0 a musical note with a time value equal to two semibreves :
The string parts are full of breves and semibreves.
1 a symbol (˘) written or printed above a vowel to show that it is pronounced with a short sound:
That same birdsong, with the same trills, quavers, and breves, has heard at sunset for centuries untold.
It reads you the notes from a large computer screen so you need never confuse your crochets with your breves again.
You know that repeated baritone breve which just oozes disapproval, like blowing a raspberry.
Those single acutes (like the breves) which function as length diacritics are clearly positioned above the vowel.
As early as 1821, at least one of the missionaries was using macrons and breves in making handwritten transcriptions of Hawaiian vowels.
This destroys an otherwise fascinating proportion in the motet in its ideal complete shape, with a length of 171 breves.
The only point at which this relatively quick motion slows is at the talea's midpoint, which is spanned by a breve-long ligature.
The initial consonance is developed, then 'saturated' by the figures chosen and sung to an unfolding pattern of longs and breves.
