sound
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /saʊnd/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /sæʊn/
ipa: /suːnd/
rhymes: -aʊnd
Forms: form: sounds
form: soune
form: sownd
form: sowne
Etymology: * Noun: from Middle English sownde, alteration of soun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sun, soun, Old French son, from accusative of Latin sonus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- (“to sound, resound”).
* Verb: from Middle English sownden, sounen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suner, sounder, Old French soner (modern sonner), from Latin sonō.
* The hypercorrect -d appears in the fifteenth century. (Compare dialectal drownd, gownd for the same development.)
Displaced native Middle English swei, from Old English swēġ, from Proto-Germanic *swōgiz.
Senses: examples: text: He turned when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.  Nobody made a sound.
text: The warlike sound / Of trumpets loud and clarions.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: Through all the Worlds are sounds, the noises of moving, and the echoes of voices and song; but upon the River is no sound ever heard, for there all echoes die.
ref: 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 88:
glosses: A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.
examples: text: In trumpets for assisting the hearing, all reverbation of the trumpet must be avoided. It must be made thick, of the least elastic materials, and covered with cloth externally. For all reverbation lasts for a short time, and produces new sounds which mix with those which are coming in.
ref: 1820, Encyclopaedia Britannica; Or A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, 6th edition, volume 20, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, page 501:
text: It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.[…]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
ref: 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:
glosses: A vibration capable of causing such sensations.
examples: text: He looks like he's got it, maybe. Listen to those kids!/There's no maybe about it. That's it, that's the sound.
ref: 1954, Valentine Davies et al., The Glenn Miller Story:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A distinctive style and sonority of a particular musician, orchestra etc.
examples: text: For let us conſider this Prepoſition as to its meaning, (for it is the ſence, and not ſound, that is and muſt be the Principle or common Notion) […]
ref: 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of Power”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, § 18, page 23:
glosses: Noise without meaning; empty noise.
examples: text: Stay within the sound of my voice.
glosses: Earshot, distance within which a certain noise may be heard.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
phonetics
phonology
sciences
glosses: A segment as a part of spoken language, the smallest unit of spoken language, a speech sound.
Synonyms: word: noise
word: sound
Hypernyms: word: sensation
Hyponyms: word: abrupt sound
word: animal sound
word: prolonged sound
word: bang
word: beep
word: cheep
word: clatter
word: creak
word: crunch
word: din
word: echo
word: honk
word: humming
word: murmur
word: ring
word: rumble
word: rustle
word: screech
word: sibilation
word: sizzle
word: snap
word: squeak
word: stertor
word: susurrus
word: tap
word: ting
word: tweet
word: voice
word: wah-wah
word: zap
Related terms: word: audible
word: listen
word: make sound
word: utter