alla breve

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adv. Music In cut time.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In music, an expression understood to denote— a species of time in which every bar contains a breve, or four minims; or a rhythm of two or four beats to a bar, but taken at a rate of movement twice as fast as if the piece were simply marked with the sign of common time. The sign for alla breve time is .

Wiktionary

1. n. music a time signature when the half note is the beat and there are two beats per measure

GNU Webster's 1913

1. (Old Church Music) With one breve, or four minims, to measure, and sung faster like four crotchets; in quick common time; -- indicated in the time signature by �.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a musical time signature indicating two or four half notes to a measure