gamut

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The Word of the Day for February 5 is:

gamut   \GAM-ut\   noun
     1 : the whole series of recognized musical notes
    *2 : an entire range or series

Example sentence:
     Jenny's musical tastes run the gamut from Bach to Janis 
Joplin to Usher.

Did you know?
     To get the lowdown on "gamut," we have to dive to the 
bottom of a musical scale developed by 11th-century musician 
and monk Guido of Arezzo. Guido called the first line of his 
bass staff "gamma" and the first note in his scale "ut," which 
meant that "gamma ut" was the term for a note written on the 
first staff line. In time, "gamma ut" underwent a shortening 
to "gamut" but climbed the scale of meaning. It expanded to 
cover all the notes of Guido's scale, then all the notes in the 
range of an instrument, and, eventually, an entire range of any 
sort.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.