hautboy

[ hoh-boi, oh-boi ]

/ ˈhoʊ bɔɪ, ˈoʊ bɔɪ /

noun

oboe¹(def 1).

Nearby words

Origin of hautboy

1565–75; < Middle French hautbois, equivalent to haut high (see haughty) + bois wood (see bush¹)

Related formshaut·boy·ist, noun

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

Examples from the Web for hautboy

Another hostelry, frequented by golfers, is the Hautboy of Ockham, birthplace of the scholastic theologian of that ilk.
Surrey|A.R. Hope Moncrieff
I have added a short recitative with hautboy and bassoon, for here recitative is much liked.
The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vol. 1|Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Poor Hautboy almost cried as he gave this account of his own misfortune.
Marion Fay|Anthony Trollope
The "sacrificium Deo spiritus" being an aria andante for Raaff, with a hautboy and a bassoon solo obligato.
The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vol. 1|Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Next in this poem which affords such a wonderful study for tone-color we have the hautboy's message.
Vocal Expression|Katherine Jewell Everts

British Dictionary definitions for hautboy

hautboy

/ (ˈəʊbɔɪ) /

noun

Also called: hautbois strawberry, haubois (ˈəʊbɔɪ) a strawberry, Fragaria moschata, of central Europe and Asia, with large fruit

an archaic word for oboe

Word Origin for hautboy

C16: from French hautbois, from haut high + bois wood, of Germanic origin; see bush 1

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 hautboy

hautboy

1570s, from French hautbois "high wood" (15c.; see oboe). The "high" is haut in its secondary sense of "high-pitched." Frequently nativized as hoboy.

This Pageaunt waz clozd vp with a delectable harmony of Hautboiz, Shalmz, Coronets, and such oother looud muzik. [Robert Laneham, 1575]