note - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English note, from Old English not, nōt (“note, mark, sign”) and Old French note (“letter, note”), both from Latin nota (“mark, sign, remark, note”).

note (countable and uncountable, plural notes)

  1. A symbol or annotation.
    1. A mark or token by which a thing may be known; a visible sign; a character; a distinctive mark or feature; a characteristic quality.
      • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, London: William Stansbye, published 1622, book III, page 89:
        As therefore they that are of the Myſticall Body of Chriſt, haue thoſe inward Graces and Vertues, whereby they differ from all others which are not of the ſame Body ; againe, whoſoeuer appertaine to the Viſible Body of the Church, they haue alſo the notes of externall Profeſſion, whereby the World knoweth what they are.
      • 1841, John Henry Newman, A Letter to the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard, Lord Bishop of Oxford, on Occasion of No. 90, in the Series Called The Tracts for the Times, Oxford: John Henry Parker, page 39:
        She [the Anglican church] has the Note of possession, the Note of freedom from party-titles ; the Note of life, a tough life and a vigorous ; she has ancient descent, unbroken continuance, agreement in doctrine with the ancient Church.
      • 1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 251:
        For the first ten years of nationalisation a further note of overall gloom was added by the depressing policy of unimaginative Regional colour schemes, indifferently applied.
    2. A mark, or sign, made to call attention, to point out something to notice, or the like; a sign, or token, proving or giving evidence.
      He noted the fact that the kidnapper had left a ransom note.
    3. A brief remark; a marginal comment or explanation; hence, an annotation on a text or author; a comment; a critical, explanatory, or illustrative observation.
  2. A written or printed communication or commitment.
    1. A brief piece of writing intended to assist the memory; a memorandum; a minute.
      I left him a note to remind him to take out the trash.
    2. A short informal letter; a billet.
    3. (academic) An academic treatise (often without regard to length); a treatment; a discussion paper; (loosely) any contribution to an academic discourse.
    4. A diplomatic missive or written communication.
    5. (finance) A written or printed paper (or digital equivalent) acknowledging a debt, and promising payment.
      Near-synonyms: draft, bond, paper, commercial paper, IOU, letter of credit
      a note of hand
      a negotiable note
    6. (obsolete) A list of items or of charges; an account.
    7. A piece of paper or polymer money; a banknote.
      Synonym: bill
      I didn't have any coins to pay with, so I used a note.
    8. (extension) A small size of paper used for writing letters or notes.
  3. (music) A sound.
    1. A character, variously formed, to indicate the length of a tone, and variously placed upon the staff to indicate its pitch.
    2. A musical sound; a tone; an utterance; a tune; a beat of a drum.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 37–40:
        Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie move / Harmonious numbers ; as the wakeful Bird / Sings darkling, and in ſhadieſt Covert hid / Tunes her nocturnal Note.
      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 47:
        Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
      • 1923, Ernest Bramah, The Eyes of Max Carrados:
        "That's Fred," said Mrs Fitzwilliam as the iron gate beyond the little plot of beaten earth that had once been a garden gave its individual note.
    3. (by extension) A key of the piano or organ.
    4. (by extension) A call or song of a bird.
      • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 85:
        We heard the peculiar note of the woodcock, which resembles the repeated croaking of the frog, followed by a sharp hissing sound, somewhat like the noisy chirping of the wagtail[.]
    5. (rhythm games) An indication which players have to click, type, hit, tap or do other actions if it appears
  4. (perfumery) An element of a scent, fragrance, or perfume, especially as a descriptor or category.
    Hyponyms: top note, middle note, heart note, base note
  5. (uncountable) Observation; notice; heed.
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
      Go in Nerriſſa, / Giue order to my ſeruants, that they take / No note at all of our being abſent hence, / Nor you Lorenzo, Ieſſica nor you.
    • 1625, Francis Bacon, “Of ceremonies and reſpects”, in The Works of Francis Bacon, volume III, London: J. and J. Knapton et al., published 1730, page 373:
      So it is true, that ſmall matters win great commendation, becauſe they are continually in uſe, and in note ; whereas the occaſion of any great virtue cometh but on feſtivals.
  6. (uncountable) Reputation; distinction.
    a poet of note
  7. A critical comment.
    Your performance was fantastic! I have just one note: you were a little flat in bars 35 and 36.
  8. (obsolete) Notification; information; intelligence.
  9. (obsolete) Mark of disgrace.

