accent

n. [ F. accent, L. accentus; ad + cantus a singing, canere to sing. See Cant. ] 1. A superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word or a phrase, distinguishing it from the others. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Many English words have two accents, the primary and the secondary; the primary being uttered with a greater stress of voice than the secondary; as in as′pira&bprime_;tion, where the chief stress is on the third syllable, and a slighter stress on the first. Some words, as an′tiap′o-plec&bprime_;tic, in-com′pre-hen′si-bil&bprime_;i-ty, have two secondary accents. See Guide to Pron., §§ 30-46. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A mark or character used in writing, and serving to regulate the pronunciation; esp.: (a) a mark to indicate the nature and place of the spoken accent; (b) a mark to indicate the quality of sound of the vowel marked; as, the French accents. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the ancient Greek the acute accent (′) meant a raised tone or pitch, the grave (`), the level tone or simply the negation of accent, the circumflex ( ~ or ^) a tone raised and then depressed. In works on elocution, the first is often used to denote the rising inflection of the voice; the second, the falling inflection; and the third (^), the compound or waving inflection. In dictionaries, spelling books, and the like, the acute accent is used to designate the syllable which receives the chief stress of voice. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Modulation of the voice in speaking; manner of speaking or pronouncing; peculiar or characteristic modification of the voice; tone; as, a foreign accent; a French or a German accent. “Beguiled you in a plain accent.” Shak. “A perfect accent.” Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

The tender accent of a woman's cry. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A word; a significant tone; (pl.) expressions in general; speech. [ 1913 Webster ]

Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear,
Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Pros.) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mus.) (a) A regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the measure. (b) A special emphasis of a tone, even in the weaker part of the measure. (c) The rhythmical accent, which marks phrases and sections of a period. (d) The expressive emphasis and shading of a passage. J. S. Dwight. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Math.) (a) A mark placed at the right hand of a letter, and a little above it, to distinguish magnitudes of a similar kind expressed by the same letter, but differing in value, as y′, y″. (b) (Trigon.) A mark at the right hand of a number, indicating minutes of a degree, seconds, etc.; as, 12′27″, i. e., twelve minutes twenty seven seconds. (c) (Engin.) A mark used to denote feet and inches; as, 6′ 10″ is six feet ten inches. [ 1913 Webster ]