Get Affordable VMs - excellent virtual server hosting


browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
consonant

more about consonant

consonant


  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Open  \O"pen\,  a.  [AS.  open  akin  to  D.  open  OS  opan,  G.  offan, 
  Icel.  opinn,  Sw  ["o]ppen,  Dan.  aaben,  and  perh.  to  E.  up 
  Cf  {Up},  and  {Ope}.] 
  1.  Free  of  access  not  shut  up  not  closed;  affording 
  unobstructed  ingress  or  egress;  not  impeding  or  preventing 
  passage;  not  locked  up  or  covered  over  --  applied  to 
  passageways;  as  an  open  door,  window,  road,  etc.;  also 
  to  inclosed  structures  or  objects;  as  open  houses,  boxes, 
  baskets,  bottles,  etc.;  also  to  means  of  communication  or 
  approach  by  water  or  land;  as  an  open  harbor  or 
  roadstead. 
 
  Through  the  gate,  Wide  open  and  unquarded,  Satan 
  passed.  --Milton 
 
  Note:  Also  figuratively,  used  of  the  ways  of  communication 
  of  the  mind,  as  by  the  senses  ready  to  hear,  see 
  etc.;  as  to  keep  one's  eyes  and  ears  open 
 
  His  ears  are  open  unto  their  cry.  --Ps.  xxxiv 
  15. 
 
  2.  Free  to  be  used  enjoyed,  visited,  or  the  like  not 
  private;  public;  unrestricted  in  use  as  an  open  library, 
  museum,  court,  or  other  assembly;  liable  to  the  approach, 
  trespass,  or  attack  of  any  one  unprotected;  exposed. 
 
  If  Demetrius  .  .  .  have  a  matter  against  any  man, 
  the  law  is  open  and  there  are  deputies.  --Acts  xix. 
  33. 
 
  The  service  that  I  truly  did  his  life,  Hath  left  me 
  open  to  all  injuries.  --Shak. 
 
  3.  Free  or  cleared  of  obstruction  to  progress  or  to  view; 
  accessible;  as  an  open  tract;  the  open  sea. 
 
  4.  Not  drawn  together,  closed,  or  contracted;  extended; 
  expanded;  as  an  open  hand;  open  arms;  an  open  flower;  an 
  open  prospect. 
 
  Each  with  open  arms,  embraced  her  chosen  knight. 
  --Dryden. 
 
  5.  Hence: 
  a  Without  reserve  or  false  pretense;  sincere; 
  characterized  by  sincerity;  unfeigned;  frank;  also 
  generous;  liberal;  bounteous;  --  applied  to  personal 
  appearance,  or  character,  and  to  the  expression  of 
  thought  and  feeling,  etc 
 
  With  aspect  open  shall  erect  his  head.  --Pope. 
 
  The  Moor  is  of  a  free  and  open  nature.  --Shak. 
 
  The  French  are  always  open  familiar,  and 
  talkative.  --Addison. 
  b  Not  concealed  or  secret;  not  hidden  or  disguised; 
  exposed  to  view  or  to  knowledge;  revealed;  apparent; 
  as  open  schemes  or  plans;  open  shame  or  guilt. 
 
  His  thefts  are  too  open  --Shak. 
 
  That  I  may  find  him  and  with  secret  gaze  Or 
  open  admiration  him  behold.  --Milton. 
 
  6.  Not  of  a  quality  to  prevent  communication,  as  by  closing 
  water  ways,  blocking  roads,  etc.;  hence  not  frosty  or 
  inclement;  mild;  --  used  of  the  weather  or  the  climate; 
  as  an  open  season;  an  open  winter.  --Bacon. 
 
  7.  Not  settled  or  adjusted;  not  decided  or  determined;  not 
  closed  or  withdrawn  from  consideration;  as  an  open 
  account;  an  open  question;  to  keep  an  offer  or  opportunity 
  open 
 
  8.  Free  disengaged;  unappropriated;  as  to  keep  a  day  open 
  for  any  purpose;  to  be  open  for  an  engagement. 
 
