gamut
English
Etymology
1520s, original sense “lowest note of musical scale”, from Medieval Latin gamma ut, from gamma (“Greek letter, corresponding to the musical note G”) + ut (“first solfège syllable, now replaced by do”). In modern terms, “G do” – the first note of the G scale[1]. Meaning later extended to mean all the notes of a scale, and then more generally any complete range.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡæm.ət/, /ˈɡæm.ɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -æmɪt
Noun
gamut (plural gamuts)
- A (normally) complete range.
- c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- I must begin with rudiments of Art / To teach you gamoth in a briefer sort, - -
Bian. Why, I am past my gamouth long agoe.
- 1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob’s Room:
- The entire gamut of the view's changes should have been known to her; its winter aspect, spring, summer and autumn; how storms came up from the sea; how the moors shuddered and brightened as the clouds went over; she should have noted the red spot where the villas were building; and the criss-cross of lines where the allotments were cut...
- 1933?, Dorothy Parker, review of Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway play The Lake
- She delivered a striking performance that ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B.
- 1960 December, “New reading on railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 776:
- THE LONDON BRIGHTON & SOUTH COAST RAILWAY. By C. Hamilton Ellis. Ian Allan. 30s. [...] In the course of its pages the author runs through the whole gamut of the locomotives that have during the period under review run on the rails of the L.B. & S.C. and its forebears.
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- (music) All the notes in a musical scale.
- All the colours that can be presented by a device such as a monitor or printer.
Derived terms
- run the gamut
Related terms
- ut
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “gamut”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “gamut”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Central Dusun
Etymology
From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ʀamut.
Noun
gamut
- root
Coastal Kadazan
Etymology
From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ʀamut.
Noun
gamut
- root
Dibabawon Manobo
Etymology
From Proto-Philippine *ʀamut, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ʀamut (“fibrous roots”).
Noun
gamut
- root (of a plant)
Rungus
Etymology
From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ʀamut.
Noun
gamut
- root
Tausug
Etymology
From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ʀamut.
Noun
gamut
- root
Tobilung
Etymology
From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ʀamut.
Noun
gamut
- root
Yakan
Noun
gamut
- root
Yogad
Etymology
From Proto-Philippine *ʀamut, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ʀamut (“fibrous roots”).
Noun
gamút
- root (of a plant)