semiquaver, n. Mus.
(ˈsɛmɪkweɪvə(r))
[semi- 6 a.]
A note half the length of a quaver, the sixteenth part of a semibreve. (Also attrib.)
| 1576 Gascoigne Grief of Joye iv. Wks. 1870 II. 296 Whiles I searcht the semyquaver toyes, the glancing sharpes, the halfenotes. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Annot. ¶4 Who inuented the Crotchet, Quauer, and Semiquauer is vncertaine. 1669 [see demi- 9]. 1706 A. Bedford Temple Mus. xi. 227 The Author had never heard of a Semiquaver. 1848 Rimbault Pianoforte 57 When groups of Quavers, Semiquavers, &c. are to be repeated several times in succession. 1884 G. Moore Mummer's Wife xiii, Kate, who did not know a crotchet from a semiquaver. |
† b. allusively. A very short space of time. the brief and the semiquaver, jocular amplification of ‘the brief’ (see brief B b.). Obs.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. C 3 b, The breefe and the semiquauer is, wee must haue the descant you made vpon our names, ere you depart. 1635 Quarles Emblems iv. xv, Till then, earth's Semiquaver, mirth, farewell. |
Hence semiquaver v. nonce-wd., to drive away with playing semiquavers.
| 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 127 With wire and catgut he concludes the day, Quavering and semiquavering care away. |