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alt

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Alt, alt-, atl, ált, and ált.
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Translingual

Symbol

alt

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Southern Altai.
  2. (computing) alternate key

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Latin altus (high). Doublet of old and alto.

Noun

alt (uncountable)

  1. (music) Of a voice or instrument, high pitch; especially, the octave above the top line of the treble stave. [from 16th c.]
    • 1762, George Colman, The Musical Lady:
      Sop[hy] Moderato! moderato! Madam. Your Ladyship's absolutely in alt. / L[ady] Scr[ape] In alt! Madam? / Sop[hy] Yes, in alt- Give me leave to tell your Ladyship, that you have raised your voice a full octave higher since you came into the room.
    • 1794, Mrs. Bennett (Agnes Maria), Ellen, Countess of Castle Howel: A Novel, volume 1:
      The duet was in alt; one stormed, the other half crying, half scolding, made up in volubility what her aunt possessed in authority, and it was not 'till Lady Meredith had twice raised her mild voice, either party could be silenced.
    • 1857, Anne Manning, Helen and Olga: a Russian tale, page 194:
      And he began, — "Poor insect! born to flutter and to die;" — falling into the second, directly Helen took the first, till he got down to such unreasonable bass that he suddenly gave a shriek in alt that made Olga stop her ears.
  2. (now archaic) A state of excitement, a heightened emotional condition. [from 18th c.]
    • 1748, Samuel Richardson, The History of Clarissa Harlowe: In a Series of Letters:
      I was, however, glad at my heart, that Mrs. Moore came up so seasonably with notice, that dinner was ready. The fair fugitive was all in alt. She had the game in her own hands; and by giving me so good an excuse for withdrawing, I had time to strengthen myself; the Captain had time to come; and the Lady to cool.
    • c. 1875, Charles James Lever, The Dodd Family Abroad:
      "Not," added she, as her eyes glittered with anger, and she sidled near the door for an exit—" not but, in the estimation of others, you may be quite an Adonis—a young gentleman of wit and fashion —a beau of the first water; I have no doubt Mary Jane thinks so— you old wretch!" This, in alt, and a bang of the door that brought down an oil picture that hung over it, closed the scene.
    • 1891, Douglas William Jerrold, Tales: now first collected, page 113:
      He had no wish to pry or listen; but if people would talk in alt, whilst he moved, like a mole, about his business, family matters would cleave the ear which, however it tried, could not be deaf.
    • 2011, Jo Beverley, “The Marrying Maid”, in Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love, page 50:
      That lady was in alt at Loxsleigh's high station and had spent the morning making inquiries of her friends, which also allowed her to spread the word about her interesting new acquaintance.

Etymology 2

Abbreviations.

Adjective

alt (not comparable)

  1. Clipping of alternate.
    • 2021, Rhian Jones, Lucy Heyman, Sound Advice: The Ultimate Guide to a Healthy and Successful Career in Music, Shoreditch Press, →ISBN:
      [] Adele, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Frank Ocean, Drake, and Ed Sheeran are among many artists who don't appear to spend a lot of time online (or if they do, it's using alt accounts).
  2. Clipping of alternative, especially as a cultural phenomenon seen as being outside the mainstream of its genre.
    Synonym: alt- (prefix)
    alt medicine
    • 2023 March 5, Miranda Sawyer, “Sleaford Mods: ‘The UK is like a crazy golf course – all we’ve got left are landmarks’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
      Fearn is thoughtful and deeply alt (“I’ve always been an oddball”), less demonstrative but more confident.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:alt.
Derived terms

Noun

alt (plural alts)

  1. Clipping of altitude.
  2. (Internet slang, gaming) An alternate or secondary character.
    • 1996, Jonobie D. Baker, “Survey of MUSHers.”, in rec.games.mud.tiny (Usenet):
      Of these alts, how many of them are a gender other than your own?
    • 2000, KaVir, “Code Bases - why release buggy crap?”, in alt.mud (Usenet):
      Yes, I have many alts, and no, none of the others have any unusual capitalisation.
  3. (Internet slang) An alternate account.
    Hyponym: sock puppet
    You've been here four days and you already know about the incident from last year? You're such an obvious alt.
  4. (finance) An alternative investment or alternative fund.
    liquid alts
Derived terms

Etymology 3

From German Alt.

Noun

alt (plural alts)

  1. Synonym of altbier.
    • 1999, Brian Glover, The Complete Guide to Beer, Barnes & Noble, →ISBN, page 146:
      Top-fermenting ales are still brewed, notably the alts of Düsseldorf and kölsches of Cologne.
    • 2000, Ray Daniels, Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles, Brewers Publications:
      On average, the mash temperatures used in the NHC second-round alts and kölschs were higher, at 153 °F (67 °C) and 151 °F (66 °C) respectively.
    • 2015, Mark Dredge, The Best Beer in the World: One Man’s Globe Search for the Perfect Pint, Dog ‘n’ Bone Books, →ISBN:
      In the last two days I have drunk 10 different beers in each city and feel the Kölsches were within a narrower flavor profile, being relatively similar to each other, whereas Alts had more range of aroma and flavor.
    • 2016, Tim Hampson, The 50 Greatest Beers of the World, Icon Books:
      Ale yeasts are often described as top fermenting, but top cropping would probably be a better description: the yeast ferments at all levels throughout the liquid, but once its work is done it collects at the top of the fermenting vessel (traditionally these vessels would have been open at the top). Family members include bitters, porters, stouts, alts and kölschs.

