acute
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈkjuːt/
enpr: ə-kyo͞ot′
ipa: /əˈkjut/
rhymes: -uːt
Forms: form: acutes
Etymology: From Late Middle English acute (“of a disease or fever: starting suddenly and lasting for a short time; of a humour: irritating, sharp”), from Latin acūta, from acūtus (“sharp, sharpened”), perfect passive participle of acuō (“to make pointed, sharpen, whet”), from acus (“needle, pin”). The word is cognate to ague (“acute, intermittent fever”).
As regards the noun, which is derived from the verb, compare Middle English acūte (“severe but short-lived fever; of blood: corrosiveness, sharpness; musical note of high pitch”).
Senses: examples: text: Anne Marie had been assigned a ‘constant supervision’ status. […] Always avoiding the unrest of the television lounge, she would sometimes join some of the older ‘acutes’ who sat isolated in metal chairs at the end of the hallway and gaze out of the window with them.
ref: 1990, Gerry Fewster, “Down to Business”, in Being in Child Care: A Journey into Self, Binghamton, N.Y.; London: The Haworth Press, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.; Hove, East Sussex: Routledge, 2012, →ISBN, page 113:
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: A person who has the acute form of a disorder, such as schizophrenia.
examples: text: [I]t would be strange if we wer to recite Homer, raising our voices on the acutes, lowering them on the graves, and managing the circumflexes as well as we could, yet to recite Virgil without any of these regular elevations, depressions, and circumbendibus.
ref: 1827, Uvedale Price, “Restoration of Ancient Accent Impossible”, in An Essay on the Modern Pronunciation of the Greek and Latin Languages, Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter, →OCLC, page 206:
text: There would be no sense in our assuming that even an independent circumflex after an acute might be raised in pitch for the sake of clearer distinction from that acute; for it is sufficiently distinguished by its sliding tone; and, if it had any right to be further distinguished, an acute following an acute would have much more right; while, nevertheless, any number of acutes are allowed to succeed one another, without modification of their natural character.
ref: 1869–1870, William D[wight] Whitney, “II.—On the Nature and Designation of the Accent in Sanskrit.”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, Hartford, Conn.: Published by the [American Philological] Association; printed by Case, Lockwood & Brainard, published 1871, →OCLC, pages 40–41:
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
antonyms: grave
glosses: An accent or tone higher than others.
examples: text: The word ‘cafe’ often has an acute over the ‘e’.
text: The number of Notes in this Table, without either acute or grave marks (´ or `), is 75. Of those bearing one acute mark (´) it is 74, of those with two acutes (´´) 70, with three acutes (´´´ or ´³) 51, […]
ref: 1817 June, John Farey, Sen., “CI. On Mr. Listons, or the Euharmonic Scale of Musical Intervals, […]”, in Alexander Tilloch, editor, The Philosophical Magazine and Journal: […], volume XLIX, number 230, London: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor. […], →OCLC, page 445:
text: The five vowels marked with acutes over them, it is probable, were first contrived to assist the ignorant monks in reading the church service, that by this means they might arrive to a proper and settled pronunciation in the discharge of their sacerdotal duties; […]
ref: 1824, J[ohn] Johnson, “A Fount of Letter, as Considered by Letter Founders”, in Typographia, or The Printers’ Instructor: […], volume II, London: Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, […], →OCLC, page 34:
topics: communications
journalism
literature
media
orthography
publishing
writing
glosses: An acute accent (´).