Accent

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Accent \Ac"cent`\, n. [F. accent, L. accentus; ad + cantus a
     singing, canere to sing. See {Cant}.]
     1. A superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon
        some particular syllable of a word or a phrase,
        distinguishing it from the others.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     Note: Many English words have two accents, the primary and
           the secondary; the primary being uttered with a greater
           stress of voice than the secondary; as in
           as'pira[bprime]tion, where the chief stress is on the
           third syllable, and a slighter stress on the first.
           Some words, as an'tiap'o-plec[bprime]tic,
           in-com'pre-hen'si-bil[bprime]i-ty, have two secondary
           accents. See Guide to Pron., [sect][sect] 30-46.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A mark or character used in writing, and serving to
        regulate the pronunciation; esp.:
        (a) a mark to indicate the nature and place of the spoken
            accent;
        (b) a mark to indicate the quality of sound of the vowel
            marked; as, the French accents.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In the ancient Greek the acute accent (') meant a
           raised tone or pitch, the grave (`), the level tone or
           simply the negation of accent, the circumflex ( ~ or ^)
           a tone raised and then depressed. In works on
           elocution, the first is often used to denote the rising
           inflection of the voice; the second, the falling
           inflection; and the third (^), the compound or waving
           inflection. In dictionaries, spelling books, and the
           like, the acute accent is used to designate the
           syllable which receives the chief stress of voice.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Modulation of the voice in speaking; manner of speaking or
        pronouncing; peculiar or characteristic modification of
        the voice; tone; as, a foreign accent; a French or a
        German accent. "Beguiled you in a plain accent." --Shak.
        "A perfect accent." --Thackeray.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The tender accent of a woman's cry.   --Prior.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A word; a significant tone; (pl.) expressions in general;
        speech.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear,
              Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Pros.) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Mus.)
        (a) A regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the
            beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the
            measure.
        (b) A special emphasis of a tone, even in the weaker part
            of the measure.
        (c) The rhythmical accent, which marks phrases and
            sections of a period.
        (d) The expressive emphasis and shading of a passage. --J.
            S. Dwight.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     7. (Math.)
        (a) A mark placed at the right hand of a letter, and a
            little above it, to distinguish magnitudes of a
            similar kind expressed by the same letter, but
            differing in value, as y', y[sec].
        (b) (Trigon.) A mark at the right hand of a number,
            indicating minutes of a degree, seconds, etc.; as,
            12'27[sec], i. e., twelve minutes twenty seven
            seconds.
        (c) (Engin.) A mark used to denote feet and inches; as, 6'
            10[sec] is six feet ten inches.
            [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Accent \Ac*cent"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Accented}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Accenting}.] [OF. accenter, F. accentuer.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To express the accent of (either by the voice or by a
        mark); to utter or to mark with accent.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To mark emphatically; to emphasize.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  accent
       n 1: distinctive manner of oral expression; "he couldn't suppress
            his contemptuous accent"; "she had a very clear speech
            pattern" [syn: {speech pattern}]
       2: special importance or significance; "the red light gave the
          central figure increased emphasis"; "the room was
          decorated in shades of gray with distinctive red accents"
          [syn: {emphasis}]
       3: the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific
          group of people; "the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of
          English"; "he has a strong German accent" [syn: {dialect},
           {idiom}]
       4: the relative prominence of a syllable or musical note
          (especially with regard to stress or pitch); "he put the
          stress on the wrong syllable" [syn: {stress}, {emphasis}]
       5: a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a
          vowel to indicate a special pronunciation [syn: {accent
          mark}]
       v 1: to stress, single out as important; "Dr. Jones emphasizes
            exercise in addition to a change in diet" [syn: {stress},
             {emphasize}, {emphasise}, {punctuate}, {accentuate}]
       2: put stress on; utter with an accent; "In Farsi, you accent
          the last syllable of each word" [syn: {stress}, {accentuate}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  211 Moby Thesaurus words for "accent":
     Alexandrine, accent mark, accents, accentuate, accentuation,
     amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, arsis,
     articulation, bacchius, bar, beat, belabor, broad accent, brogue,
     burr, cadence, caesura, cancel, catalexis, character, chatter,
     chloriamb, chloriambus, colon, comment, concern, concernment,
     consequence, consequentiality, consideration, conversation,
     counterpoint, cretic, custos, dactyl, dactylic hexameter,
     diacritical mark, diaeresis, dimeter, dipody, direct, discourse,
     distinguish, dochmiac, dot, drawl, dwell on, elegiac,
     elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, elocution, emphasis,
     emphasize, epitrite, excellence, expression mark, feminine caesura,
     fermata, foot, force, gab, give emphasis to, grammatical accent,
     harp on, heptameter, heptapody, heroic couplet, hexameter,
     hexapody, high order, high rank, highlight, hold, iamb, iambic,
     iambic pentameter, ictus, import, importance, inflection,
     intensity, interest, intonation, intonation pattern, ionic,
     italicize, jingle, key signature, language, lead, level of stress,
     ligature, lilt, mark, masculine caesura, materiality, measure,
     merit, meter, metrical accent, metrical foot, metrical group,
     metrical unit, metrics, metron, metronomic mark, molossus, moment,
     mora, movement, notation, note, numbers, oral communication,
     overaccentuate, overemphasize, overstress, paeon, palaver,
     paramountcy, parole, pause, pentameter, pentapody, period,
     pitch accent, place emphasis on, point up, prattle, precedence,
     preeminence, presa, primacy, primary stress, priority,
     proceleusmatic, prominence, pronunciation, prosodics, prosody,
     pulsation, pulse, punctuate, pyrrhic, quantity, rapping,
     regional accent, rhetorical accent, rhythm, rhythmic pattern,
     rhythmical accent, rhythmical stress, rub in, secondary stress,
     segno, self-importance, set apart, set off, sign, signature,
     significance, slur, speaking, speech, spondee, spotlight,
     sprung rhythm, star, stress, stress accent, stress arsis,
     stress pattern, superiority, supremacy, swell, swing, symbol,
     syzygy, talk, talking, tempo mark, tertiary stress, tetrameter,
     tetrapody, tetraseme, thesis, throb, tie, time signature, tone,
     tone accent, tribrach, trimeter, tripody, triseme, trochee, twang,
     underline, underscore, value, vinculum, weak stress, weight, words,
     worth, yakkety-yak, yakking
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Accent
       
           A very high level interpreted language from
          {CaseWare, Inc.} with strings and tables.  It is {strongly
          typed} and has remote function calls.
       
          (1994-11-08)