ocarina
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ocarina
First recorded in 1875–80; from Italian, originally dialect (Emilia), diminutive of oca “goose” (from Late Latin auca, contraction of unattested avica, derivative of Latin avis “bird”), so called from the instrument's shape; apparently the name given to it by Giuseppe Donati (1836–1925) of Budrio, near Bologna, who popularized a ceramic version c1860
Vocabulary lists containing ocarina
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Musical Instruments - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
First you hear the galloping of a horse, joined by soft minor-key piano and melancholy, soaring ocarina notes as a young man in a green tunic rides under the setting moon.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 11, 2018
The choristers took up the Aztec death whistle, ocarina and other folk instruments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2017
He told us to choose an ocarina from a box he passed around.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 31, 2014
Despite its aura, the drum looks modest and meek surrounded by cabinets chockablock with bassoons and oboes, cornets and bugles, not to mention the odd oliphant, ocarina and shofar.
From New York Times ● Aug. 5, 2010
This instrument has been compared to the Italian ocarina.
From Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula by Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
Tara Helen O’Connor and Rane Moore puffed through primitive ocarinas and twittered almost inaudibly on nano-tonal mouth organs: blocky clusters of dog whistles, invented by Mr. Adán.
From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2012
Since Pearl Harbor, sales of plastic ocarinas have skyrocketed.
From Time Magazine Archive
The very finest ocarinas were manufactured from the mud of the beautiful blue Danube.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
