(*pedale* in Italian), is a musical term of various meanings. For example, *pedal* means one of the largest pipes, or one of the foot-keys, of an organ; or the foot-piece attached to a piano-forte, a harp, or the like, and by which, in the former, the intensity of the sound is modified, and, in the latter, the chromatic changes of intonation are produced. It also signifies a particular sort of passage in the course of a piece of music, where the harmony moves upon a sustained sound, which is either the dominant or the tonic of the key. (See the article Music, vol. xv. p. 640.)