Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Consisting of two; double.
  • adjective Music Consisting of two or a multiple of two beats to the measure.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Double.
  • To double.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Double.
  • adjective (Math.) that in which the antecedent term is double the consequent, as of 2 to 1, 8 to 4, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective rare Double.
  • adjective Having two beats, or a multiple of two beats, in each measure.
  • adjective poetry Having two beats in each foot.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective consisting of or involving two parts or components usually in pairs

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin duplus; see dwo- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin duplus (twofold, double). Attested since the 16th century.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word duple.

Examples

  • Conductors should mark the changes, and conduct them (beating the half-note, as much as possible); singers need only keep an even quarter-note pulse, whether duple or compound, and follow the natural rhythm and accentuation of the text.

    Introits for Treble Choir 2009

  • Both musicians relished the dancing hemiola figures in the third movement, shifts of the downbeat between duple and triple groupings, and played with impressive bravura and accuracy.

    Music review: Zuill Bailey and Orion Weiss at the Kennedy Center 2010

  • What we know: it's something written by the date of the film, it involves at least one mallet instrument, and it contains at least 15 or so seconds of music in straight duple meter.

    L'Oiseau de Feu Lisa Hirsch 2009

  • The primary difference in the Karp transcription (Vol. 2, pg. 206) and the Helmer transcription (pg. 243) is that the former is in triple meter and the latter, duple.

    Archive 2009-05-01 bls 2009

  • For three voices, in duple meter, based on a structural duet of discantus and tenor with an added contratenor, and occasionally imitative, they display the usual characteristics of the genre.

    Archive 2009-05-01 Lu 2009

  • Leaving behind the triumvirate, we enter into the duple meter of blank and, then, free verse.

    THE PROSODY HANDBOOK: A GUIDE TO POETIC FORM by ROBERT BEUM & KARL SHAPIRO EILEEN 2009

  • Certainly, the rhymthic structures are quadruple and duple (with the exception of "Hitler In My Heart" where we are given 5's and 7's), but within those thoroughly square and masculine rhythms, there is a litheness, a suppleness, a winding and breathing, a certain fluidity that is thoroughly feminine.

    Antony and the Johnsons--Quintessentially Queer Music 2009

  • Actually, the Helmer score is notated in free rhythm, but a duple meter is suggested.

    Archive 2009-05-01 bls 2009

  • From a musical perspective, these were melodies written in minor keys, in duple meter, at times in the rhythm of a marche (in most cases, a slow marche), in strophic form.

    Hebrew Song, 1880-2000. 2009

  • The final duple arrangement is ‘Classical Prosody’ and ‘Prosody and Period’ -- the latter worth the price of admission by itself.

    THE PROSODY HANDBOOK: A GUIDE TO POETIC FORM by ROBERT BEUM & KARL SHAPIRO EILEEN 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.