3. (Mus.) A change of key, whether transient, or until the music
becomes established in the new key; a shifting of the tonality of a
piece, so that the harmonies all center upon a new keynote or tonic;
the art of transition out of the original key into one nearly related,
and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key quite remote.
There are also sudden and unprepared modulations.
Mod"u*la`tor (?), n. [L.] One who, or that which, modulates. Denham.
Mod"ule (?), n. [F., fr. L. modulus a small measure, dim. of modus. See
Mode, and cf. Model, Modulus, Mold a matrix.] 1. A model or measure.
2. (Arch.) The size of some one part, as the diameter of semi-diameter
of the base of a shaft, taken as a unit of measure by which the
proportions of the other parts of the composition are regulated.
Generally, for columns, the semi-diameter is taken, and divided into a
certain number of parts, called minutes (see Minute), though often the
diameter is taken, and any dimension is said to be so many modules and
minutes in height, breadth, or projection.
Mod"ule, v. t. [See module, n., Modulate.] To model; also, to modulate.
[Obs.] Sandys. Drayton.
||Mod"u*lus (?), n.; pl. Moduli (#). [L., a small measure. See Module,
||n.] (Math., Mech., & Physics) A quantity or coefficient, or constant,
||which expresses the measure of some specified force, property, or
||quality, as of elasticity, strength, efficiency, etc.; a parameter.
Modulus of a machine, a formula expressing the work which a given
machine can perform under the conditions involved in its construction;
the relation between the work done upon a machine by the moving power,
and that yielded at the working points, either constantly, if its
motion be uniform, or in the interval of time which it occupies in
passing from any given velocity to the same velocity again, if its
motion be variable; -- called also the efficiency of the machine.
Mosley. Rankine. -- Modulus of a system of logarithms (Math.), a number
by which all the Napierian logarithms must be multiplied to obtain the
logarithms in another system. -- Modulus of elasticity. (a) The measure
of the elastic force of any substance, expressed by the ratio of a
stress on a given unit of the substance to the accompanying distortion,
or strain. (b) An expression of the force (usually in terms of the
height in feet or weight in pounds of a column of the same body) which
would be necessary to elongate a prismatic body of a transverse section
equal to a given unit, as a square inch or foot, to double, or to
compress it to half, its original length, were that degree of
elongation or compression possible, or within the limits of elasticity;
-- called also Young's modulus. -- Modulus of rupture, the measure of
the force necessary to break a given substance across, as a beam,
expressed by eighteen times the load which is required to break a bar
of one inch square, supported flatwise at two points one foot apart,
and loaded in the middle between the points of support. Rankine.
||Mo"dus (?), n.; pl. Modi (#). [L. See Mode.] (Old Law) 1. The
||arrangement of, or mode of expressing, the terms of a contract or
||conveyance.
2. (Law) A qualification involving the idea of variation or departure
from some general rule or form, in the way of either restriction or
enlargement, according to the circumstances of the case, as in the will
of a donor, an agreement between parties, and the like. Bracton.
3. (Law) A fixed compensation or equivalent given instead of payment of
tithes in kind, expressed in full by the phrase modus decimandi.
Blackstone.
They, from time immemorial, had paid a modus, or composition.
Landor.
||Modus operandi (&?;) [L.], manner of operating.