shawm
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of shawm
1300–50; Middle English schalme < Middle French chaume < Latin calamus stalk, reed < Greek kálamos reed; replacing Middle English schallemele < Middle French chalemel ( see chalumeau)
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.
Come hear the sackbut, shawm and Medici Philharmonic The period before Bach was long the Atlantis of musical history: an entire realm sunk into oblivion, remembered only in legend.
From Time Magazine Archive
One special find: a shawm, the 16th century forerunner of the oboe.
From Time Magazine Archive
As for "The Old Castle," it sounds like a caravan of balalaika players pursuing an Arabian shawm virtuoso.
From Time Magazine Archive
Moreover, fumed G.B.S., there was no such word as "shawm."
From Time Magazine Archive
The shawm was the earliest one of its kind ever discovered and had an extra hole for the thumb, giving it a wider musical range than later models.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
