harmony
(ˈhɑːmənɪ)
Forms: 4–6 armonie, -ny(e, (5 armeny, ermony), 6 harmonye, 6–7 harmonie, 6– harmony.
[a. F. harmonie (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), = Pr., Sp., It. armonia, ad. L. harmonia, a. Gr. ἁρµονία joining, joint, agreement, concord of sounds, music, f. stem ἁρµο- of ἁρµός joint, ἁρµόζειν to fit together, arrange.]
1. Combination or adaptation of parts, elements, or related things, so as to form a consistent and orderly whole; agreement, accord, congruity.
pre-established harmony, in the philosophy of Leibnitz, a harmony between mind and matter, e.g. between the body and soul, established before their creation, whereby their actions correspond though no communication exists between them.
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1058 Others have sayd that it [the operation of God] is a maner of armonie. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxviii. §1 The soule it selfe by nature is, or hath in it, harmonie. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iv. §6 (1873) 32 The harmony of a science, supporting each part the other, is..the true and brief confutation..of all the smaller sort of objections. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman ii. (1841) I. 18 Here is a harmony of business, and everything exact. 1814 Southey Roderick xxi. 382 To heavenliest harmony Reduce the seeming chaos. 1847 Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) II. 273 His [Leibnitz's] favourite hypothesis of a Pre-established Harmony (borrowed from Spinoza). 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xxiv. 353 Where other forces mingle with that of crystallization, this harmony of action is destroyed. |
b. Phr. in harmony: in agreement or accordance, consistent, congruous. So out of harmony.
| 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 42 He may always be sure of finding nature in harmony with herself. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 149 This mode of attack..was in perfect harmony with every part of his infamous life. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings i. 11 The vox populi was the vox Dei even when the two voices seemed most utterly out of harmony. |
2. Agreement of feeling or sentiment; peaceableness, concord. (Sometimes as fig. from 4.)
| 1588 Greene Pandosto (1843) 25 Coveting no other companion but sorrowe, nor no other harmonie but repentance. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 605 Harmonie to behold in wedded pair More grateful then harmonious sound to the eare. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 140 Love, joy, and peace make harmony more meet. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 408 The harmony which had thus been re-established with the Court of Baroda. |
b. Harmony Society: see harmonist 4.
| 1874 J. H. Blunt Dict. Sects, Harmony Society, a community formed in 1805 by..George Rapp, on the principle of having all things common. |
3. Combination of parts or details in accord with each other, so as to produce an æsthetically pleasing effect; agreeable aspect arising from apt arrangement of parts.
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 86 To make up the perfect harmony of a Face. 1780 Harris Philol. Enq. Wks. (1841) 419 How pleasing the harmony between hills and woods, between rivers and lawns? 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. iii. 192 Harmony results from an agreeable contrast. |
4. The combination of musical notes, either simultaneous or successive, so as to produce a pleasing effect; melody; music, tuneful sound. (The earliest sense in English; in mod. use more or less associated with sense 5.)
harmony of the spheres: see sphere.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 306 Songes ful of Armonye. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. viii. 99 The trees folowed him [Orpheus] and the stremes stoden to heren his armony. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xx, Dauid..playinge swetelye on a harpe, with his pleasant and perfect harmonie reduced his [Saul's] minde in to his pristinate estate. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 18 What harmony is this? my good friends, harke. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 560 Ten thousand Harpes that tun'd Angelic harmonies. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 276 Inraptured with the harmony of a choir of angels. 1828 Wordsw. Power of Sound xiv, Harmony, blest queen of smiles and tears, With her smooth tones and discords just. |
b. gen. Pleasing combination or arrangement of sounds, as in poetry or in speaking; sweet or melodious sound.
| a 1529 Skelton Replyc. 337 For all his armony In metricall muses. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 14 Somewhat solaced in hearing the sweete harmony of her name. 1780 Cowper Table T. 701 Harmony, strength, words exquisitely sought. 1864 Tennyson Milton O mighty-mouthed inventor of harmonies. 1876 tr. Blaserna's Sound iii. 46 The poets speak often, and not without reason, of the harmony of the waves. |
5. Mus. The combination of (simultaneous) notes so as to form chords; that part of musical art or science which deals with the formation and relations of chords; the structure of a piece of music in relation to the chords of which it consists.
Distinguished from melody, which is the succession of notes forming an air or tune; and, in strict modern use, from counterpoint, which is the combination of melodies; but also used of any music in parts, and sometimes in early use synonymous with counterpoint.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 291 They excede or passe all ioyes as moche as armony passeth melody. 1616 Bullokar Eng. Expos., Harmonie, delightfull musicke of many notes. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Harmonical, The art of harmony has long been known under the name of counterpoint. 1782 Burney Hist. Mus. II. 451 Figurative harmony, consisting of three or four different melodies moving together in consonance. 1867 Macfarren Harmony i. 19 Singing in harmony of three parts. 1875 Ouseley Mus. Form i. 2 A knowledge of Harmony and Counterpoint. 1879 Macfarren Counterp. i. (1881) 2 Harmony is the simultaneous sounding of several notes, and includes concords and discords. |
6. A collation of passages on the same subject from different writings, arranged so as to exhibit their agreement and account for their discrepancies; now chiefly used of a work showing the correspondences between the four Gospels and the chronological succession of the events recorded in them.
| 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 8 The Harmonie of the Confessions of all those Churches..Which Harmonie was translated and printed by..Thomas Thomas. 1607 A. Willet (title) An Harmonie vpon the First Booke of Samvel..diuers readings compared, [etc.]. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Evangelical harmony, a title of diverse books, composed to show the uniformity and agreement of the accounts given by the four Evangelists. 1732 Harley (title) An Essay for composing a Harmony between the Psalms and other parts of Scripture. 1756 J. Macknight (title) Harmony of the four Gospels. 1896 W. F. Adeney How to read the Bible 108 A ‘harmony’ of the Gospels is an attempt to arrange the several contributions of the four evangelists, so that they shall all fall into their right places in a common story. |
7. Anat. = harmonia.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 443 It..is distinguished from the wedge bone by the bastard seame called a Harmony, which is accounted for the ninth Suture. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. Man. iv. v. 340 There are..in the Skul, also many harmonies, where the bones are joyned together. 1841–71 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 312 A species of ‘harmony’, as it is technically termed by anatomists—two plates of the skeleton being accurately and immoveably fitted to each other, but without being decidedly fastened together by serrated edges. |