OCTAVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does octave mean? 

• OCTAVE (noun)
  The noun OCTAVE has 3 senses:

1. a feast day and the seven days following it

2. a musical interval of eight tones

3. a rhythmic group of eight lines of verse

  Familiarity information: OCTAVE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OCTAVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A feast day and the seven days following it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("octave" is a kind of...):

church festival; religious festival (a festival having religious significance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A musical interval of eight tones

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

musical octave; octave

Hypernyms ("octave" is a kind of...):

interval; musical interval (the difference in pitch between two notes)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A rhythmic group of eight lines of verse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("octave" is a kind of...):

stanza (a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem)

 Context examples 

Perseus is the same cluster where astronomers discovered sound waves with a note of B-flat 57 octaves below middle-C plus a giant wave about twice the width of the Milky Way galaxy.

(Scientists Surprised by Relentless Cosmic Cold Front, NASA)

Astrologers consider Pluto the higher octave of Mars, taking the qualities of Mars to an entirely new level.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The air was calm, full of the eternal hum of insects, a tropical chorus of many octaves, from the deep drone of the bee to the high, keen pipe of the mosquito.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"You're revolting," said Daisy. She turned to me, and her voice, dropping an octave lower, filled the room with thrilling scorn: "Do you know why we left Chicago? I'm surprised that they didn't treat you to the story of that little spree."

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)