  9.  (Phon.) 
  a  Uttered  with  a  relatively  wide  opening  of  the 
  articulating  organs;  --  said  of  vowels;  as  the  ["a]n 
  f["a]r  is  open  as  compared  with  the  [=a]  in  s[=a]y. 
  b  Uttered,  as  a  consonant,  with  the  oral  passage  simply 
  narrowed  without  closure,  as  in  uttering  s. 
 
  10.  (Mus.) 
  a  Not  closed  or  stopped  with  the  finger;  --  said  of  the 
  string  of  an  instrument,  as  of  a  violin,  when  it  is 
  allowed  to  vibrate  throughout  its  whole  length. 
  b  Produced  by  an  open  string;  as  an  open  tone. 
 
  {The  open  air},  the  air  out  of  doors. 
 
  {Open  chain}.  (Chem.)  See  {Closed  chain},  under  {Chain}. 
 
  {Open  circuit}  (Elec.),  a  conducting  circuit  which  is 
  incomplete,  or  interrupted  at  some  point;  --  opposed  to  an 
  uninterrupted,  or  {closed  circuit}. 
 
  {Open  communion},  communion  in  the  Lord's  supper  not 
  restricted  to  persons  who  have  been  baptized  by  immersion. 
  Cf  {Close  communion},  under  {Close},  a. 
 
  {Open  diapason}  (Mus.),  a  certain  stop  in  an  organ,  in  which 
  the  pipes  or  tubes  are  formed  like  the  mouthpiece  of  a 
  flageolet  at  the  end  where  the  wind  enters,  and  are  open 
  at  the  other  end 
 
  {Open  flank}  (Fort.),  the  part  of  the  flank  covered  by  the 
  orillon. 
 
  {Open-front  furnace}  (Metal.),  a  blast  furnace  having  a 
  forehearth. 
 
  {Open  harmony}  (Mus.),  harmony  the  tones  of  which  are  widely 
  dispersed,  or  separated  by  wide  intervals. 
 
  {Open  hawse}  (Naut.),  a  hawse  in  which  the  cables  are 
  parallel  or  slightly  divergent.  Cf  {Foul  hawse},  under 
  {Hawse}. 
 
  {Open  hearth}  (Metal.),  the  shallow  hearth  of  a  reverberatory 
  furnace. 
 
  {Open-hearth  furnace},  a  reverberatory  furnace;  esp.,  a  kind 
  of  reverberatory  furnace  in  which  the  fuel  is  gas,  used  in 
  manufacturing  steel. 
 
  {Open-hearth  process}  (Steel  Manuf.),  a  process  by  which 
  melted  cast  iron  is  converted  into  steel  by  the  addition 
  of  wrought  iron,  or  iron  ore  and  manganese,  and  by 
  exposure  to  heat  in  an  open-hearth  furnace;  --  also  called 
  the  {Siemens-Martin  process},  from  the  inventors. 
 
  {Open-hearth  steel},  steel  made  by  an  open-hearth  process;  -- 
  also  called  {Siemens-Martin  steel}. 
 
  {Open  newel}.  (Arch.)  See  {Hollow  newel},  under  {Hollow}. 
 
  {Open  pipe}  (Mus.),  a  pipe  open  at  the  top  It  has  a  pitch 
  about  an  octave  higher  than  a  closed  pipe  of  the  same 
  length. 
 
  {Open-timber  roof}  (Arch.),  a  roof  of  which  the 
  constructional  parts  together  with  the  under  side  of  the 
  covering,  or  its  lining,  are  treated  ornamentally,  and 
  left  to  form  the  ceiling  of  an  apartment  below,  as  in  a 
  church,  a  public  hall,  and  the  like 
 
  {Open  vowel}  or  {consonant}.  See  {Open},  a.,  9. 
 
  Note:  Open  is  used  in  many  compounds,  most  of  which  are 
  self-explaining;  as  open-breasted,  open-minded. 
 
