Har*mon"ics (-&ibreve;ks), n.
1. The doctrine or science of musical
sounds.
2. pl. (Mus.) Secondary and
less distinct tones which accompany any principal, and apparently
simple, tone, as the octave, the twelfth, the fifteenth, and the
seventeenth. The name is also applied to the artificial tones
produced by a string or column of air, when the impulse given to it
suffices only to make a part of the string or column vibrate;
overtones.