Etimology
From Middle English note, from Old English not, nōt (“note, mark, sign”) and Old French note (“letter, note”), both from Latin nota (“mark, sign, remark, note”).
noun
note (countable and uncountable, plural notes)
A symbol or annotation.
A written or printed communication or commitment.
(music) A sound.
(uncountable) Observation; notice; heed.
(uncountable) Reputation; distinction.
A critical comment.
(obsolete) Notification; information; intelligence.
(obsolete) Mark of disgrace.
Examples
As therefore they that are of the Myſticall Body of Chriſt, haue thoſe inward Graces and Vertues, whereby they differ from all others which are not of the ſame Body ; againe, whoſoeuer appertaine to the Viſible Body of the Church, they haue alſo the notes of externall Profeſſion, whereby the World knoweth what they are.
She [the Anglican church] has the Note of possession, the Note of freedom from party-titles ; the Note of life, a tough life and a vigorous ; she has ancient descent, unbroken continuance, agreement in doctrine with the ancient Church.
What a note of youth, of imagination, of impulsive eagerness, there was through it all !
For the first ten years of nationalisation a further note of overall gloom was added by the depressing policy of unimaginative Regional colour schemes, indifferently applied.
The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.
I left him a note to remind him to take out the trash.
Garson: Drop me a note sometime. I'd love to hear how we're doing.
a promissory note
a note of hand
a negotiable note
Heere is now the Smithes note, for Shooing, / And Plough-Irons.
I didn't have any coins to pay with, so I used a note.
Synonym: bill
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie move / Harmonious numbers ; as the wakeful Bird / Sings darkling, and in ſhadieſt Covert hid / Tunes her nocturnal Note.
Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.
We heard the peculiar note of the woodcock, which resembles the repeated croaking of the frog, followed by a sharp hissing sound, somewhat like the noisy chirping of the wagtail[.]
Go in Nerriſſa, / Giue order to my ſeruants, that they take / No note at all of our being abſent hence, / Nor you Lorenzo, Ieſſica nor you.
So it is true, that ſmall matters win great commendation, becauſe they are continually in uſe, and in note ; whereas the occaſion of any great virtue cometh but on feſtivals.
a poet of note
Your performance was fantastic! I have just one note: you were a little flat in bars 35 and 36.
That my poſteritie ſham’d with the note / Shall curſe my bones, and hold it for no ſinne, / To wiſh that I their father had not beene.
Once more, the more to aggrauate the note,With a foule Traitors name ſtuffe I thy throte,And wiſh ere I moue,What my tong ſpeaks, my right drawn ſword may proue
Related words
synonyms
(mark of disgrace): blemish, blot, brand, reproach, stain, stigma, taint
(observation, notice, heed): attention, mark; see also Thesaurus:attention
verb
note (third-person singular simple present notes, present participle noting, simple past and past participle noted)
(transitive) To notice with care; to observe; to remark; to heed.
(transitive) To record in writing; to make a memorandum of.
(transitive) To denote; to designate.
(transitive) To annotate.
(transitive) To set down in musical characters.
(transitive, law) To record on the back of (a bill, draft, etc.) a refusal of acceptance, as the ground of a protest, which is done officially by a notary.
Examples
Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue:I tel thee villaine, thoſe that lead my horſeHaue to their names tytles of dignitie,And dar’ſt thou bluntly cal me Baiazeth?
If you look to the left, you can note the old cathedral.
We noted his speech.
The modular multiplicative inverse of x may be noted x-1.
By noting the protest, notaries could date certificates when they were received, making it easier to comply with time restrictions associated with protesting.
Etimology
From Middle English note (“use, usefulness, profit”), from Old English notu (“use, enjoyment, advantage, profit, utility”), from Proto-West Germanic *notu, from Proto-Germanic *nutō (“enjoyment, utilisation”), from Proto-Indo-European *newd- (“to acquire, make use of”). Cognate with West Frisian not (“yield, produce, crop”), Dutch genot (“enjoyment, pleasure”), Dutch nut (“usefulness, utility, behoof”), German Nutzen (“benefit, usefulness, utility”), Icelandic not (“use”, noun). Related also to Old English notian (“to enjoy, make use of, employ”), Old English nēotan (“to use, enjoy”), Old High German niozan (“to use, enjoy”) (Modern German genießen (“to enjoy”)), Modern German benutzen (“to use”). Related to nait.
noun
note (usually uncountable, plural notes)
(uncountable, UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) That which is needed or necessary; business; duty; work.
(UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) The giving of milk by a cow or sow; the period following calving or farrowing during which a cow or sow is at her most useful (i.e. gives milk); the milk given by a cow or sow during such a period.
Examples
And have thou that for thy note !
Tha'll keep me at this noit all day... Om always at this noit.
Thou canst do thy note; that have I espied.
The supply of horned cattle at this fair was great, but the business done was confined to fleshy barreners of feeding qualities and superior new-calved heifers, and those at early note, with appearance of being useful; [...]
For sale, a Kerry cow, five years old, at her note in May.
A cow is said to be in note when she is in milk.
A man who drank spring water when his one cow was near note.
Be at her note, be near note, come forward to her note, of a cow or sow, be near the time for calving or farrowing.