halftone

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word halftone. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word halftone, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say halftone in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word halftone you have here. The definition of the word halftone will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofhalftone, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From half- +‎ tone.

Noun

halftone (plural halftones)

  1. (music) Synonym of semitone, half the interval between two notes on a scale.
    • 1872, Charles Darwin, “Means of Expression in Animals”, in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, London: John Murray, , →OCLC, page 87:
      That animals utter musical notes is familiar to every one, as we may daily hear in the singing of birds. It is a more remarkable fact that an ape, one of the Gibbons, produces an exact octave of musical sounds, ascending and descending the scale by half-tones; so that this monkey “alone of brute mammals may be said to sing.”
  2. (printing) A picture made by using the process of half-toning.
    • 1917, Joseph G. Butler Jr., A Journey Through France in War Time:
      Before leaving New York a handsome booklet had been prepared and printed. The brochure contained the names of the commissioners, their public records, halftone portraits and a carefully prepared statement of the objects of the expedition.
  3. (art) An intermediate or middle tone in a painting, engraving, photograph, etc.; a middle tint, neither very dark nor very light.
    • 1876, George Meredith, Beauchamp’s Career  In Three Volumes.">…], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, , →OCLC, page 18:
      “No, I cannot enjoy it,” Cecilia said to Mrs. Devereux; “I don't mind the grey light; cloud and water, and half-tones of colour, are homely English and pleasant, and that opal where the sun should be has a suggestiveness richer than sunlight.

Translations

Verb

halftone (third-person singular simple present halftones, present participle halftoning, simple past and past participle halftoned)

  1. To reproduce a photograph or other continuous tone image by the use of dots of various sizes.

References

  • OED2

Anagrams