sotto

See also: sótto and sotto-

English

Etymology

Ellipsis of sotto voce.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊtəʊ/, /ˈsɒtəʊ/, [ˈsotːo]
• Rhymes: (UK) -əʊtəʊ, (UK) -ɒtəʊ

Adverb

sotto (not comparable)

1. Ellipsis of sotto voce.
   • 1978–81, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix (1983), page 104:

     Jimi’s guitar plays flat against the major chord, giving a strange, almost discordant effect. Mitch on drums is behind the bass sotto.

   • 2006 October 2nd, Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, The Big Bang Theory, “Pilot”, screenplay (revised first draft), act one, scene A (page 27):

     Wolowitz:   Énchanté, mademoiselle. Howard Wolowitz, Cal Tech department of applied physics. You may be familiar with some of my work – – it’s currently toodling around the surface of Mars.
     Penny:   Hi. Penny.
     Wolowitz:   You smell wonderful. What is that scent you’re wearing?
     Penny:   It’s called b.o.
     Wolowitz:   Ah. Hence the shower, of course. Leonard, where have you been hiding this one? She’s charming.
     Sheldon:   (SOTTO, TO LEONARD)   Oh, he’s good.

Translations

music, informal: sotto voce (adverb) — see sotto voce

Adjective

sotto (not comparable)

1. Ellipsis of sotto voce.
   • 1978–81, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix (1983), page 237:

     Playing against the effect, Wood plays single sotto lines with a variation on the key that sustains a minor mode against the finely tuned feedback effects stroked in pinks against the upper canvas.

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 7:

     ‘Assuming these board scores are accurate reflectors of true capacity in this case,’ Academic Affairs says, his high voice serious and sotto, […]

   • 2008, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child, page 192:

     The twelve string rings out but Jimi’s voice is sotto, intimate.

Translations

music, informal: sotto voce (adjective) — see sotto voce

Anagrams

• Totos, ottos, toots