Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In music, struck with a sudden, emphatic blow: used of the tones of a melody or of successive chords that are intended to be markedly distinct and more or less staccato, especially in violin- and pianoforte-playing.

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

  • adjective music A musical notation to indicate that the note is strongly accented, or hammered out, as to bowed string instruments and the piano.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowed from Italian martellato ("hammered"), from martellare ("to hammer, throb"), from martello ("hammer"), related to Latin martulus, marculus ("small hammer"), diminutive of marcus ("hammer").

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