Adjacent Words

oboe definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece [syn: oboe, hautboy, hautbois]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Italian, from French hautbois — more at hautbois Date: 1794 a double-reed woodwind instrument having a conical tube, a brilliant penetrating tone, and a usual range from B flat below middle C upward for over 2 1/2 octaves • oboist noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a a woodwind double-reed instrument of treble pitch and plaintive incisive tone. b its player. 2 an organ stop with a quality resembling an oboe. Phrases and idioms: oboe d'amore an oboe wth a pear-shaped bell and mellow tone, pitched a minor third below a normal oboe, commonly used in baroque music. Derivatives: oboist n. Etymology: It. oboe or F hautbois f. haut high + bois wood: d'amore = of love

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Oboe O"boe, n. [It., fr. F. hautbois. See Hautboy.] (Mus.) One of the higher wind instruments in the modern orchestra, yet of great antiquity, having a penetrating pastoral quality of tone, somewhat like the clarinet in form, but more slender, and sounded by means of a double reed; a hautboy. Oboe d'amore [It., lit., oboe of love], and Oboe di caccia [It., lit., oboe of the chase], are names of obsolete modifications of the oboe, often found in the scores of Bach and Handel.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hautboy Haut"boy, n. [F. hautbois, lit., high wood; haut high + bois wood. So called on account of its high tone. See Haughty, Bush; and cf. Oboe.] 1. (Mus.) A wind instrument, sounded through a reed, and similar in shape to the clarinet, but with a thinner tone. Now more commonly called oboe. See Illust. of Oboe. 2. (Bot.) A sort of strawberry (Fragaria elatior).

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(oboes) An oboe is a musical instrument shaped like a tube which you play by blowing through a double reed in the top end. N-VAR: oft the N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Hautboy.

Moby Thesaurus

English horn, Pandean pipe, aulos, basset horn, basset oboe, bassoon, block flute, bombard, bourdon, cello, claribel, clarinet, clarion, concert flute, contrabassoon, contrafagotto, cornet, cornopean, cromorna, cromorne, cymbel, diapason, double bassoon, double reed, dulciana, fife, fipple flute, flageolet, flute, flute stop, foundation stop, fourniture, gamba, gedeckt, gemshorn, harmonic flute, hautboy, heckelphone, hornpipe, hybrid stop, koppel flute, larigot, licorice stick, melodia, mixture, musette, mutation stop, nazard, oaten reed, oboe da caccia, ocarina, octave, organ stop, panpipe, penny-whistle, piccolo, pipe, plein jeu, pommer, posaune, principal, quint, quintaten, rank, ranket, recorder, reed, reed instrument, reed stop, register, rohr flute, sax, saxophone, sesquialtera, shawm, single reed, single-reed instrument, sonorophone, spitz flute, stop, stopped diapason, stopped flute, string diapason, string stop, sweet potato, syrinx, tabor pipe, tenoroon, tierce, tin-whistle, tremolo, trombone, trumpet, twelfth, unda maris, vibrato, viola, voix celeste, vox angelica, vox humana, whistle, woods, woodwind, woodwind choir, woodwind instrument