ophicleide
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of ophicleide
1825–35; < French ophicléide < Greek óphi ( s ) serpent + kleid- (stem of kleís ) key (akin to Latin clavis; see clavicle)
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.
The historically informed performance movement has reintroduced instruments like the serpent and ophicleide: brass instruments that add wonky color rather than sheer decibels to fortissimo outbursts.
From New York Times • Apr. 17, 2020
Some have since gone extinct, like the serpent and the ophicleide, precursors of the tuba that look like plumbing designed by Dalí.
From New York Times • Oct. 16, 2018
On 18th century natural horns and trumpets, on the serpent and the ophicleide?
From Time Magazine Archive
By the time the last wail of the ophicleide had wriggled away into silence it was getting late, and the college was meditating retirement to rest.
From The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch by Reed, Talbot Baines
He made a point of taking his constitutional during the hour made hideous by the ill-starred aspirant on the ophicleide.
From The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch by Reed, Talbot Baines
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.
