Origin and history of accompaniment

late 14c., supporten, "to hold up, prop up, bear the weight of;" also "to aid" someone, "speak in support or advocacy of;" also "put up with, bear without opposition, endure without being overcome, tolerate," from Old French suporter "to bear, endure, sustain, support" (14c.) and

"accompanying, conjoined with, concurrent, going together," c. 1600, from French concomitant, from Late Latin concomitantem (nominative concomitans), present participle of concomitari "accompany, attend," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + comitari "join a

late 14c., "means of completing; that which completes; what is needed to complete or fill up," from Old French compliement "accomplishment, fulfillment" (14c., Modern French complément), from Latin complementum "that which fills up or completes," from complere "fill up," from com

(on the notion of "subject often repeated") of the earlier sense "refrain or chorus of a song," 1590s, originally "bass accompaniment...

mid-15c., "art of singing an accompaniment to plain song," from Old French contrepoint, from Medieval Latin cantus contrapunctus...

c. 1300, dance, daunce, "succession of steps and movements, commonly guided by musical accompaniment," also "a dancing party...

Its rapid movement rendered it a fit accompaniment to dances....

"extemporize on a piano," 1789, from vamp (n.1) "upper part of a shoe or boot," via verbal sense of "provide a stocking (later a shoe) with a new vamp" (1590s), then "patch up, repair" (compare revamp). Related: Vamped; vamping...."seductive woman who exploits men," 1915, popular

late 14c. (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), "a kind of laced bodice, close-fitting body garment," from Old French corset (13c.) "bodice, tunic," diminutive of cors "body," from Latin corpus "body" (from PIE root *kwrep- "body, form, appearance"). Meaning "stiff supporting and constricti

1560s, in geometry, "a section of a circle between two radii," from Late Latin sector "section of a circle," in classical Latin "a cutter, one who cuts," from sectus, past participle of secare "to cut" (from PIE root *sek- "to cut"). Sector translated Greek tomeus in Latin editio