decima — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A tenth, particularly A tithe or tax of one-tenth (now usually in historical Italian contexts).

   Examples

   He brandished his title as apostolic commissioner in court, and as supervisor of the papal decima in Tuscany.

2. A tenth, particularly A tenth: a note nine degrees of the scale above or below a given note (and thus ten degrees separate counting inclusively) or the interval between such notes.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

3. A tenth, particularly An organ stop a tenth above the normal 8-foot pitch.

Noun

1. A 10-line verse or stanza, (chiefly) in the form of a song comprising an introductory verse followed by four such divisions.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   His album... dealt with the song form of Puerto Rican back-country troubadours, and it had a preoccupation with... the décima, a 10-line stanza with specific rhyme schemes.