v. [ad. med.L. syllabizāre, ad. Gr. συλλαβἰζειν, f. συλλαβή SYLLABLE sb.: see -IZE. Cf. F. syllabiser.]
1. trans. To form or divide into syllables; to utter or articulate with distinct separation of syllables. Hence Syllabizing vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Syllabize, to divide by syllables.
1660. Howell, Parly of Beasts, Pref. Verses b ij. ’Tis Mankind alone Can Language frame, and syllabize the Tone.
1831. Examiner, 259/2. A drawling tone and syllabizing pronunciation. Ibid., 694/1. Every word is syllabized, and every syllable protracted to three times its due quantity. Ibid., 822/1. The syllabizing of the dialogue, and the roulading of the music, are equally out of place.
1885. Athenæum, 13 June, 762/3. Irish metric, like that of the Slavonic peoples, has passed from an original purely syllabizing system to an accentuating one.
2. intr. To sing notes to syllables, as in solmization. nonce-use.
1782. Burney, Hist. Mus., II. ii. 105. It may be said, that to syllabize in quick passages is little more than to speak, but to vocalize is to sing.
