Bassoon
[bə'suːn] or [bə'sun]
Definition
(noun.) a double-reed instrument; the tenor of the oboe family.
Edited by Daisy--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A wind instrument of the double reed kind, furnished with holes, which are stopped by the fingers, and by keys, as in flutes. It forms the natural bass to the oboe, clarinet, etc.
Edited by Babbage
Definition
n. (It. fagotto) a musical wind-instrument filling an important place in the modern orchestra of the reed species made of maple-wood or plane-tree its compass from B flat below the bass stave to C in the treble.—The Double bassoon (It. contrafagotto) sounds an octave lower.—n. Bassoon′ist.
Checked by Jessie
Examples
- College, returns Mr. Bagnet in short sentences, bassoon-like. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The old girl said it wouldn't do; intention good, but want of flexibility; try the bassoon. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- And Mat blows away at his bassoon, and you're respectable civilians one and all, says Mr. George. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The old girl borrowed a bassoon from the bandmaster of the Rifle Regiment. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Indeed there may be generally observed in him an unbending, unyielding, brass-bound air, as if he were himself the bassoon of the human orchestra. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Edited by Ethelred