto (“short musical composition for two voices”), diminutive of duo (“two”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- Rhymes: -ɛt
Noun[edit]
duet (plural duets)
- (music) A musical composition in two parts, each performed by a single voice (singer, instrument or univoce ensemble).
- (music) A song composed for and/or performed by a duo.
- A pair or couple, especially one that is harmonious or elegant.
- 2005, James Henderson, Caribbean and the Bahamas
- The fare is Caribbean with an Asian touch — millefeuille of sun-dried tomato, Paris mushrooms and chargrilled local asparagus followed by a duet of chicken and shrimp...
- 2005, James Henderson, Caribbean and the Bahamas
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
a musical composition for two performers
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Verb[edit]
duet (third-person singular simple present duets, present participle dueting, simple past and past participle dueted)
- (intransitive) To perform a duet.
- 1822, Lord Byron, Letter to Mr. Moore, Pisa, July 12, 1822, in The Letters of George Gordon Byron, edited by Mathilde Blind, London: Walter Scott, 1887, p. 277, [1]
- When you can spare time from duetting, coquetting, and claretting with your Hibernians of both sexes, let me have a line from you.
- 1879, George Meredith, The Egoist, Chapter 20, [2]
- He was about as accordantly coupled with Dr. Middleton in discourse as a drum duetting with a bass-viol […]
- 2011, Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending, Random House Canada, p. 45, [3]
- ‘Ti-yi-yi-yime is on my side, yes it is,’ I used to yodel, duetting with Mick Jagger as I gyrated alone in my student room.
- 1822, Lord Byron, Letter to Mr. Moore, Pisa, July 12, 1822, in The Letters of George Gordon Byron, edited by Mathilde Blind, London: Walter Scott, 1887, p. 277, [1]
- (intransitive, zoology, of pairs of animals) To communicate (warnings, mating calls, etc.) through song.
- 1975, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Belknap Press, p. 223,
- Duetting species are typically monogamous.
- 1986, Thomas A. Sebeok, I Think I Am a Verb: More Contributions to the Doctrine of Signs, New York: Springer Science+Business, 2013, Chapter 7, p. 87, [4]
- In several dozen species of birds there has been found a phenomenon known as duetting, or antiphonal singing: the first part of a song is executed by one partner of a pair, then the other partner very promptly chimes in to sing the second part.
- 1975, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Belknap Press, p. 223,
- (transitive) To perform (sing, play, etc.) as a duet.
- 1939, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 377,
- Peena and Queena are duetting a giggle-for-giggle […]
- 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 1, [5]
- After the Lord's Prayer the Missionaries duetted a hymn while the children stared at me.
- 1939, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 377,
- (transitive) (of two people) To say at the same time, to chorus.
- 1864, Charles Whitehead, “The Stock-Broker” in Heads of the People: or, Portraits of the English, Volume I, London: Henry G. Bohn, p. 23, [6]
- “My dear papa!” duetted the girls; but there was something in the husband and father's face, that told the three ladies it would be worse than useless to raise that question at present.
- 1884, Anonymous, A Speculation, Denver: D. M. Richards, Chapter 12, p. 50, [7]
- “A bear!” exclaimed the Major, jumping up and coming forward.
- “A bear!” dueted the Doctor and Right Rev., pressing hastily to the front.
- 1864, Charles Whitehead, “The Stock-Broker” in Heads of the People: or, Portraits of the English, Volume I, London: Henry G. Bohn, p. 23, [6]
Usage notes[edit]
- In the UK and other Commonwealth countries, the present and past participles of this verb are often spelled with a double T: duetted and duetting
See also[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
duet n (plural duetten, diminutive duetje n)