visible sign

mark, or sign, made to call attention

memorandum

short informal letter

character indicating the length and pitch of a tone

musical sound

observation

note (third-person singular simple present notes, present participle noting, simple past and past participle noted)

  1. (transitive) To notice with care; to observe; to remark; to heed.
    If you look to the left, you can note the old cathedral.
    Note the difference between progesterone and progrestogen: the former is simply a type of the latter.
    • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
      Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue:
      I tel thee villaine, thoſe that lead my horſe
      Haue to their names tytles of dignitie,
      And dar’ſt thou bluntly cal me Baiazeth?
  2. (transitive) To record in writing; to make a memorandum of.
    We noted his speech.
  3. (transitive) To denote; to designate.
    The modular multiplicative inverse of x may be noted x−1.
  4. (transitive) To annotate.
  5. (transitive) To set down in musical characters.
  6. (transitive, law) To record on the back of (a bill, draft, etc.) a refusal of acceptance, as the ground of a protest, which is done officially by a notary.
    • 2020 October 28, Kimberly Budd for the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, case SJC-12769:
      By noting the protest, notaries could date certificates when they were received, making it easier to comply with time restrictions associated with protesting.

to notice with care

to record in writing

to annotate

From Middle English note (“use, usefulness, profit”), from Old English notu (“use, enjoyment, advantage, profit, utility”), from Proto-West Germanic *notu, from Proto-Germanic *nutō (“enjoyment, utilisation”), from Proto-Indo-European *newd- (“to acquire, make use of”). Cognate with West Frisian not (“yield, produce, crop”), Dutch genot (“enjoyment, pleasure”), Dutch nut (“usefulness, utility, behoof”), German Nutzen (“benefit, usefulness, utility”), Icelandic not (“use”, noun). Related also to Old English notian (“to enjoy, make use of, employ”), Old English nēotan (“to use, enjoy”), Old High German niozan (“to use, enjoy”) (Modern German genießen (“to enjoy”)), Modern German benutzen (“to use”). Related to nait.

note (usually uncountable, plural notes)(UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland)

  1. (uncountable) That which is needed or necessary; business; duty; work.
    • 1838, William Marriott, “The Deluge”, in A Collection of English Miracle-Plays or Mysteries, Basel: Schweighauser & Co, page 11:
      And have thou that for thy note !
    • 1897 May 27, Halifax Courier, quoted in 1903, Joseph Wright, English Dialect Dictionary, volume IV, London: Henry Frowde, page 302:
      Tha'll keep me at this noit all day... Om always at this noit.
    • 1962, Arthur C. Cawley, Everyman, and Medieval Miracle Plays, page 125:
      Thou canst do thy note; that have I espied.
  2. Milk-giving by a cow or sow; (specifically) the period following calving or farrowing, during which a cow or sow is most productive and useful.
    • 1843, The Farmer's Magazine, page 384:
      The supply of horned cattle at this fair was great, but the business done was confined to fleshy barreners of feeding qualities and superior new-calved heifers, and those at early note, with appearance of being useful; [...]
    • 1875, Paper, Belfast:
      For sale, a Kerry cow, five years old, at her note in May.
    • 1888, S. O. Addy Gloss, Words Sheffield, page 160:
      A cow is said to be in note when she is in milk.
    • 1922, P. MacGill, Lanty Hanlon, page 11:
      A man who drank spring water when his one cow was near note.
    • 1996, C. I. Macafee Conc., Ulster Dict. at Note:
      Be at her note, be near note, come forward to her note, of a cow or sow, be near the time for calving or farrowing.
  3. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) (by extension) The milk given by a cow or sow during such period.

