treble

treble

1. of, relating to, or denoting a soprano voice or part or a high-pitched instrument

2. a soprano voice or part or a high-pitched instrument

3. the highest register of a musical instrument

4. 

a. the high-frequency response of an audio amplifier, esp in a record player or tape recorder

b. a control knob on such an instrument by means of which the high-frequency gain can be increased or decreased

5. Bell-ringing the lightest and highest bell in a ring

6. 

a. the narrow inner ring on a dartboard

b. a hit on this ring

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

treble

[′treb·əl]

(acoustics)

High audio frequencies, such as those handled by a tweeter in a sound system.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Treble

 

(1) A high child’s voice.

(2) Since the 15th century, a term for the highest voice in choral compositions. The treble voice was sung by tenor falsettos and castrati (replacing children’s voices) until the 18th century. In the 19th and 20th centuries the term has come to mean soprano.

(3) A form of medieval polyphony that emerged in the 12th century in France. A higher voice was joined to a Gregorian chant and moved in an opposite direction from the line of the chant. This was the treble voice; subsequently, this form of polyphonic music was called treble.

(4) In the songs of the Don cossacks and in eastern Ukrainian and Byelorussian songs, a voice that embellishes the main voice part with decorative improvisations.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.