di|a|pa|son

di|a|pa|son «_DY uh PAY zuhn, -suhn», noun.

1. a swelling musical sound: »

a glorious diapason of heavenly voices.

2. the whole range of a voice or instrument.

3. a fixed standard of musical pitch.

4. a tuning fork or its pitch.

5. either of two principal stops in an organ. Open diapason is a stop that gives full, majestic tones. Stopped diapason is a stop that gives powerful, flutelike tones.

6. harmony of tones or parts: »

Through all the compass of the Notes it ran, The diapason closing full in man (John Dryden).

7. a melody; strain.

8. Obsolete. harmony; agreement.

9. Obsolete. the interval of an octave.

╂[< Latin diapāsōn < Greek diapāsôn octave < dià pasôn (chordôn) across all (the notes of the scale)]