Definition of "descant" [des•cant]

• Music An ornamental melody or counterpoint sung or played above a theme. (noun)
• Music The highest part sung in part music. (noun)
• A discussion or discourse on a theme. (noun)
• To comment at length; discourse: "He used to descant critically on the dishes which had been at table” ( James Boswell). (verb-intransitive)
• Music To sing or play a descant. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "African descant, which is why they dominant most sports where this explosive power is an asset."
• "We think Mr. Hazlitt's notes are, in the main, good; but we should like to know his authority for saying that _pench_ means "the hole in a bench by which it was taken up," -- that "descant" means"
• "To 'descant' meant to sing or play an _extempore_ second 'part' to a written melody."