bourdon
Americannoun
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the drone pipe of a bagpipe.
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the drone string of a stringed instrument.
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a low-pitched tone; bass.
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a pipe organ stop of very low pitch.
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the bell in a carillon having the lowest pitch.
noun
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a 16-foot organ stop of the stopped diapason type
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the drone of a bagpipe
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a drone or pedal point in the bass of a harmonized melody
Etymology
Origin of bourdon
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French; burden 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the cathedral, the coffin was brought into the vast chamber and a bourdon bell tolled.
From New York Times • Sep. 1, 2018
French hospital is now open and ready to receive the wounded at the french lycee in rue marcadieux bourdon Update | 1:49 p.m.
From New York Times • Jan. 19, 2010
On the occasion of President Faure's funeral, the great bourdon or bell, formerly only tolled for the death of monarchs, was now heard for the second time during the Third Republic.
From East of Paris Sketches in the Gâtinais, Bourbonnais, and Champagne by Betham-Edwards, Matilda
"For the same cause that the pilgrim, returning from Palestine, brings home his staff, or bourdon, bound with palm," that is, to show where he has been.
From Divine Comedy, Cary's Translation, Complete by Cary, Henry Francis
Listen to the amateur organist practising 'Abide with me,' and the 'Old Hundredth,' on the Leiblich Gedacht and the Dulciana, with the bourdon on the pedals.
From Flames by Hichens, Robert Smythe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
