music
    n 1: an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating
         instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous
         manner
    2: any agreeable (pleasing and harmonious) sounds; "he fell
       asleep to the music of the wind chimes" [syn: music,
       euphony]
    3: musical activity (singing or whistling etc.); "his music was
       his central interest"
    4: (music) the sounds produced by singers or musical instruments
       (or reproductions of such sounds)
    5: punishment for one's actions; "you have to face the music";
       "take your medicine" [syn: music, medicine]

Music \Mu"sic\, n. [F. musique, fr. L. musica, Gr. ? (sc. ?),
   any art over which the Muses presided, especially music,
   lyric poetry set and sung to music, fr. ? belonging to Muses
   or fine arts, fr. ? Muse.]
   1. The science and the art of tones, or musical sounds, i.
      e., sounds of higher or lower pitch, begotten of uniform
      and synchronous vibrations, as of a string at various
      degrees of tension; the science of harmonical tones which
      treats of the principles of harmony, or the properties,
      dependences, and relations of tones to each other; the art
      of combining tones in a manner to please the ear.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Not all sounds are tones. Sounds may be unmusical and
         yet please the ear. Music deals with tones, and with no
         other sounds. See Tone.
         [1913 Webster]

   2.
      (a) Melody; a rhythmical and otherwise agreeable
          succession of tones.
      (b) Harmony; an accordant combination of simultaneous
          tones.
          [1913 Webster]

   3. The written and printed notation of a musical composition;
      the score.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Love of music; capacity of enjoying music.
      [1913 Webster]

            The man that hath no music in himself
            Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
            Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Zool.) A more or less musical sound made by many of the
      lower animals. See Stridulation.
      [1913 Webster]

   Magic music, a game in which a person is guided in finding
      a hidden article, or in doing a specific art required, by
      music which is made more loud or rapid as he approaches
      success, and slower as he recedes. --Tennyson.

   Music box. See Musical box, under Musical.

   Music hall, a place for public musical entertainments.

   Music loft, a gallery for musicians, as in a dancing room
      or a church.

   Music of the spheres, the harmony supposed to be produced
      by the accordant movement of the celestial spheres.

   Music paper, paper ruled with the musical staff, for the
      use of composers and copyists.

   Music pen, a pen for ruling at one time the five lines of
      the musical staff.

   Music shell (Zool.), a handsomely colored marine gastropod
      shell (Voluta musica) found in the East Indies; -- so
      called because the color markings often resemble printed
      music. Sometimes applied to other shells similarly marked.
      

   To face the music, to meet any disagreeable necessity, such
      as a reprimand for an error or misdeed, without flinching.
      [Colloq. or Slang]
      [1913 Webster]

music
 n.

    A common extracurricular interest of hackers (compare science-fiction
    fandom, oriental food; see also filk). Hackish folklore has long
    claimed that musical and programming abilities are closely related, and
    there has been at least one large-scale statistical study that supports
    this. Hackers, as a rule, like music and often develop musical appreciation
    in unusual and interesting directions. Folk music is very big in hacker
    circles; so is electronic music, and the sort of elaborate instrumental
    jazz/rock that used to be called ?progressive? and isn't recorded much any
    more. The hacker's musical range tends to be wide; many can listen with
    equal appreciation to (say) Talking Heads, Yes, Gentle Giant, Pat Metheny,
    Scott Joplin, Tangerine Dream, Dream Theater, King Sunny Ade, The
    Pretenders, Screaming Trees, or the Brandenburg Concerti. It is also
    apparently true that hackerdom includes a much higher concentration of
    talented amateur musicians than one would expect from a similar-sized
    control group of mundane types.

Music

   music> A series of languages for musical sound
   synthesis from Bell Labs, 1960's.  Versions: Music I through
   Music V.

   ["An Acoustical Compiler for Music and Psychological Stimuli",
   M.V. Mathews, Bell Sys Tech J 40 (1961)].

   [Jargon File]

   (1999-06-04)

Music
   Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The
   Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole
   history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After
   the Deluge, the first mention of music is in the account of
   Laban's interview with Jacob (Gen. 31:27). After their triumphal
   passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang
   their song of deliverance (Ex. 15).
   
     But the period of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden
   age of Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now
   for the first time systematically cultivated. It was an
   essential part of training in the schools of the prophets (1
   Sam. 10:5; 19:19-24; 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Chr. 25:6). There now arose
   also a class of professional singers (2 Sam. 19:35; Eccl. 2:8).
   The temple, however, was the great school of music. In the
   conducting of its services large bands of trained singers and
   players on instruments were constantly employed (2 Sam. 6:5; 1
   Chr. 15; 16; 23;5; 25:1-6).
   
     In private life also music seems to have held an important
   place among the Hebrews (Eccl. 2:8; Amos 6:4-6; Isa. 5:11, 12;
   24:8, 9; Ps. 137; Jer. 48:33; Luke 15:25).