Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In music, soft; with little force or loudness: opposed to forte. Usually abbreviated p.
  • noun In Italian, a story; a floor; the French étage: in English, used only in such borrowed phrases as piano nobile, the principal story; pian' terreno, a ground floor.
  • noun A pianoforte.
  • Softly; in a low tone or voice. Abbreviated p.
  • noun A passage or series of notes sung or played softly; a soft or gentle tone.

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

  • (Mus.) Soft; -- a direction to the performer to execute a certain passage softly, and with diminished volume of tone. (Abbrev. p.)
  • noun (Mus.) A well-known musical instrument somewhat resembling the harpsichord, and consisting of a series of wires of graduated length, thickness, and tension, struck by hammers moved by keys.
  • noun See Digitorium.
  • noun See under Grand.
  • noun one with a horizontal frame and an oblong case.
  • noun one with an upright frame and vertical wires.

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

  • noun music A keyboard musical instrument, usually ranging over seven octaves, with white and black keys, played by pressing these keys, causing hammers to strike strings.
  • adjective music Soft, quiet.
  • adjective In extended use; quiet, subdued.

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

  • adjective used chiefly as a direction or description in music
  • noun (music) low loudness
  • adverb used as a direction in music; to be played relatively softly
  • noun a keyboard instrument that is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Short form of pianoforte, from Italian piano ("soft") + forte ("strong"). So named because older keyboard instruments, notably the harpsichord and the clavier, could not produce varied volumes.

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Examples

  • With a fine piano or a violin, whether the effect is to be _piano_ or _fortissimo, _ the touch should be only with the amount of force needed to give a clear vibration, and the ease with which a fortissimo effect is thus produced is astonishing.

    Power Through Repose Annie Payson Call 1896

  • The computerised augmentation of the acoustic piano, the piano+, has developed from a combination of conventional and extended playing techniques, prepared piano and electronic real-time modifications of its sounds.

    The Wire 2010

  • [5] The term piano trio is used to signify a piece for piano, violin, and 'cello, in full sonata form.

    Woman's Work in Music Arthur Elson

  • Just as a piano is about to fall on Ed, the scientists, the Gustav Brothers, interrupt the action to tell us all about gravity.

    Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s — An In-Depth Review » DVDs Worth Watching 2010

  • I guess they only had the track and -- I don't know, I guess, what you call the piano or something.

    CNN Transcript Oct 12, 2009 2009

  • There's an argument to be made that the real descendant of the piano is the keyboard synthesizer, with its limitless timbral possibilities, and that the mechanical piano is just an atavism anyways.

    Key indicators Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • There's an argument to be made that the real descendant of the piano is the keyboard synthesizer, with its limitless timbral possibilities, and that the mechanical piano is just an atavism anyways.

    Archive 2007-10-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • I guess they only had the track and -- I don't know, I guess, what you call the piano or something.

    CNN Transcript Oct 12, 2009 2009

  • Not everybody who paints or draws has to become a professional artist, and not everybody who plays the piano is aiming for international classical music stardom.

    March 22nd, 2005 oceanfire_song 2005

  • In 2D NMR, the chemical "piano" is hit with pulses of varying lengths and intervals.

    The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1991 - Presentation Speech 1997

Comments

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  • Spy lingo for a spy radio. The spy using it is called a pianist.

    August 26, 2009