Mus. [SUB- 4. Cf. F. sous-dominante.] The note next below the dominant of a scale; the fourth note in ascending and the fifth in descending a scale. Also attrib.
1793. Encycl. Brit. (1797), XII. 502/1. The chord of the sub-dominant. Ibid., 548/2. These three sounds, the tonic, the tonic dominant, and the sub-dominant, contain in their chords all the notes which enter into the scale of the mode.
1835. Court Mag., VI. 26/1. She might if she pleased break through that eternal descent by two semitones from the dominant to the sub-dominant.
1863. Atkinson, Ganot’s Physics, § 207 (1866), 162. The tonic, dominant, and sub-dominant chords. Ibid., 163. The dominant and sub-dominant bear major triads.
