Ăc'cent1, n.
n. [Lat. accentus, from ad and cantus, song, canere, to sing; Fr. accent.]
Sense 1. A superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word, distinguishing it from the others.
☞ Many English words have two accents, the primary and the secondary, differing only in degree, the primary being uttered with a greater stress of voice than the secondary; as in as'pi-ra'tion, where the chief stress is on the third syllable, and a slighter stress on the first, while the second and fourth syllables are wholly unaccented. Some words, as an'ti-pes'ti-len'tial, in-com'pre-hen'si-bil'i-ty, have two secondary or subordinate accents. See § 110-126.
Sense 2. A mark or character used in writing to regulate the pronunciation.
☞ Our ancestors borrowed from the Greek language three of these characters, the acute (´), the grave (`), and the circumflex (^, or ˆ). In works on elocution, the first is often used to denote the rising inflection, or movement 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.
Sense 3. A peculiar or characteristic modulation or modification of the voice; manner of speaking or pronouncing; as, a foreign accent. “A man of plain accent.” Shak. “A perfect accent.” Thackeray.
The tender accent of a woman's cry. Prior.
Sense 4. Words, language, or expressions in general.
Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear.
Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear. Dryden.
Sense 5. (Mus.) A slight stress upon a tone to mark its position in the measure.
☞ This is called its grammatical accent: there is also the rhythmical accent, serving to mark phrases and sections, and the oratorical, giving to music the expression called out by feeling.
Sense 6. (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 A′, y′′. (b.) (Trigon.) A mark at the right hand of a number, indicating minutes of a degree, seconds, &c.; 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.