sackbut
Americannoun
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a medieval form of the trombone.
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Bible. an ancient stringed musical instrument. Daniel 3.
noun
Etymology
Origin of sackbut
First recorded in 1530–40; Early Modern English sagbut, sagbot, sagbout, from Middle French saquebute, from Old North French saqueboute, saquebot(t)e originally, a kind of hooked lance, equivalent to saquier “to pull” + (possibly) bouter “to push”; see origin at saccade, butt 3
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.
This will not be Monteverdi as we have heard him; there will be nary a period instrument in sight, neither a harpsichord nor a sackbut, a theorbo nor a cornett.
From New York Times • Jul. 22, 2023
Tinselled fantasy is shrewdly banished; putty-coloured, sullen fairies slouch along to the hoots and rustles, sackbut and curtal of Claire van Kampen's eerie music.
From The Guardian • Jun. 8, 2013
And Dietmar Küblböck matched him beautifully on an antique trombone, playing with a power and bite that left the instrument’s immediate ancestor, the sackbut, a distant memory.
From New York Times • Apr. 11, 2011
A fascinating col lection of sacred and profane music by nine little-known Italian composers of the 16th and early 17th centuries, performed on such authentic instruments as sackbut, recorder and shawm.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The "sackbut," "dulcimer," and "pipe" of Daniel iii. are all connected together in this manner.
From The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare by Ellacombe, Henry Nicholson
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.