n. In music, a singer or the voice-part that a singer sings.n. In voice-building, same as voice quality.n. The sound made by the stridulation of an insect.n. The sound uttered by the mouths of living creatures; especially, human utterance in speaking, singing, crying, shouting, etc.; the sound made by a person in speaking, singing, crying, etc.; the character, quality, or expression of the sounds so uttered: as, to hear a voice; to recognize a voice; a loud voice; a low voice.n. Voice as a scientific term may mean either the faculty of nttering audible sounds, or the body of audible sounds produced by the organs of respiration, especially the larynx of man and other animals: contradistinguished from speech or articulate language. Voice is produced when air is driven by the muscles of expiration from the lungs through the trachea and strikes against the two vocal cords (see cord), the vibrations of which produce sounds varying in different animals according to the structure of the organs and the power which the animal possesses over them. Voice can, therefore, be found only in animals in which this svstem of respiration is developed, and the lungs and larynx (or syrinx) actually exist. Fishes, having no lnngs, are dumb, as far as true vocal utterance is concerned, though various noises may issue from their throats (see croaker, grunt, and drum). In man the superior organization and mobility of the tongue and lips, as well as the perfection of the larynx, enable him to modify his vocal sounds to an almost infinite extent. In ordinary speaking the tones of the voice have nearly all the same pitch, and the variety of the sounds is due rather to the action of the mouth-organs than to definite movements of the glottis and vocal cords. In singing the successive sounds correspond more or less closely to the ideal tones of the musical scale. The male voice admits of division into tenor and bass, and the female into soprano and contralto. The lowest female tone is an octave or so higher than the lowest tone of the male voice; and the female's highest tone is about an octave above that of the male. The compass of both voices taken together is four octaves or more, the chief differences residing in the pitch and also in the timbre. In medicine, voice is the sound of utterance as transmitted through the lungs and chest-wall in auscultation. In zoology, voice is ordinarily restricted to respiratory sounds or vocal utterance, as above explained, and as distinguished from any mechanical noise, like stridulation, etc. The more usual word for the voice of any animal is cry; and the various cries, distinctive or characteristic of certain animals, take many distinctive terms, according to their vocal quality, as bark, bay, bellow, bleat, bray, cackle, call, caw, chatter, chirp, chirrup, cluck, coo, croak, crow, gabble, gobble, growl, grunt, hiss, honk, hoot, howl, low, mew, neigh, peep, pipe, purr, quack, roar, scream, screech, snarl, snort, song, squall, squawk, squeak, squeal, trumpet, twitter, warble, waul, whine, whinny, whistle, whoop, yawp, yell, yelp, and many others. The voices of some animals, as certain monkeys and large carnivores and ruminants, may be heard a mile; or more. The voice reaches its highest development, in animals other than human, in the distinctively musical class of birds, some of which, notably parrots and certain corvine and sturnoid birds, can be taught to talk intelligible speech.n. The faculty of speaking; speech; utterance.n. A sound produced by an inanimate object and regarded as representing the voice of an intelligent being: as, the voice of the winds.n. Anything analogous to human speech which conveys impressions to any of the senses or to the mind.n. Opinion or choice expressed; the right of expressing an opinion; vote; suffrage: as, you have no voice in the matter.n. One who speaks; a speaker.n. Wish or admonition made known in any way; command; injunction.n. That which is said; report; rumor; hence, reputation; fame.n. A word; a term; a vocable.n. In phonetics, sound uttered with resonance of the vocal cords, and not with a mere emission of breath; sonant utterance.n. In grammar, that form of the verb or body of inflections which shows the relation of the subject of the affirmation or predication to the action expressed by the verb.To give utterance to; assert; proclaim; declare; announce; rumor; report.To fit for producing the proper sounds; regulate the tone of: as, to voice the pipes of an organ. See voicing.To write the voiceparts of. Hill, Dict. Mus. Terms.To nominate; adjudge by acclamation; declare.In phonetics, to utter with voice or toue or sonancy, as distinguished from breath.To speak; vote; give opinion.
