Literary notes about treble (AI summary)
Writers employ "treble" in various ways to enrich both the sound and meaning of their language. In musical contexts it designates the higher pitch or light quality of a tone—its use vividly evokes the strident, ethereal quality of a note, as when a pianist's work is described in a "treble" register ([1], [2], [3], [4]). Beyond music, the term functions as an adjective meaning "triple" or an increased extent, lending a sense of amplified intensity in financial or quantitative descriptions, whether referring to wages, output, or even layers in a design ([5], [6], [7]). Authors also integrate it into metaphorical and visual imagery to evoke a lyrical or archaic tone, as seen when treble sceptres and voices contribute to the overall aesthetic of their work ([8], [9], [10]). This multifaceted usage underscores the dynamic interplay between literal description and figurative expression in literature.
- Bob Cowley’s twinkling fingers in the treble played again.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - The piece ended with a trill of octaves in the treble and a final deep octave in the bass.
— from Dubliners by James Joyce - He sank his face onto his arms, and began to sob in a high treble key.
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - High, a high note pealed in the treble clear.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - I promised to treble his wages as soon as a certain event should happen.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray - Oh, prithee delay not; to delay at such a time were to double and treble the perils that already compass thee about.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - When sufficiently worn down the carpet is removed, brushed, and eventually sold for double or treble its actual price owing to its antiquity!
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass Which shows me many more; and some I see That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry:
— from Macbeth by William Shakespeare - And thou treble-dated crow, That thy sable gender mak’st With the breath thou giv’st and tak’st, ’Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - "Mademoiselle," lisped the treble voice, "I am to give you that.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë
