Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb & adjective In as fast a tempo as possible. Used chiefly as a direction.
- noun A prestissimo passage or movement.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In music, very quickly; in the most rapid tempo.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb (Mus.) Very quickly; with great rapidity.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective (of tempo) as fast as possible
- adverb extremely fast; as fast as possible
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Once, while I was playing a piece called " Run Run, " he stopped me, got down on all fours, and crawled around the room prestissimo .
Nurturing Creativity in the Next Generation Byron Janis 2010
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As staged here, prestissimo, it's a Darwinian contest for center stage.
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And as finally, the boy had won a round of plaudits for the manner in which he kept each muscle of the body in full exercise whilst dancing, so now the jester, bidding the flute-girl quicken the time (presto! presto! prestissimo!), fell to capering madly, tossing legs and arms and head together, until he was fairly tired out, and threw himself dead beat upon the sofa, gasping:
Symposium 2007
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A splendid, sixteenfold error in multiplication which gives so much beauty to our awakening and makes life begin again on a different scale, like those great changes of rhythm which, in music, mean that in an andante a quaver has the same duration as a minim in a prestissimo, and which are unknown in our waking state.
The Captive 2003
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Toothaches can play it staccato, glissando, accelerando, prestissimo, and above all fortissimo.
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No sooner is one strain ended than it is suddenly taken up again in the _prestissimo_ time and "slowed" down to the same dismal conclusion.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 18, April, 1859 Various
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-- He said, _con strepito_, "Den pring up te Tinner _prestissimo_, I am de gombany."
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 372, May 30, 1829 Various
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First Act is good; the Second is the best; but the Third is like the last figure in an after-supper early-in-the-morning Lancers, ending in a whirligig _galop_, when everything is fast and furious, and just the tune and its measure taken _prestissimo_ and _fortissimo_ keep the couples going till everybody is breathless and exhausted.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, November 5, 1892 Various
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Ditto, for concealing a lover in a closet, and the sudden appearance of the father, guardian, or husband, as the case may be -- a _prestissimo_ movement, with an agitated _cadenza_.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, July 24, 1841 Various
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I see Gaetano: will be back again _prestissimo! _ '
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 1 January 1863 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various
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