different between discant vs descant

English

Noun

discant (plural discants)

1. Alternative form of descant

Latin

Verb

discant

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of disc?

   indocti discant et ament meminisse per?ti

   Let the unlearned learn and let the experts love to remember.

Further reading

• Bartlett's Familiar Quotations — Quote 3506

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?skænt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Noun

descant (plural descants)

1. A lengthy discourse on a subject.
   • 1828, Thomas De Quincey, Elements of Rhetoric (published in Blackwood's Magazine)

     Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant!

2. (music) A counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme

Verb

descant (third-person singular simple present descants, present participle descanting, simple past and past participle descanted)

1. (intransitive) To discuss at length.
2. (intransitive) To sing or play a descant.

Quotations

• 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 121

  Involving some interesting, intellectual trips, she was descanting lightly to right and left.

Anagrams

• dancest, decants, scanted, stanced