01 n. Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament …
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1.
Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song.(Mus.)“Twenty doctors expound one text twenty ways, as children make descant upon plain song.” — Tyndale.“She [the nightingale] all night long her amorous descant sung.” — Milton.
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2.
A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments.“Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant!” — De Quincey.