piano

plural pianos · archaic plural pianoes

1. entertainmentA percussive keyboard musical instrument, usually ranging over seven octaves, with white and black colored keys, played by pressing these keys, causing hammers to strike strings.First known use 1803

   The piano in his house takes up a lot of space.

   2 more examples

   She has been taking lessons for many years and now plays piano very well.

   Bukharin's examples illustrate the level of his reasoning, as when he tells us that the dependence of art on social conditions is proved by the fact that no one can play the piano if there are no pianos.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 61

   Synonyms: pianoforte

present singular third person pianos · participle present pianoing · participle past pianoed · past pianoed

1. To play the piano.

   We guitared and drummed and head banged and pianoed.

   2020, Becky Manawatu, Auē, page 139

   3 more examples

   Anyhow I pianoed to my own ear, and had no thought at that time for an audience.

   1967, Harry F. Chaplin, A McCrae Miscellany, page 41

   Who comforted me with Madeleines and lime tea, with whipped cream in my cocoa in far off Ann Arbor while others selfishly fiddled, bassooned, pianoed only for their own ugly self-advancement!

   1978, Bertha Harris, Confessions of Cherubino, page 96

   John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Arnold Weinstein, and others came to the house, taping their poems as I pianoed and zithered and drummed away.

   2008, John Gruen, Callas Kissed Me...Lenny Too!, page 138

2. To move (the fingers) up and down on, similar to the motions of a pianist playing the piano.

   Holly pianoed her fingers over her throat.

   2021, Emilya Naymark, Hide in Place

   3 more examples

   He just stared at her, leaned back in his chair and pianoed his fingers along the tablecloth.

   2013, Ann Blair Kloman, A Diamond to Die For, page 29

   “Jean, it ain't right how you separated those two,” he said, and pianoed the little coffin with his fingers, tapping out his grievance.

   2017, Kim Michele Richardson, The Sisters of Glass Ferry

   The superintendent pianoed his fingers on the surface of a nearby desk.

   2020, Simon Lelic, The Search Party

3. To equip with a piano.

   Other buildings will also be erected and pianoed by the same architect.

   1889, The Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer, page 128

   1 more example

   A tabernacle has been built, burnt, rebuilt, electric lighted, organed, pianoed, and frequently filled — all during the last two years.

   1892, The Japan Daily Mail - Volume 18, page 772

comparative more piano · superlative most piano

1. entertainmentSoftly, as a dynamic in a piece of music.First known use 17th c.

   (abbreviation) p

comparative more piano · superlative most piano

1. entertainmentSoft, quiet.
2. Gentle, soft, subdued.

   ‘Tradecraft, Chris,’ Enderby put in, who liked his bit of jargon, and Martindale, still piano, shot him a glance of admiration.

   1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 160

   1 more example

   “Oh! yes, yes, there is not a word to be said against James Benwick[…]that soft sort of manner does not do him justice.”[…] “Well, well, ladies are the best judges; but James Benwick is rather too piano for me[…]”

   1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume IV, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC

present singular third person pianos · participle present pianoing · participle past pianoed · past pianoed

1. To become softer and less intense.

   His tone pianoed on intimacy.

   2000, David R. Beasley, Aspects of Love: Three novellas, page 83

   2 more examples

   “You know, Mrs. Wrigglechops,” pianoed Miss Drucilla , even more meekly and mildly than before, "the ace is either one or eleven."

   1839, Rosina Doyle Bulwer afterwards Bulwer Lytton (Baroness Lytton.), Cheveley; Or, The Man of Honour, page 385

   A day pianoed, swelled acutest, pianoed.

   2009, David Lau, Virgil and the Mountain Cat, page 61

plural Pianos

1. A surname from Italian.