v. [f. VOCAL v. + -IZE. Cf. F. vocaliser (1835), Pg. vocalisar, -izar, Sp. -izar, It. -izzare.]
1. trans. To form into voice; to make audible by utterance; to utter or articulate.
1669. Holder, Elem. Speech, 30. It is one thing to Breath, or give an Impulse to breath alone; another thing, to vocalize that breath, i. e. in its passage through the Larynx to give it the sound of Humane Voyce. Ibid., 80. The Vowels are made by a free passage of Breath Vocalized through the cavity of the Mouth.
1673. [R. Leigh], Transp. Reh., 119. Every breath of moving air may continue articulate, especially if vocaliz’d in Sir S. Moreland’s trumpet.
1867. A. Melville Bell, Visible Speech, 91. A faithful copy of the native pronunciation which readers in all countries will vocalize alike.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 65. A similar inability to control the tongue can be demonstrated by making the patient vocalise r.
b. To sing.
1798. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1799), II. 146. Our small company had vocalized all the songs in the opera, in such a manner as I never heard them executed upon any theatre in London.
1851. E. FitzGerald, Lett. (1889), I. 213. How would you like to see me … scoring up semibreves on a staff for half a dozen Rustics to vocalize?
2. Phonetics. a. To convert into a vowel.
1844. Proc. Philol. Soc., I. 249. It is true that the objectionable sound might be … got rid of … by vocalizing the second consonant, especially if a labial.
1871. Kennedy, Public Sch. Lat. Gram., 8 § 12. Poets sometimes vocalize v-consonans before a vowel: as sil-u-æ for sil-væ.
1891. A. L. Mayhew, O. E. Phonology, 67. Ēa = au, the u of which is the w vocalized when standing at the end of a syllable.
b. To utter with voice (as distinguished from breath); to render sonant.
1836. Smart, Pronouncing Dict., p. xxx. s is always vocalized, that is, pronounced as z, when, in forming the plural of a noun … it can be so pronounced.
1848. Proc. Philol. Soc., III. 169. If we were asked why the Cochin-Chinese vocalized the p, it would be difficult to give any other reason than that some languages are distinguished … by the softness of their pronunciation.
3. To endow with voice; to render vocal or articulate.
1858. W. Irving, in Life & Lett. (1864), IV. 219. In this way, by turns, you vocalize the whole Union, and make the growing chorus of the Revolution rise from every part of it.
1872. Symonds, Introd. Study Dante, 226. It was not merely the painting of his age that Dante absorbed into himself and vocalized.
4. To furnish with vowels or vowel-signs.
1845. Pitman, Man. Phonography (ed. 7), 27. These series of double consonants are vocalized in the following manner.
1889. Amer. Jrnl. Philol., X. 232. Arabic books, especially Arabic poetry, are vocalized in the East as well as in the West.
5. intr. To perform vocal music; to sing.
1830. Fraser’s Mag., II. 503. He … would therefore endeavour to vocalize, if an auditory were to be found.
1879. H. James, Daisy Miller, ii. I. 69. The young lady, who was still strolling along in front of them, softly vocalising.
b. spec. (See quots.)
1873. H. C. Banister, Music, 254. Vocalise. To sing with several notes to one vowel, as distinguished from Sol-faing, or Solmisation, q. v.
1889. Grove’s Dict. Mus., IV. 321. To vocalise is … to sing upon a vowel, whether one note or a series of notes, in contradistinction to singing to separate syllables.
Hence Vocalized ppl. a.; Vocalizing vbl. sb. and ppl. a.; Vocalizer, one who vocalizes or gives expression (to something).
1882. A. Macfarlane, Consanguinity, 17. *Vocalised equivalent fayoyo.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 7 Oct., 3/1. The sweetest and most delicately vocalised dialect in Britain.
1901. H. Murray, R. Buchanan, 81. Browning and Tennyson,… as the typical *vocalisers of modern religious thought.
1863. A. Melville Bell, Princ. Speech, 164. The glottis is in the *vocalizing position, and the breath in passing through it creates sonorous vibration.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 452. There is great danger of vocalising with the short inspiration.
