recitation

[Fr., from Lat. recitationem, acc us. of recitatio, from recit at us, pa. par. of recito =to recite (q. v.); Sp. recit a cion; Ital. recit azione.] 1. The act of reciting; the recital or repetition of words; spec if., the delivery before an audience of a composition committed to memory as an exercise or display of elocution. 2. The repetition or rehearsal of a le on by pupils before their teacher. "These courses are twenty-two in number, and provide forty-six recitations a week." -Scribner's Magazine , Sept., IMG:content-0279.png:[blocks in formation] 1. A species of musical declamation, not nece a- rily in rhythmical form, but so arranged or designed as to a imilate musical sounds as nearly as po i. ble to ordinary speech. It is used in operas, ora- torios, ., to relate a story, to expre some action or pa ion, or to reveal a secret or design, and is of two kinds, unaccompanied and accompanied, the latter being the more common in modern music. 2. A piece of music intended to be sung in recit a- tive. rěç-i-ta-tive-lý, adv . [English recitative ; -ly .] In manner of a recitative. IMG:content-0280.png:[blocks in formation] is oft recited IMG:content-0281.png:[blocks in formation] *rě-çite', s . [Fr. récit .] [RECITE, v.] Recital. "All former recites or observations of long-lived races." -Sir W. Temple : Of Health. rě-çit-er, s . [English recit(e); -er.] One who recites or rehearses; a narrator; an enumerator. "Like those reciters in old Rome." - Burton : Anat. Melancholy , p. 270.