clef

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The roman a clef is always popular with scandal-mongers, but its authors can hardly hope to escape rebuke It was not till 1752 that Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in Italy, received "Peregrine," with other fashionable romances--"Pompey the Little," "The Parish Girl," "Eleanora's Adventures," "The Life of Mrs. Theresa Constantia Phipps," "The Adventures of Mrs. Loveil," and so on.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Music A symbol indicating the pitch represented by one line of a staff, in relation to which the other pitches of the staff can be determined.

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Examples (50)

  • Maelzel's metronome [half-note] = 144 Music: Treble clef, B-flat major Pray forgive the confused way in which this is written. —  Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826
  • In the passage in the “Opferlied,” 2d strophe, where it runs thus Music: C-clef on bottom line, A major, marked “Solostimme”. —  Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826
  • A-gnus de-i pec-ca-ta mun-di Music: Treble clef, B-flat major. —  Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826
  • It limped up and down the clef, shifted direction, tone, three or four times in the space of a few bars. —  F ;SF - vol 088 issue 05 - May 1995
  • In this respect, as in the general scheme of her work, Mrs. Haywood was following the model set by the celebrated Mrs. Manley in her “New Atalantis.” She in turn had derived her method from the French romans a clef or romances in which contemporary scandal was reported in a fictitious disguise. —  The Life and Romances of Mrs. Eliza Haywood
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, key, from Old French, from Latin clāvis.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French clef, Old French cle, clef = Spanish clave, now llave = Portuguese chave, a key, clave, a clef, = Italian chiave, from Latin clavis, a key: see clavis.
 

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/klɛf/
by American Heritage

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