Castanets

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Castanets \Cas"ta*nets\, n. pl. [F. castagnettes, Sp.
     casta[~n]etas, fr. L. castanea (Sp. casta[~n]a) a chestnut.
     So named from the resemblance to two chestnuts, or because
     chestnuts were first used for castanets. See {Chestnut}.]
     Two small, concave shells of ivory or hard wood, shaped like
     spoons, fastened to the thumb, and beaten together with the


     middle finger; -- used by the Spaniards and Moors as an
     accompaniment to their dance and guitars.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The singular, castanet, is used of one of the pair, or,
           sometimes, of the pair forming the instrument.
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 The dancer, holding a castanet in each hand,
                 rattles them to the motion of his feet. --Moore
                                                    (Encyc. of
                                                    Music).
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  castanets
       n : a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow
           pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb
           and fingers) that are made to click together (as by
           Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance [syn: {bones},
           {clappers}, {finger cymbals}, {maraca}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  36 Moby Thesaurus words for "castanets":
     battery, bells, bones, celesta, chime, chimes, clappers,
     crash cymbal, cymbals, finger cymbals, gamelan, glockenspiel, gong,
     handbells, idiophone, lyra, maraca, marimba, metallophone,
     orchestral bells, percussion, percussion instrument, percussions,
     percussive, rattle, rattlebones, sizzler, snappers, tam-tam,
     tintinnabula, tonitruone, triangle, tubular bells, vibes,
     vibraphone, xylophone