bugle

[byoo-guh l]

See more synonyms for bugle on Thesaurus.com

noun

a brass wind instrument resembling a cornet and sometimes having keys or valves, used typically for sounding military signals.

verb (used without object), bu·gled, bu·gling.

to sound a bugle.
(of bull elks) to utter a rutting call.

verb (used with object), bu·gled, bu·gling.

to call by or with a bugle: to bugle reveille.

Origin of bugle

1250–1300; Middle English bugle (horn) instrument made of an ox horn < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin būculus bullock, young ox, equivalent to bū- variant stem of bōs ox + -culus -cle¹

Related formsbu·gler, noun

bugle

[byoo-guh l]

noun

ajuga.

Origin of bugle

1225–75; Middle English < Old French < Medieval Latin bugula a kind of plant

bugle

[byoo-guh l]

noun

Also called bugle bead. a tubular glass bead used for ornamenting dresses.

adjective

Also bu·gled. ornamented with bugles.

Origin of bugle

First recorded in 1570–80; of obscure origin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bugle

trumpet, clarion, cornet

Examples from the Web for bugle

Contemporary Examples of bugle

Du Maurier was one of the great names of British theatre, she regarded ‘a summons’ from him to be a ‘bugle call from Olympus.’
Tallulah Bankhead: Gay, Drunk and Liberated in an Era of Excess Art
Judith Mackrell
January 25, 2014
Peter Parker was fired from The Daily Bugle for digitally altering one of his photographs to stop a bad guy.
Superman Quits His Newspaper Job? Good, He’s a Hack
Sujay Kumar
October 28, 2012

Historical Examples of bugle

Their bugle sang again, but Dick did not know what the tune meant.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
Again came the bugle note, thin and clear, and yet again it sounded.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle
No bugle had sounded, yet the whole camp was softly and diligently astir.
The Cavalier
George Washington Cable
I have long wanted a place on a well-edited paper like the Bugle.
Jennie Baxter, Journalist
Robert Barr
Again fortune favoured him, and the triumph belonged to the Bugle alone.
Jennie Baxter, Journalist
Robert Barr

British Dictionary definitions for bugle

bugle

noun

music a brass instrument similar to the cornet but usually without valves: used for military fanfares, signal calls, etc

verb

(intr) to play or sound (on) a bugle

Derived Formsbugler, noun

Word Origin for bugle

C14: short for bugle horn ox horn (musical instrument), from Old French bugle, from Latin būculus young bullock, from bōs ox

bugle

noun

any of several Eurasian plants of the genus Ajuga, esp A. reptans, having small blue or white flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)Also called: bugleweed See also ground pine

Word Origin for bugle

C13: from Late Latin bugula, of uncertain origin

bugle

noun

a tubular glass or plastic bead sewn onto clothes for decoration

Word Origin for bugle

C16: of unknown origin

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

Word Origin and History for bugle

mid-14c., abbreviation of buglehorn "musical horn, hunting horn" (c.1300), from Old French bugle "(musical) horn," also "wild ox, buffalo," from Latin buculus "heifer, young ox," diminutive of bos "ox, cow" (see cow (n.)). Middle English also had the word in the "buffalo" sense and it survived in dialect with meaning "young bull." Modern French bugle is a 19c. borrowing from English.

1852, from bugle (n.). Related: Bugled; bugling (1847). Also cf. bugler.