Xylophone

3 definitions found

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

  Xylophone \Xy"lo*phone\, n. [Xylo- + Gr. fwnh` sound.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. (Mus.) Originally, an instrument common among the
        Russians, Poles, and Tartars, consisting of a series of
        strips of wood or glass graduated in length to the musical
        scale, resting on belts of straw, and struck with two


        small hammers; now any similar musical instrument composed
        of a series of bars of graduated length. Called in Germany
        {strohfiedel}, or {straw fiddle}.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     2. An instrument to determine the vibrative properties of
        different kinds of wood. --Knight.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  xylophone
       n : a percussion instrument with wooden bars tuned to produce a
           chromatic scale and with resonators; played with small
           mallets [syn: {marimba}]

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

  36 Moby Thesaurus words for "xylophone":
     battery, bells, bones, castanets, 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