Noun

(en-noun)

(music) A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment.

* {{quote-news, 2009, January 26, Anthony Tommasini, Pricking Up the Ears to Listen for Echoes of California, New York Times citation

, passage=The piece moves in alluring spans of swirling figures, jagged lines and pointillistic outbursts, often prodded forward by ostinatos in the perky piano. }}

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete) An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting.

*, III.2.1.ii:

*:there's something in a woman beyond all human delight; a magnetic virtue, a charming quality, an occult and powerful motive .

An incentive to act in a particular way; a reason or emotion that makes one want to do something; anything that prompts a choice of action.

* 1947 , (Malcolm Lowry), Under the Volcano :

Many of them at first seemed kind to him, but it turned out their motives were not entirely altruistic.

(obsolete, rare) A limb or other bodily organ that can move.

(Shakespeare)

(legal) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.

What would his motive be for burning down the cottage?

No-one could understand why she had hidden the shovel; her motives were obscure at best.

* {{quote-book, year=1931, author=

, chapter=10/6, title= Death Walks in Eastrepps , passage=“Why should Eldridge commit murder?

(architecture, fine arts) A motif.

(music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated.

If you listen carefully, you can hear the flutes mimicking the cello motive .