demitone

Noun

demitone (plural demitones)

1. A semitone.
   • Before X-ray we used to talk glibly, and sometimes I suspect without justification, of differences of demitones and half demitones in percussion of the chest and slight enlargements of the heart.1956, Roger Irving Lee, The Happy Life of a Doctor, page 183
   • I am somewhat annoyed to be obliged to transpose everything for this concert because of the G. Gaveau harpsichord, which is constructed a demitone too low.2014, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Meredith Kirkpatrick, Ralph Kirkpatrick, page 44
2. (broadly, figuratively) A tiny amount; a shade of difference; a gradation; a nuance.
   • I would speak to you, I have seen this opulence banishing by shades, by demitones!1896, Honoré de Balzac, The House of Nucingen, page 57
   • demitone short of the snapping point, makes her suffering sympathetic — admirable even, for its seems a triumph to function in the face of crippling nerves.1971, Esquire - Volume 75, page 88
3. A muted tone; a subdued manner of speaking.
   • Some gutteral sounds, uttered in a curiously resonant demitone, were exchanged between the guardians of the rural community and the shikaree.1871 August 15, Philippus, “Forest Scenes”, in The Oriental Sporting Magazine, volume 4, number 44, page 343
   • The voice is non-committal; level and tuned to a plein-air quality innocent of the velvet demitones I know so well.1901, Charles Marriott, The Column, page 57
4. A color that is only partly saturated.
   • Dr. van Monckhoven, of Ghent, displays several remarkable enlargements printed in carbon, all distinguished by delicacy of demitone; and Mr. Edward Viles heads the scientific list with microscopi enlargments to the extent of two hundred diameters.1876, (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 532
   • In the distance is a pale glint of light, but otherwise this painting is in a demitone of grey .1877, S. N. C, “The Tenth New York Water-Colour Exhibition”, in The Art Journal, volume 3, page 96
5. (figuratively) Something that is necessary to produce harmony and completeness.
   • The middle class is the. demitone of human society, custodian of the balance, and no fair social order could exist without the cooperation of this class.1947, David Saavedra, Go South Young Man, page 80