note

  1. plural of noot

From English note, from Italian nota, from Latin nota.

note c (singular definite noten, plural indefinite noter)

  1. note
    Synonyms: notat, notits

See the noun not (“groove”)

note

  1. (mechanics) to supply a board to a groove (clarification of this definition is needed)

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

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Borrowed from Latin nota.

note f (plural notes)

  1. note (written or spoken)
  2. mark (UK), grade (US)
  3. bill (UK, US), check (US)
  4. (music) note
  5. touch, hint, note

note

  1. inflection of noter:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

See noite.

note f (plural notes)

  1. alternative form of noite

note

  1. inflection of notar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

note f

  1. plural of nota

note

  1. feminine plural of noto

  2. ^ grido in Bruno Migliorini et al., Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia, Rai Eri, 2025

nōte

  1. vocative masculine singular of nōtus

From Old Dutch *nutu.

nōte f

  1. nut (fruit)

Weak feminine noun

| | singular | plural | | | ----------- | ----------- | ----- | | nominative | nōte | nōten | | accusative | nōte | nōten | | genitive | nōte, nōten | nōten | | dative | nōte, nōten | nōten |

From Old French note (noun) and the verb noter.

note

  1. note

Inherited from Old English notu, from Proto-West Germanic *notu, from Proto-Germanic *nutō (“enjoyment, utilisation”), from Proto-Indo-European *newd- (“to acquire, make use of”).

note

  1. note: That which is needed or necessary; business; duty; work.
    • 1303, Roberd of Brunnè, “The Seventh Commandment”, in Frederick James Furnivall, editor, Handlyng Synne, London: J. B. Nichols and Sons, published 1862, page 67, lines 2073–6:
      But þefte serueþ of wykkede note, / Hyt hangeþ hys mayster by þe þrote, / Or doþe hym lese hys godë fame, / Or bryngeþ hym oute of þe towne for shame.
      But theft is wicked work, / It hangs its perpetrator by the throat, / Or ruins his reputation, / Or makes him leave his town in shame.

From Old English hnutu, from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts.

The common spelling with -o- is to avoid the successive minims that would occur in the sequence nu-.

note

  1. nut

note

  1. alternative form of not

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

note f (plural notes)

  1. (Jersey) tune

From Latin nota.

note m (definite singular noten, indefinite plural noter, definite plural notene)

  1. (music) a note
  2. a note in a book or text
  3. a note (communication between governments)
  4. a banknote

From Latin nota.

note m (definite singular noten, indefinite plural notar, definite plural notane)

  1. (music) a note
  2. a note in a book or text
  3. a note (communication between governments)
  4. a banknote

note

  1. past participle of nyta

note

  1. inflection of notu:
    1. nominative plural
    2. accusative singular/plural
    3. genitive/dative singular

note m (plural notes)

  1. (Brazil, computing, colloquial) clipping of notebook (“notebook computer”)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

note

  1. inflection of notar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

note f pl

  1. plural of notă

From Middle English not, note, noote, from Old English notu (“use; utility; benefit”). More at note.

note (uncountable)

  1. use; benefit
  2. necessity; occasion
  3. business; employment
  4. task; duty
  5. purpose; function; office

From Middle English noten, notien, from Old English notian (“to make use of; employ; enjoy”), from Proto-Germanic *nutōną (“to make use of; enjoy”).

note (third-person singular simple present notes, present participle notin, simple past nott, past participle ****nott or notten**)

  1. To use; employ; make use of
  2. To need

note

  1. inflection of notar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Inherited from Latin noctem, from Proto-Italic *nokts, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts.
Compare Corsican, Italian, and Neapolitan notte, Galician and Portuguese noite, Galician note.

note f (plural noti)

  1. night

From Middle English not, from Old English nāt; equivalent to *ne (“not”) +‎ 'ote (“know”).

note

  1. I do not know.
    • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:
      Note vidy; Ich note; Note will wee dra aaght to-die?
      I do not know where; I ne wot; I don't know will we draw any to-day?