Anagrams

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Aromanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin alter, alterum. Compare Romanian alt.

Adjective

alt m (f alte, m plural alts, f plural alti)

  1. other

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

Noun

alt (definite accusative altı, plural altlar)

  1. lower part
  2. bottom

Declension

More information singular, plural ...
More information nominative, singular ...

Derived terms

Adjective

alt (comparative daha alt, superlative ən alt)

  1. lower
    Antonym: üst
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Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin altus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

alt (feminine alta, masculine plural alts, feminine plural altes)

  1. high
    Antonym: baix
  2. tall
    Antonym: baix

Derived terms

Further reading

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Central Franconian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German alt, fromOld High German ald, northern variant of alt. The variation between the stems alt and aal is due to the development -ald--āl-, which occurred only in open syllables.

Pronunciation

Adjective

alt (masculine aale, feminine aal, comparative aaler or ääler or älder, superlative aalste or äälste or ältste)

  1. (most dialects) old
    Von aale Löck ka’ mer noch jet liehre.There’s something to be learnt from old people.
    Dat aal Huus möt mer ens renoviere.That old house should be renovated sometime.

Usage notes

  • The commoner comparation forms were originally aaler, et aalste. Today, those with umlaut are preferred due to influence of German älter, am ältesten.

Inflection

  • Eldere
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Cimbrian

Etymology

From Middle High German alt, from Old High German alt, from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz. Cognate with German alt, Dutch oud, English old, Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (alþeis).

Adjective

alt (comparative éltor, superlative dar éltorste)

  1. (most dialects) old, elderly
    an alta brauan elderly lady
    an altar mannan old man
    an altes baipan elderly wife
    an altes ménlea little old man
    alte lòiteelderly people
    De belt ist alt.The world is old.

Declension

Derived terms

References

  • “alt” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
  • Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
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Crimean Gothic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *aldaz.

Adjective

alt

  1. old

Czech

Pronunciation

Noun

alt m inan

  1. alto

Declension

Danish

Pronoun

alt

  1. neuter singular of al

Daur

Noun

alt

  1. gold

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from German Alt, ultimately from Latin altus. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

Noun

alt m (plural alten, diminutive altje n)

  1. alto (musical part)
  2. alto (person or instrument)

Noun

alt f (plural alten, diminutive altje n)

  1. a woman singing or playing the alto part

Usage notes

The word alt is feminine when it's used to indicate a woman singing or playing the alto part.

Derived terms

Anagrams

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse allr.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

alt n (masculine allur, feminine øll)

  1. all

Declension

More information singular, masculine ...

Adverb

alt

  1. all

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin altus.

Adjective

alt

  1. high
    Antonym: bas

Noun

alt m (plural alts)

  1. top, summit

German

Etymology

From Middle High German alt, from Old High German alt, from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz, from Proto-Indo-European *altós, *h₂eltós, from *h₂el- (grow, nourish). Compare Dutch oud, Low German old, West Frisian âld, English old. Doublet of Alt, a loanword from Italian.

Pronunciation

Adjective

alt (strong nominative masculine singular alter, comparative älter, superlative am ältesten)

  1. old
    Wie alt bist du?How old are you?
  2. ancient
  3. elderly (inflected in the comparative)
    ältere Menschenthe elderly

Declension

Antonyms

Derived terms

See also

Further reading

Hungarian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Noun

alt (countable and uncountable, plural altok)

  1. contralto (female singer or voice)
    Coordinate terms: mezzoszoprán, szoprán
  2. alto (vocal section)
    Coordinate terms: szoprán, tenor, basszus

Declension

More information possessor, single possession ...

Further reading

  • alt in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
  • alt in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Ingrian

More information ↗︎○, allative ...

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *alta. Cognates include Finnish alta.

Pronunciation

Adverb

alt

  1. (of motion) from underneath

Postposition

alt (+ genitive)

  1. (of motion) from under
    • 1936, V. I. Junus, Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 136:
      Kissa tuli aitan alt.
      The cat came from under the storehouse.

Antonyms

References

  • V. I. Junus (1936), Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 136
  • Ruben E. Nirvi (1971), Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 11
  • Arvo Laanest (1997), Isuri keele Hevaha murde sõnastik, Eesti Keele Instituut, page 19
  • Olga I. Konkova; Nikita A. Dyachkov (2014), Inkeroin Keel: Пособие по Ижорскому Языку, →ISBN, page 14

Irish

Italian

Khalaj

Lombard

Luxembourgish

Northern Kurdish

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Nynorsk

Old Dutch

Old High German

Old Irish

Pennsylvania German

Polish

Romanian

Scottish Gaelic

Serbo-Croatian

Turkish

Zipser German

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