  Syn:  Unclosed;  uncovered;  unprotected;  exposed;  plain; 
  apparent;  obvious;  evident;  public;  unreserved;  frank; 
  sincere;  undissembling  artless.  See  {Candid},  and 
  {Ingenuous}. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Consonant  \Con"so*nant\,  n.  [L.  consonans,  -antis.] 
  An  articulate  sound  which  in  utterance  is  usually  combined 
  and  sounded  with  an  open  sound  called  a  vowel;  a  member  of 
  the  spoken  alphabet  other  than  a  vowel;  also  a  letter  or 
  character  representing  such  a  sound. 
 
  Note:  Consonants  are  divided  into  various  classes,  as  mutes, 
  spirants,  sibilants,  nasals,  semivowels,  etc  All  of 
  them  are  sounds  uttered  through  a  closer  position  of 
  the  organs  than  that  of  a  vowel  proper,  although  the 
  most  open  of  them  as  the  semivowels  and  nasals,  are 
  capable  of  being  used  as  if  vowels,  and  forming 
  syllables  with  other  closer  consonants,  as  in  the 
  English  feeble  (-b'l),  taken  (-k'n).  All  the  consonants 
  excepting  the  mutes  may  be  indefinitely,  prolonged  in 
  utterance  without  the  help  of  a  vowel,  and  even  the 
  mutes  may  be  produced  with  an  aspirate  instead  of  a 
  vocal  explosion.  Vowels  and  consonants  may  be  regarded 
  as  the  two  poles  in  the  scale  of  sounds  produced  by 
  gradual  approximation  of  the  organ,  of  speech  from  the 
  most  open  to  the  closest  positions,  the  vowel  being 
  more  open  the  consonant  closer;  but  there  is  a 
  territory  between  them  where  the  sounds  produced 
  partake  of  the  qualities  of  both 
 
  Note:  ``A  consonant  is  the  result  of  audible  friction, 
  squeezing,  or  stopping  of  the  breath  in  some  part  of 
  the  mouth  (or  occasionally  of  the  throath.)  The  main 
  distinction  between  vowels  and  consonants  is  that 
  while  in  the  former  the  mouth  configuration  merely 
  modifies  the  vocalized  breath,  which  is  therefore  an 
  essential  element  of  the  vowels,  in  consonants  the 
  narrowing  or  stopping  of  the  oral  passage  is  the 
  foundation  of  the  sound,  and  the  state  of  the  glottis 
  is  something  secondary.''  --H.  Sweet. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Consonant  \Con"so*nant\,  a.  [L.  consonans,  -antis;  p.  pr  of 
  consonare  to  sound  at  the  same  time,  agree;  con-  +  sonare  to 
  sound:  cf  F.  consonnant.  See  {Sound}  to  make  a  noise.] 
  1.  Having  agreement;  congruous;  consistent;  according;  -- 
  usually  followed  by  with  or  to 
 
  Each  one  pretends  that  his  opinion  .  .  .  is 
  consonant  to  the  words  there  used  --Bp. 
  Beveridge 
 
  That  where  much  is  given  there  shall  be  much 
  required  is  a  thing  consonant  with  natural  equity. 
  --Dr.  H.  More 
 
  2.  Having  like  sounds. 
 
  Consonant  words  and  syllables.  --Howell. 
 
  3.  (Mus.)  harmonizing  together;  accordant;  as  consonant 
  tones,  consonant  chords. 
 
  4.  Of  or  pertaining  to  consonants;  made  up  of  or  containing 
  many  consonants. 
 
  No  Russian  whose  dissonant  consonant  name  Almost 
  shatters  to  fragments  the  trumpet  of  fame.  --T. 
  Moore. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  consonant 
  adj  1:  involving  or  characterized  by  harmony  [syn:  {harmonic},  {harmonical}, 
  {harmonized},  {in  harmony}] 
  2:  in  keeping;  "salaries  agreeable  with  current  trends";  "plans 
  conformable  with  your  wishes";  "expressed  views  concordant 
  with  his  background"  [syn:  {accordant},  {agreeable},  {conformable}, 
  {in  accord(p)},  {in  agreement(p)},  {concordant}] 
  n  1:  a  speech  sound  that  is  not  a  vowel  [ant:  {vowel}] 
  2:  a  letter  of  the  alphabet  standing  for  a  spoken  consonant 




more about consonant