Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Cadence

Ca′dence (kā′dens), n. [OE. cadence, cadens, LL. cadentia a falling, fr. L. cadere to fall; cf. F. cadence, It. cadenza. See Chance.]

1. The act or state of declining or sinking. [Obs.]

Now was the sun in western cadence low. Milton.

2. A fall of the voice in reading or speaking, especially at the end of a sentence.

3. A rhythmical modulation of the voice or of any sound; as, music of bells in cadence sweet.

Blustering winds, which all night long Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men o'erwatched. Milton.

The accents . . . were in passion's tenderest cadence. Sir W. Scott.

4. Rhythmical flow of language, in prose or verse.

Golden cadence of poesy. Shak.

If in any composition much attention was paid to the flow of the rhythm, it was said (at least in the 14th and 15th centuries) to be "prosed in faire cadence." Dr. Guest.

5. (Her.) See Cadency.

6. (Man.) Harmony and proportion in motions, as of a well-managed horse.

7. (Mil.) A uniform time and place in marching.

8. (Mus.) (a) The close or fall of a strain; the point of rest, commonly reached by the immediate succession of the tonic to the dominant chord. (b) A cadenza, or closing embellishment; a pause before the end of a strain, which the performer may fill with a flight of fancy.

Imperfect cadence. (Mus.) See under Imperfect.

Ca′dence, v. t. To regulate by musical measure.

These parting numbers, cadenced by my grief. Philips.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.