From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Continuo \Con*ti"nu*o\ (? or ?), n. [It.] (Mus.) Basso continuo, or continued bass. [1913 Webster]From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) :
continuo n 1: a bass part written out in full and accompanied by numbers to indicate the chords to be played [syn: figured bass, basso continuo, continuo, thorough bass]