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The first beat of a musical measure (as the conductor's arm moves downward)
Answer for the clue "The first beat of a musical measure (as the conductor's arm moves downward) ", 8 letters:
downbeat
Alternative clues for the word downbeat
Word definitions for downbeat in dictionaries
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Downbeat , down beat or Down Beat may refer to: Downbeat, the first beat of a measure in music. This term originated from orchestral conducting, where the lowest point on the baton signals the first beat in a given measure. It is now used widely throughout ...
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. the first beat of a musical measure (as the conductor's arm moves downward)
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1876 (n.), in reference to downward stroke of a conductor's baton; 1952 (adj.) in figurative sense of "pessimistic," but that is probably via associations of the word down (adv.), because the beat itself is no more pessimistic than the upbeat is optimistic. ...
Usage examples of downbeat.
In Celia it produced a physical weariness, worsening her already downbeat mood.
The hut’s interior was dank: folding chairs aligned in uneven rows, cigarette butts dotting a chipped linoleum floor, pictures from Downbeat and Metronome scotch-taped to the walls--half white guys, half Negroes, like the management was trying to establish jazzbo parity.
On the downbeats, I could just make out some bare skin over the top of the pogoing crowd.
Of course it is easiest to launch from a perch or height, but if there's no such convenience handy, all they need is a run of twenty or twenty-flve meters, enough for a couple of lifts and downbeats of the great extended wings, and then a step that doesn't touch the ground, and then they're up, aloft, soaringmaybe circling back overhead to smile and wave down at uplifted faces before arrowing off above the roofs or over the hills.
Jack lifts a finger like a professor about to make a point or a bandleader about to deliver the downbeat.
He belched, then raised his arms, gave a downbeat, and the tentful of beggars began to sing.