Definitions

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

  • noun A portion of a musical composition that permits a performer to make a display of technique, especially in the rapid execution of scales and arpeggios, and that has little thematic or structural importance to the whole.
  • noun A musician's performance of this portion of a composition.

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

  • noun music An ornamental passage in a musical work, often resembling a scale; or the performance of such a passage

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

passage +‎ work

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