octave

noun

oc·​tave ˈäk-tiv 

-təv,

-ˌtāv

1

: an 8-day period of observances beginning with a festival day

2

a

: a stanza of eight lines : ottava rima

b

: the first eight lines of an Italian sonnet

3

a

: a musical interval embracing eight diatonic degrees

b

: a tone or note at this interval

c

: the harmonic combination of two tones an octave apart

d

: the whole series of notes, tones, or digitals comprised within this interval and forming the unit of the modern scale

e

: an organ stop giving tones an octave above those corresponding to the keys

4

: the interval between two frequencies (as in an electromagnetic spectrum) having a ratio of 2 to 1

5

: a group of eight

Examples of octave in a Sentence

He sang the song an octave lower.

Recent Examples on the Web

During the central crisis of Beethoven’s Funeral March, hammering octaves in the bass register, again with the pedal held down, unleash a dissonant boom that is in some ways more unnerving than the corresponding passage in orchestral form. —Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024

In the musical analogy, important musical intervals based on ratios of frequencies are the fourth, 4:3, the fifth, 3:2, and the octave, 2:1. —Chris Impey, Discover Magazine, 12 Feb. 2024

One of the most surprising comments Nolan made about his films, however, was the source for his use of the Shephard tone, a sound that creates the illusion of ascending or descending in pitch through the superposition of sine waves, which are separated by octaves. —Tatiana Tenreyro, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Feb. 2024

Conn experimented with an underslung octave mechanism and an ineffective bulging device on the end of the neck called a microtuner, for tiny pitch adjustments. —Chris Almeida, The New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2024

On an even deeper, more personal level, Batiste’s usual upbeat tone lowers but an octave when speaking about his wife’s potential fates. —A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 2 Feb. 2024

Her mellifluous sound, spanning two octaves, is part Snow White communing with the birds, part haunted theremin. —Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024

Foxes can make sounds that spans five octaves, the same range as Mariah Carey. —Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 22 Jan. 2024

Programmable micro-controllers were used to divide up an 8 MHz clock signal, creating circuits with several octaves of the same note. —Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 19 Dec. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin octava, from Latin, feminine of octavus eighth, from octo eight — more at eight

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

octave

noun

oc·​tave ˈäk-tiv 

-təv,

-ˌtāv

1

: a group of eight lines of poetry (as the first eight lines of a sonnet)

2

a

: the difference in pitch between the first and eighth tone on the scale

b

: a tone or note that is eight steps above or below another note or tone

3

: a group of eight