glissando

[ gli-sahn-doh ]

adjective

1. performed with a gliding effect by sliding one or more fingers rapidly over the keys of a piano or strings of a harp.

noun

, plural glis·san·di [gli-, sahn, -dee].

1. a glissando passage.
2. (in string playing) a slide.

glissando

/ ɡlɪˈsændəʊ /

noun

1. a rapidly executed series of notes on the harp or piano, each note of which is discretely audible
2. a portamento, esp as executed on the violin, viola, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of glissando¹

1870–75; < French gliss ( er ) to slide + Italian -ando gerund ending

Word History and Origins

Origin of glissando¹

C19: probably Italianized variant of glissade

Example Sentences

His left hand hovers over the strings along the neck, a cylindrical tube held between his thumb and middle finger drawing the metallic tones into a smooth glissando when it touches steel.

From Los Angeles Times

Still, neither Nézet-Séguin nor the Philadelphia Orchestra are quite fluent in jazz, even given the principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales’s luxuriously, rapturously gooey upward glissando in the famous wail that opens “Rhapsody.”

From New York Times

Trombone glissandos and trumpet blares were downright polite.

From New York Times

The earlier glissandi turn downward for a descent.

From Los Angeles Times

At the start are sputtering bows and glissando slides over a droning foundation that is occasionally built out into briefly sustained, then shifting chords.

From New York Times