semi-demi-
used (1) = half-half, i.e. quarter, in semidemisemiquaver, a note the 64th part of a semibreve; (2) vaguely in a diminutive sense, as semi-demi-dinner. (Cf. demi-semi.)
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1662) ii. 246 [Rabbits'] wool is..used in making of hats, commonly..called half⁓beavers, though many of them hardly amount to the proportion of semi-demi-castors. 1826 J. F. Danneley Mus. Gram. 4 The Semidemisemiquaver has four hooks. 1836 T. Hook G. Gurney (1850) III. iii. 351 She..at last appeared to expect me at luncheon as regularly as she looked for that semi-demi-dinner itself. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Semidemisemiquaver, a half demisemiquaver, the 64th part of a semibreve. |