from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sound \Sound\, n. [OE. soun, OF. son, sun, F. son, fr. L. sonus
akin to Skr. svana sound, svan to sound, and perh. to E.
swan. Cf. {Assonant}, {Consonant}, {Person}, {Sonata},
{Sonnet}, {Sonorous}, {Swan}.]
1. The peceived object occasioned by the impulse or vibration
of a material substance affecting the ear; a sensation or
perception of the mind received through the ear, and
produced by the impulse or vibration of the air or other
medium with which the ear is in contact; the effect of an
impression made on the organs of hearing by an impulse or
vibration of the air caused by a collision of bodies, or
by other means; noise; report; as, the sound of a drum;
the sound of the human voice; a horrid sound; a charming
sound; a sharp, high, or shrill sound.
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The warlike sound
Of trumpets loud and clarions. --Milton.
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2. The occasion of sound; the impulse or vibration which
would occasion sound to a percipient if present with
unimpaired; hence, the theory of vibrations in elastic
media such cause sound; as, a treatise on sound.
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Note: In this sense, sounds are spoken of as audible and
inaudible.
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3. Noise without signification; empty noise; noise and
nothing else.
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Sense and not sound . . . must be the principle.
--Locke.
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{Sound boarding}, boards for holding pugging, placed in
partitions of under floors in order to deaden sounds.
{Sound bow}, in a series of transverse sections of a bell,
that segment against which the clapper strikes, being the
part which is most efficacious in producing the sound. See
Illust. of {Bell}.
{Sound post}. (Mus.) See {Sounding post}, under {Sounding}.
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