Adjacent Words

French horn definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a brass musical instrument consisting of a conical tube that is coiled into a spiral and played by means of valves [syn: French horn, horn]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1682 a circular valved brass instrument having a conical bore, a funnel-shaped mouthpiece, and a usual range from B below the bass staff upward for more than three octaves

Britannica Concise

Valved circular horn with a wide bell. It is normally a transposing instrument in F. It has a wide bore and three (sometimes four) rotary valves; its conical mouthpiece produces a mellower tone than the cup-shaped mouthpieces of other brass instruments. Horns long relied on separable crooks--circular lengths of tubing that could be attached and removed rapidly--for music modulating to new keys. Since c.1900 the standard horn has been a "double" instrument, with built-in crooks in F and B-flat that can be selected rapidly by means of a thumb valve. The modern symphony orchestra usually includes four horns. Though difficult to play and prone to producing conspicuous errors, its tone is widely admired.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

French French (fr[e^]nch), a. [AS. frencisc, LL. franciscus, from L. Francus a Frank: cf. OF. franceis, franchois, fran[,c]ois, F. fran[,c]ais. See Frank, a., and cf. Frankish.] Of or pertaining to France or its inhabitants. French bean (Bot.), the common kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). French berry (Bot.), the berry of a species of buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), which affords a saffron, green or purple pigment. French casement (Arch.) See French window, under Window. French chalk (Min.), a variety of granular talc; -- used for drawing lines on cloth, etc. See under Chalk. French cowslip (Bot.) The Primula Auricula. See Bear's-ear. French fake (Naut.), a mode of coiling a rope by running it backward and forward in parallel bends, so that it may run freely. French honeysuckle (Bot.) a plant of the genus Hedysarum (H. coronarium); -- called also garland honeysuckle. French horn, a metallic wind instrument, consisting of a long tube twisted into circular folds and gradually expanding from the mouthpiece to the end at which the sound issues; -- called in France cor de chasse. French leave, an informal, hasty, or secret departure; esp., the leaving a place without paying one's debts. French pie [French (here used in sense of ``foreign'') + pie a magpie (in allusion to its black and white color)] (Zo["o]l.), the European great spotted woodpecker (Dryobstes major); -- called also wood pie. French polish. (a) A preparation for the surface of woodwork, consisting of gums dissolved in alcohol, either shellac alone, or shellac with other gums added. (b) The glossy surface produced by the application of the above. French purple, a dyestuff obtained from lichens and used for coloring woolen and silken fabrics, without the aid of mordants. --Ure. French red rouge. French rice, amelcorn. French roof (Arch.), a modified form of mansard roof having a nearly flat deck for the upper slope. French tub, a dyer's mixture of protochloride of tin and logwood; -- called also plum tub. --Ure. French window. See under Window.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(French horns) A French horn is a musical instrument of the brass family. It is shaped like a long metal tube with one wide end, wound round in a circle. You play the French horn by blowing into it and moving valves in order to obtain different notes. = horn N-VAR: oft the N

Moby Thesaurus

alpenhorn, alphorn, althorn, alto horn, ballad horn, baritone, bass horn, brass choir, brass wind, brass-wind instrument, brasses, bugle, bugle horn, clarion, cornet, cornet-a-pistons, corno di caccia, cornopean, double-bell euphonium, euphonium, helicon, horn, hunting horn, key trumpet, lituus, lur, mellophone, ophicleide, orchestral horn, pocket trumpet, post horn, sackbut, saxhorn, saxtuba, serpent, slide trombone, sliphorn, sousaphone, tenor tuba, tromba, trombone, trumpet, tuba, valve trombone, valve trumpet