trombone

[ trom-bohn, trom-bohn ]

noun

1. a musical wind instrument consisting of a cylindrical metal tube expanding into a bell and bent twice in a U shape, usually equipped with a slide slide trombone.

trombone

/ trɒmˈbəʊn /

noun

1. a brass instrument, a low-pitched counterpart of the trumpet, consisting of a tube the effective length of which is varied by means of a U-shaped slide. The usual forms of this instrument are the tenor trombone (range: about two and a half octaves upwards from E) and the bass trombone (pitched a fourth lower)
2. a person who plays this instrument in an orchestra

trombone

1. A brass instrument; the player can change its pitch by sliding one part of the tube in and out of the other. The tone of the trombone is mellower than that of the trumpet .

Derived Forms

• tromˈbonist, noun

Other Words From

• trom·bon·ist [trom-, boh, -nist, trom, -boh-], noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of trombone¹

1715–25; < Italian, equivalent to tromb ( a ) trumpet (< Provençal < Germanic; compare Old High German trumpa, trumba horn, trumpet) + -one augmentative suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of trombone¹

C18: from Italian, from tromba a trumpet, from Old High German trumba

Example Sentences

Oboes, trombones and especially trumpets were all higher risk, spreading more aerosols than a person speaking.

From Science News

As a teen, she studied trombone and later started a local swing band.

From Washington Post

There was never any one criterion for how every trombone or tenor saxophone or singer should sound.

From The Daily Beast

Instead of spoofing it, Farmer Derek plays it on trombone in an open field.

From The Daily Beast

While his trombone skills are decent, he certainly draws a crowd—or rather, a herd.

From The Daily Beast

All you had to do was board with your submachine gun in a trombone case, as Martin McNally did at St. Louis airport in 1972.

From The Daily Beast

Nino opens a trunk and begins extracting props—balloons, a cane, and a battered old trombone.

From The Daily Beast

At the present time he was trombone in the “Tournée Gulland,” a touring opera company.

From Project Gutenberg

A unique novelty was the Contra Trombone on the Pedal of 64 feet actual length.

From Project Gutenberg

Within Average Jones' overstocked mind something stirred at the repetition of the words "B-flat trombone."

From Project Gutenberg

"I can play the B-flat trombone louder as any man in the business," asserted Schlichting with proud conviction.

From Project Gutenberg

I came back––in tights, playing a big trombone, prancing round and making an awful noise.

From Project Gutenberg