trombone

[ trom-bohn, trom-bohn ]

noun
  1. a musical wind instrument consisting of a cylindrical metal tube expanding into a bell and bent twice in a U shape, usually equipped with a slide (slide trombone ).

Origin of trombone

1
1715–25; <Italian, equivalent to tromb(a) trumpet (<Provençal <Germanic; compare Old High German trumpa, trumba horn, trumpet) + -one augmentative suffix

Other words from trombone

  • trom·bon·ist [trom-boh-nist, trom-boh-], /trɒmˈboʊ nɪst, ˈtrɒm boʊ-/, noun

Words Nearby trombone

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How to use trombone in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for trombone

trombone

/ (trɒmˈbəʊn) /


noun
  1. a brass instrument, a low-pitched counterpart of the trumpet, consisting of a tube the effective length of which is varied by means of a U-shaped slide. The usual forms of this instrument are the tenor trombone (range: about two and a half octaves upwards from E) and the bass trombone (pitched a fourth lower)

  2. a person who plays this instrument in an orchestra

Origin of trombone

1
C18: from Italian, from tromba a trumpet, from Old High German trumba

Derived forms of trombone

  • trombonist, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for trombone

trombone

A brass instrument; the player can change its pitch by sliding one part of the tube in and out of the other. The tone of the trombone is mellower than that of the trumpet.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.