▪ I. cadence, n.
(ˈkeɪdəns)
[a. F. cadence, ad. It. cadenza ‘falling, cadence in music’, on L. type cadentia n., f. cadent- pr. pple. of cad-ĕre to fall. The literal sense is ‘action or mode of falling, fall’, and in this sense it was used by 17th c. writers; but at an early period the word was in Italian appropriated to the musical or rhythmical fall of the voice, and in this sense occurs as early as Chaucer. Cadence is in form a doublet of chance, the direct phonetic descendant of cadentia.]
I. In verse and music.
1. ‘The flow of verses or periods’ (J.); rhythm, rhythmical construction, measure.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 627 To make bookes, songes, and dities In rime or else in cadence. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xii. 315 Had he cald Lucyus Procurature..Ðat had mare grevyd þe Cadens, Ðan had relevyd þe sentens. 1513 Douglas æneis Prol. 46 Throu my corruptit cadens imperfyte. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. ii. 126 The elegancy, facility, & golden cadence of poesie. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 292 An eare that could measure a just cadence, and scan without articulating. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. iv. 37 Measured Cadence, or Time, is an essential Part of Melody. 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 530 The periods flow with a sort of liquid cadence. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets iv. 102 The Iambic is nearest in cadence to the language of common life. |
b. The measure or beat of music, dancing, or any rhythmical movement; e.g. of marching.
| 1605 Z. Jones De Loyer's Specters 20 Now daunses..have neede of nothing..but only of Number, measure and true cadence. 1755 Gray Progr. Poesy i. iii, To brisk notes in cadence beating Glance their many-twinkling feet. 1777 Sir W. Jones Arcadia Poems 109 Not a dancer could in cadence move. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iii. v. 195 Dancing round them to the cadence of the music. 1816 Scott Old Mort. vi, The occasional boom of the kettle-drum, to mark the cadence. 1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 6 Cadence, in slow time 75 steps..are taken in a minute. |
2. ‘The fall of the voice’ (J.).
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. vii. (1811) 66 This cadence is the fal of a verse in euery last word with a certaine tunable sound which being matched with another of like sound, do make a [concord]. 1616 Bullokar, Cadence, the falling of the voice. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 150 A low voice, with a..sweet cadence at the end of it. 1824 L. Murray Eng. Gram. I. 366 The closing pause must not be confounded with that fall of the voice, or cadence, with which many readers uniformly finish a sentence. |
b. ‘Sometimes, the general modulation of the voice’ (J.).
| 1709 Steele Tatler No. 9 ¶1 The Smallcoal-Man was heard with Cadence deep. 1710 Ibid. No. 168 ¶5 With all the..Cadence of Voice, and Force of Argument imaginable. 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy 276 Amen, said my Mother..with such a sighing cadence of personal pity. 1844 A. Welby Poems (1867) 87 The low cadence of her whispered prayer. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. i. §22 (1864) 361 A third quality of vocal sounds is cadence or accent. 1862 Trollope Orley F. xxxviii, ‘No’ said Peregrine, with a melancholy cadence in his voice. 1863 M. E. Braddon J. Marchmont 270. |
c. Local or national modulation, ‘accent’.
| 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. i. 182, I returned an answer in that language, hoping..that the cadence might be more agreeable to his ears. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 241 The Scotchman who had not yet acquired the cadence of the English, would naturally use his own in speaking their language. |
3. The rising and (esp.) falling of elemental sounds, as of a storm, the sea, etc.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 287 Blustring winds, which all night long Had rous'd the Sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men orewatcht. 1839 Mrs. Hemans Release Tasso, The low Cadence of the silvery sea. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 377 A murmur had reached my ear for some time in the cadences of the storm. |
4. Music. The conclusion or ‘close’ of a musical movement or phrase. Also sometimes = cadenza.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 73 A Cadence wee call that, when coming to a close, two notes are bound togither, and the following note descendeth. 1795 Mason Ch. Mus. i. 14 A perfect cadence then marks its termination. c 1860 J. Goss Harmony xiii. 42 A Cadence or Close, signifies the last two chords of any passage; the principal cadences are those which conclude on the key-note. When the last chord is the triad on the key-note, preceded by the triad or chord of the 7th on the dominant, it is called the Perfect Cadence. 1867 Macfarren Harmony i. 27 As performers insert a flourish at a close or cadence, we conventionally use the word cadence, to denote the flourish introduced at a close. |
5. Horsemanship. ‘An equal measure or proportion which a horse observes in all his motions when he is thoroughly managed’ (Farrier's Dict. in Bailey). Cf. quot. 1833 under cadenced.
6. transf. Harmonious combination of colours.
| 1868 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 364 The cadence of colours is just and noble: witness the red-leaved book..on the white cloth, the clear green jug on the table, the dim green bronze of the pitcher. |
II. In the Latin sense of falling.
† 7. Falling, sinking down; mode of falling. Obs.
| 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3) Cadence, falling, properly the ledging of corne by a tempest. a 1660 Hammond Wks. IV. 687 (R.) The cadence, or manner how Paul falls into those words, is worthy to be both observed and imitated. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 92 Now was the Sun in Western cadence low. |
† 8. The falling out of an occurrence; chance.
| 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 8 This opportunitie is a meeting and concurring of divers cadences, which at one instant do make a matter very easie. |
III. Comb. cadence braking, repeated rhythmic application of the brake pedal in order to slow a skidding vehicle (see quot. 1965).
| 1965 M. J. McDermott in Autocar 5 Nov. 990/1 The technique of ‘*cadence braking’..is to excite the vehicle into a vertical oscillatory motion by a series of suitably timed bursts of braking, until a considerable amplitude of the motion has developed. Hard braking as the vehicle descends then ‘kills’ the oscillation. 1971 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 22 Oct. 22/3 The urgent task [in a skid] is therefore to get them unlocked..and then to slow the car—if necessary by other means,..usually by cadence braking, which means gently but firmly applying and then releasing the brakes in sequence. 1982 Advanced Motoring (Inst. Advanced Motorists) (rev. ed.) vi. 26 Rally drivers..use what they call ‘cadence’ braking, in which the hard pushes on the brake pedal are timed to coincide with the spring frequency on the front suspension. |
▪ II. ˈcadence, v. rare.
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To put into cadence, to compose metrically.
| a 1749 Philips To Ld. Carteret (R.) These parting numbers, cadenc'd by my grief. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets i. 18 Empedocles..cadenced his great work on Nature in the same sonorous verse. |
2. intr. To flow in rhythm; to move in a cadence. So ˈcadencing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1907 P. L. Falzon Love's Re-Awakening 96 The cadencing majestic beat..Of poesy's most tender tone. 1918 Quiller-Couch Studies in Lit. 198 The verse cadences to the feeling. 1939 N. S. Colby Remembering vii. 159 You could see her soft hands cadencing among the teacups. 1961 Listener 28 Dec. 1138/2 It [sc. a song]..moves..a little unexpectedly into E minor, and is on the point of cadencing in this key when the music skips nimbly back to the tonic key. |