Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Fwd: fermata: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: 2013/9/24
Subject: fermata: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
To: "Hector William G." <hectorpinillos@gmail.com>

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 24, 2013

fermata \fer-MAH-tuh; It. fer-MAH-tah\, noun:

1. the sustaining of a note, chord, or rest for a duration longer than the indicated time value, with the length of the extension at the performer's discretion.
2. a symbol placed over a note, chord, or rest indicating a fermata.

There was a surreal, suspended moment, a fermata during which I heard a line of sitcom patter on a TV somewhere—Don't worry, sir, we'll have you doing the Lambeth Walk in no time—followed by that funhouse laughter, ha ha ha ha ha ha.
-- William Landay, Mission Flats, 2003

I had finally detached myself from that intoxicating fermata, thinking I should make some kind of an effort to pull myself together.
-- Katharine Weber, True Confessions, 2009

Fermata comes from the Italian word of the same spelling which means "stop" or "pause." It entered English in the late 1870s.

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