soft pedal, n.
[f. soft a. + pedal n. 1 b (b).]
A foot-lever on a pianoforte which softens the tone. Also fig. (in senses corresponding to those of the vb.: see next) and (with hyphen) attrib.
| 1856 M. C. Clarke tr. Berlioz' Treat. Mod. Instrumentation & Orchestration 79 A pedal much less used than that which raises the dampers..is the soft pedal (or one-string pedal). 1861 [see pedal n. 1 b]. 1880 Grove Dict. Mus. II. 723/1 He..thus produces something of the shifting soft pedal timbre. 1911 A. B. Reeve Poisoned Pen 255 But can't it be done with the soft pedal? 1936 Times 12 Oct. 8/5 Some people thought that the ‘soft pedal’ should be put on the entertainment factor of a zoo, but he [sc. J. S. Huxley] did not agree. 1958 Times 8 Oct. 6/1 What this particular play demands from a film director is a certain application of the soft pedal. 1961 Sunday Express 23 Apr. 1/2 President de Gaulle—whose soft-pedal policy..has sparked off this third rebellion. 1973 Junkin & Ornadel Piano can be Fun 69/2 Calling the damper pedal the ‘loud’ pedal neatly distinguishes it from the left foot pedal which is called the ‘soft’ pedal. |