down-bow

(redirected from downbow)
Also found in: Thesaurus.

down-bow

or down·bow (doun′bō′)
n.
A stroke made by drawing a bow from handle to tip across the strings of a violin or other bowed instrument.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

down-bow

(ˈdaʊnˌbəʊ)
n
(Instruments) a downward stroke of the bow from its nut to its tip across a stringed instrument. Compare up-bow
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

down′-bow`

(boʊ)

n.
(in bowing on a stringed instrument) a stroke bringing the tip of the bow toward the strings. Compare up-bow.
[1890–95]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.down-bow - a downward stroke from the heel to the tip of the bow
bow - a stroke with a curved piece of wood with taut horsehair strands that is used in playing stringed instruments
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
It is almost always played incorrectly; namely, in that the second beat in each 2/4 bar is played as if it were a downbeat, with the weight and feeling of a downbeat, and worse yet, also always with a downbow. That turns the music upside down and the destroys the hierarchical meter principle.
Do you snap your elbow when changing from downbow to upbow?
Many sequences unfold as pure, joyful exercises in high concept, not dissimilar to Peter Sellars' or Adrian Marthaler's incongruous musicvideos of classical etudes: Some 20-odd cellists, seated facing each other on an empty subway, simultaneously downbow into a "Suite for Unaccompanied Cello," their rich chords counterpointing the whooshing sounds of the subway in postmodern harmony.