Definitions

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

  • noun A composition for eight voices or eight instruments.
  • noun A group of eight singers or eight instrumentalists.
  • noun A group of eight.
  • noun A set of eight valence electrons in an atom or ion, forming a stable configuration.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In music, a composition for eight voices or instruments, or a company of eight singers or players. Sometimes, but not usually, equivalent to a double quartet. Also ottetto, octuor, octiphonium.

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

  • noun (Mus.) A composition for eight parts, usually for eight solo instruments or voices.
  • noun A group of eight singers or eight musicians.

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

  • noun A group or set of eight of something.
  • noun music A group of eight musicians performing together.
  • noun music A composition for such a group of musicians.
  • noun computing A byte of eight bits. Abbreviation: o
  • noun computing, rare A group of three bits, representing eight possible values.

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

  • noun eight people considered as a unit
  • noun a set of eight similar things considered as a unit
  • noun the cardinal number that is the sum of seven and one
  • noun a musical composition written for eight performers
  • noun eight performers or singers who perform together

Etymologies

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

[Alteration (influenced by octo– and duet) of Italian ottetto, from otto, eight, from Latin octō; see oktō(u) in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin octo, eight.

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Examples

  • For example, you might want to subnet an address like 10. 1.x.0, where the first two octets are fixed because they are used in the extended network prefix, and the fourth octet is 0 because all bits are used for the host number.

    Determining the Address to Use with the Subnet Mask 2001

  • Yet another one of Gordon Brown's 'octet' - the eight advisers named in The Spectator three years ago - is moving on.

    Departures and arrivals on Downing Street 2009

  • Yet another one of Gordon Brown's 'octet' - the eight advisers named in The Spectator three years ago - is moving on.

    Departures and arrivals on Downing Street 2009

  • Yet another one of Gordon Brown's 'octet' - the eight advisers named in The Spectator three years ago - is moving on.

    Gordon Brown, Charlie Whelan and Me 2009

  • As a 16-year-old, Mendelssohn wrote the featured octet, which is considered to be one of his masterpieces, she said.

    Crimson White RSS 2009

  • Traveling choral groups have been part of seminary's tradition since 1962, when the first men's "octet" began touring the country during the seminary's summer hiatus from classes.

    News from SVOTS.Edu 2009

  • Traveling choral groups have been part of seminary's tradition since 1962, when the first men's "octet" began touring the country during the seminary's summer hiatus from classes.

    News from SVOTS.Edu 2009

  • (The term "octet" is used by Internet documentation for such 8-bit chunks.

    The KA9Q Internet Software Package by Bdale Garbee 1989

  • You can usually do this by looking to see what it was when it was automatic, and then changing the last number (the 4th #, or "octet", i.e. the

    Hushed Casket Recent Posts 2009

  • You can usually do this by looking to see what it was when it was automatic, and then changing the last number (the 4th #, or "octet", i.e. the

    the Hushed Casket - Comments 2009

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