Note

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /nəʊt/
• US IPA: /noÊŠt/
• Rhymes: -əʊt

From Middle English note, noote ("use, usefulness, profit"), from Old English notu ("use, enjoyment, advantage, profit, utility"), from Proto-Germanic *nutō ("enjoyment, utilisation"), from Proto-Indo-European *newd- ("to acquire, make use of"). Cognate with West Frisian not ("yield, produce, crop"), Dutch genot ("enjoyment, pleasure"), Dutch nut ("usefulness, utility, behoof"), German Nutzen ("benefit, usefulness, utility"), Icelandic not ("use", noun.). Related also to Old English notian ("to enjoy, make use of, employ"), Old English nēotan ("to use, enjoy"), Old High German niozan ("to use, enjoy"), Modern German benutzen ("to use"). Related to nait.

Alternative forms

• noit, noyt
• not Shetland

Full definition of note

Noun

1. (uncountable, UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) Use; employment.
• 1701, Halliwell:But thefte serveth of wykked note, Hyt hangeth hys mayster by the throte.
• 1912, J. Jakobsen, Etymol. Ordbog Norrøne Sprog Shetland:Der 'r nae not in it; hit is nae not.
2. (uncountable) Utility; profit; advantage; foredeal; benefit; pains.
• 1838, William Marriott, William Marriott (Ph. Dr.), A collection of English miracle-plays or mysteries (The Deluge):And have thou that for thy note!
3. (countable) Affair, matter, concern.
• 1566, John Martial, A Replie to M. Calfhills Blasphemous AnswerHe sayeth: It is the peculiar note of Gods servates, not to bow their knee to Baal.
4. (countable) Business; undertaking; task, duty; purpose.
• 1811, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, George Darley, The works of Beaumont and Fletcher: Volume 2:The chief note of a scholar, you say, is to govern his passions; wherefore I do take all patiently.
• 1897, Halifax Courier:Tha'll keep me at this noit all day... Om always at this noit.
• 1911, Homiletic review: Volume 62:It is the peculiar note of this ministry that it stands in the will of Christ, which the minister knows, to which he is consecrated, and which he illustrates in his own character.
5. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) The giving of milk by a cow or sow; the period following calving or farrowing during which a cow or sow gives milk; the milk given by a cow or sow during such a period.
• 1888, S. O. Addy Gloss, Words Sheffield p160'':A cow is said to be in note when she is in milk.
• 1922, P. MacGill, Lanty Hanlon p11:A man who drank spring water when his one cow was near note.
• 1996, C. I. Macafee Conc., Ulster Dict. at Note:Be at her note, be near note, come forward to her note, of a cow or sow, be near the time for calving or farrowing.

Derived terms

• notable
• noteful
• noteless

From Middle English noten, notien, from Old English notian ("to make use of, use, employ, enjoy"), from Proto-Germanic *nutōną ("to make use of"), from Proto-Indo-European *neud- ("to acquire, make use of").

Alternative forms

• noit, noyt
• not Shetland

Verb

1. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To use; make use of; employ.
• 1553, Gawin Douglas (translator

• He would note it.
1. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To use for food; eat.
• 1808, Jameson:He notes very little.

Derived terms

• benote

From Middle English note, from Old English not, nōt ("note, mark, sign") and Old French note ("letter, note"), both from Latin nota ("mark, sign, remark, note").

Noun

1. A mark or token by which a thing may be known; a visible sign; a character; a distinctive mark or feature; a characteristic quality.
• HookerWhosoever appertain to the visible body of the church, they have also the notes of external profession.
• J. H. NewmanShe Anglican church has the note of possession, the note of freedom from party titles, the note of life — a tough life and a vigorous.
• Mrs. Humphry WardWhat a note of youth, of imagination, of impulsive eagerness, there was through it all!
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 20, The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.
2. A mark, or sign, made to call attention, to point out something to notice, or the like; a sign, or token, proving or giving evidence.
3. A brief remark; a marginal comment or explanation; hence, an annotation on a text or author; a comment; a critical, explanatory, or illustrative observation.
4. A brief piece of writing intended to assist the memory; a memorandum; a minute.
   I left him a note to remind him to take out the trash.
5. A short informal letter; a billet.
6. A diplomatic missive or written communication.
7. (finance) A written or printed paper acknowledging a debt, and promising payment; as, a promissory note; a note of hand; a negotiable note.
8. (obsolete) A list of items or of charges; an account.
• ShakespeareHere is now the smith's note for shoeing.
9. A piece of paper money; a banknote.
   I didn't have any coins to pay with, so I used a note.
10. A small size of paper used for writing letters or notes.
11. (music) A character, variously formed, to indicate the length of a tone, and variously placed upon the staff to indicate its pitch.
12. (music) A musical sound; a tone; an utterance; a tune.
• MiltonThe wakeful bird ... tunes her nocturnal note.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
13. (music) A key of the piano or organ.
14. (uncountable) Observation; notice; heed.
• Francis Baconsmall matters ... continually in use and in note
• ShakespeareGive orders to my servants that they take
  No note at all of our being absent hence.
15. (uncountable) Reputation; distinction.
    a poet of note
16. (obsolete) Notification; information; intelligence.
• ShakespeareThe king ... shall have note of this.
17. (obsolete) Stigma; brand; reproach.

Derived terms

Verb

1. (transitive) To notice with care; to observe; to remark; to heed.If you look to the left, you can note the old cathedral
2. (transitive) To record in writing; to make a memorandum of.We noted his speech.
3. (transitive) To denote; to designate.The modular multiplicative inverse of x may be noted x^-1.
4. (transitive) To annotate.
5. (transitive) To set down in musical characters.
6. (transitive) To record on the back of (a bill, draft, etc.) a refusal of acceptance, as the ground of a protest, which is done officially by a notary.

Derived terms

• note down

Inflected and variant forms.

Verb

1. (obsolete)
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.3:There Merlin stayd,
  As overcomen of the spirites powre,
  Or other ghastly spectacle dismayd,
  That secretly he saw, yet note discoure ....

Old English

Verb

1. To butt; to push with the horns.

Anagrams

• Eton
• tone