gamut
See also: Gamut
English
Etymology
1520s, original sense “lowest note of musical scale”, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Medieval Latin gamma ut, from gamma (“Greek letter, corresponding to the musical note G”) + ut (“first solfège syllable, now replaced by do”). In modern terms, “G do” – the first note of the G scale[1]. Meaning later extended to mean all the notes of a scale, and then more generally any complete range.
Pronunciation
Noun
gamut (plural gamuts)
- A (normally) complete range.
- 1933?, Dorothy Parker, review of Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway play The Lake
- She delivered a striking performance that ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B.
- 1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob’s Room:
- The entire gamut of the view's changes should have been known to her; its winter aspect, spring, summer and autumn; how storms came up from the sea; how the moors shuddered and brightened as the clouds went over; she should have noted the red spot where the villas were building; and the criss-cross of lines where the allotments were cut...
- 1933?, Dorothy Parker, review of Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway play The Lake
- (music) All the notes in the musical scale.
- All the colours available to a device such as a monitor or printer.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
complete range
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all the notes in the musical scale
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all the colours available to a device
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “gamut”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Dibabawon Manobo
Noun
gamut