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Webster 1913 Edition


Portamento


Porˊta-men′to

,
Noun.
[It., fr.
portare
to carry.]
(Mus.)
In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.

Definition 2024


portamento

portamento

English

Noun

portamento (plural portamentos or portamenti)

  1. (music) A smooth, gliding transition from one note to another; used especially with stringed instruments, and sometimes on brass.
    • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 945:
      The music was feral, Eastern in scale, flattened seconds and sixths, and a kind of fretless portamento between

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /portaˈmento/

Noun

portamento m (plural portamenti)

  1. bearing, carriage, deportment

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