• (RP) IPA: /nəʊt/
• (GA) enPR: nōt, IPA: /noʊt/

note

1. (heading) A symbol or annotation.
   1. A mark or token by which a thing may be known; a visible sign; a character; a distinctive mark or feature; a characteristic quality.
      • 1841, John Henry Newman, “A Letter to the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard, Lord Bishop of Oxford, on Occasion of No. 90, in the Series Called The Tracts for the Times”, Oxford: John Henry Parker, page 39 ↗:

        She [the Anglican church] has the Note of possession, the Note of freedom from party-titles ; the Note of life, a tough life and a vigorous ; she has ancient descent, unbroken continuance, agreement in doctrine with the ancient Church.

   2. A mark, or sign, made to call attention, to point out something to notice, or the like; a sign, or token, proving or giving evidence.
   3. A brief remark; a marginal comment or explanation; hence, an annotation on a text or author; a comment; a critical, explanatory, or illustrative observation.
2. (heading) A written or printed communication or commitment.
   1. A brief piece of writing intended to assist the memory; a memorandum; a minute.

      I left him a note to remind him to take out the trash.

   2. A short informal letter; a billet.
   3. (academic) An academic treatise (often without regard to length); a treatment; a discussion paper; (loosely) any contribution to an academic discourse.
   4. A diplomatic missive or written communication.
   5. (finance) A written or printed paper acknowledging a debt, and promising payment

      a promissory note

      a note of hand

      a negotiable note

   6. (obsolete) A list of items or of charges; an account.
      • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene i]:

        Heere is now the Smithes note, for Shooing, / And Plough-Irons.

   7. A piece of paper money; a banknote.

      I didn't have any coins to pay with, so I used a note.

   8. (extension) A small size of paper used for writing letters or notes.
3. (music, heading) A sound.
   1. A character, variously formed, to indicate the length of a tone, and variously placed upon the staff to indicate its pitch.
   2. A musical sound; a tone; an utterance; a tune.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book III ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 37–40:

        Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie move / Harmonious numbers ; as the wakeful Bird / Sings darkling, and in ſhadieſt Covert hid / Tunes her nocturnal Note.

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898)​, Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698 ↗, page 47 ↗:

        Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.

   3. (extension) A key of the piano or organ.
4. (uncountable) Observation; notice; heed.
   • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene i]:

     Go in Nerriſſa, / Giue order to my ſeruants, that they take / No note at all of our being abſent hence, / Nor you Lorenzo, Ieſſica nor you.

5. (uncountable) Reputation; distinction.

   a poet of note

6. (obsolete) Notification; information; intelligence.
7. (obsolete) Mark of disgrace.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lvcrece (First Quarto), London: Printed by Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664 ↗:

     That my poſteritie ſham’d with the note / Shall curſe my bones, and hold it for no ſinne, / To wiſh that I their father had not beene.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance)​​, William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene i], page 23 ↗, column 2:

     Once more, the more to aggrauate the note,
     With a foule Traitors name ſtuffe I thy throte,
     And wiſh (ſo pleaſe my Soueraigne) ere I moue,
     What my tong ſpeaks, my right drawn ſword may proue

• (mark of disgrace) blemish, blot, brand, reproach, stain, stigma, taint
• (observation, notice, heed) attention, mark; see also Thesaurus:attention

• Russian: знак

• Italian: nota, richiamo

• French: note
• Italian: nota, nota a margine
• Portuguese: nota
• Russian: примеча́ние
• Spanish: nota

• French: note
• German: Notiz, Zettel
• Italian: nota, memoria
• Portuguese: nota
• Russian: запи́ска
• Spanish: nota

• Italian: memoria
• Portuguese: bilhete, aviso
• Russian: запи́ска
• Spanish: nota

• Russian: но́та

• German: Note
• Portuguese: nota
• Russian: но́та

• French: note
• German: Ton
• Italian: nota
• Portuguese: nota
• Russian: но́та
• Spanish: nota

• Russian: кла́виша
• Spanish: tecla

note (notes, present participle noting; past and past participle noted)

1. (transitive) To notice with care; to observe; to remark; to heed.

   If you look to the left, you can note the old cathedral.

2. (transitive) To record in writing; to make a memorandum of.

   We noted his speech.

3. (transitive) To denote; to designate.

   The modular multiplicative inverse of x may be noted x^-1.

4. (transitive) To annotate.
5. (transitive) To set down in musical characters.
6. (transitive) To record on the back of (a bill, draft, etc.) a refusal of acceptance, as the ground of a protest, which is done officially by a notary.

• French: noter, remarquer
• Portuguese: notar, perceber
• Spanish: notar, tener en cuenta

• French: noter, prendre note
• Portuguese: anotar
• Spanish: anotar

• Portuguese: denotar
• Spanish: denotar

• Portuguese: anotar
• Spanish: anotar

note (uncountable)

1. (uncountable, UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) That which is needed or necessary; business; duty; work.
   • 1897 May 27, Halifax Courier, quoted in 1903, Joseph Wright, English Dialect Dictionary, volume IV, London: Henry Frowde, page 302 ↗:

     Tha'll keep me at this noit all day... Om always at this noit.

   • 1962, Arthur C. Cawley, Everyman, and Medieval Miracle Plays, page 125:

     Thou canst do thy note; that have I espied.

2. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) The giving of milk by a cow or sow; the period following calving or farrowing during which a cow or sow is at her most useful (i.e. gives milk); the milk given by a cow or sow during such a period.
   • 1843, The Farmer's Magazine, page 384:

     The supply of horned cattle at this fair was great, but the business done was confined to fleshy barreners of feeding qualities and superior new-calved heifers, and those at early note, with appearance of being useful; [...]

   • 1875, Belfast Paper:

     For sale, a Kerry cow, five years old, at her note in May.

   • 1922, P. MacGill, Lanty Hanlon page 11:

     A man who drank spring water when his one cow was near note.

1. (informal) The St. Louis Blues hockey team.