trumpet

[ truhm-pit ]
See synonyms for: trumpettrumpetedtrumpeting on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. Music.

    • any of a family of brass wind instruments with a powerful, penetrating tone, consisting of a tube commonly curved once or twice around on itself and having a cup-shaped mouthpiece at one end and a flaring bell at the other.

    • an organ stop having a tone resembling that of a trumpet.

  2. something used as or resembling a trumpet, especially in sound.

  1. a sound like that of a trumpet.

  2. the loud shrill cry of an animal, especially an elephant.

  3. trumpets, any of several pitcher plants of the southeastern U.S.

verb (used without object)
  1. to blow a trumpet.

  2. to emit a loud, trumpetlike cry, as an elephant.

verb (used with object)
  1. to sound on a trumpet.

  2. to utter with a sound like that of a trumpet.

  1. to proclaim loudly or widely.

Origin of trumpet

1
1300–50; Middle English trumpette, trompette<French, equivalent to trompetrump2 + -ette-et

Other words from trumpet

  • trum·pet·less, adjective
  • trum·pet·like, adjective
  • un·trum·pet·ed, adjective

Words Nearby trumpet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use trumpet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for trumpet

trumpet

/ (ˈtrʌmpɪt) /


noun
  1. a valved brass instrument of brilliant tone consisting of a narrow tube of cylindrical bore ending in a flared bell, normally pitched in B flat. Range: two and a half octaves upwards from F sharp on the fourth line of the bass staff

  2. any instrument consisting of a valveless tube ending in a bell, esp a straight instrument used for fanfares, signals, etc

  1. a person who plays a trumpet in an orchestra

  2. a loud sound such as that of a trumpet, esp when made by an animal: the trumpet of the elephants

  3. an eight-foot reed stop on an organ

  4. something resembling a trumpet in shape, esp in having a flared bell

  5. short for ear trumpet

  6. blow one's own trumpet to boast about oneself; brag

verb-pets, -peting or -peted
  1. to proclaim or sound loudly

Origin of trumpet

1
C13: from Old French trompette a little trump ²

Derived forms of trumpet

  • trumpet-like, adjective

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 trumpet

trumpet

A brass instrument with a brilliant tone, much used in classical music, as well as in military music and jazz.

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.