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; see 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
The combination of the faux bourdon and the remnant of the organum gives us the foundation for our modern tone system.
From Critical and Historical Essays Lectures delivered at Columbia University by W. J. (Winton James) Baltzell
The note of stern renunciation has persisted like a bourdon down the ages in the lives of those who have devoted themselves to the quest of the Absolute.
From Nature Mysticism by John Edward Mercer
Burdon, Fr. bourdon, meant a staff, especially a pilgrim's staff.
From The Romance of Names by Ernest Weekley
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
