soprano

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The highest singing voice of a woman or young boy.
2. n. A singer having such a voice.
3. n. The tonal range characteristic of a soprano.
4. n. An instrument that sounds within this range.
5. n. A vocal or instrumental part written within this range.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In music, the highest variety of the female voice; treble. It ranges easily from about middle C upward two octaves or more, and is characterized by a comparatively thin and incisive quality, usually combined with marked flexibility. Soprano is also the higher voice of boys, and is sometimes accidentally or artificially preserved among men. It is the most important and effective voice for all kinds of solo singing, and is that to which is assigned the chief melody in modern choral music. A voice whose compass and quality are intermediate between soprano and alto is called mezzo-soprano.
2. n. A singer with such a voice.
3. n. A voice-part for or sung by such a voice.
4. Pertaining to the soprano: as, soprano music: a soprano voice; the soprano compass.

Wiktionary

1. n. Musical part or section higher in pitch than alto and other sections.
2. n. Person or instrument that performs the soprano part.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The treble; the highest vocal register; the highest kind of female or boy's voice; the upper part in harmony for mixed voices.
2. n. A singer, commonly a woman, with a treble voice.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the pitch range of the highest female voice
2. n. the highest female voice; the voice of a boy before puberty
3. adj. having or denoting a high range
4. n. a female singer