Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A musical instrument, either a small flageolet or a small oboe, used by strolling players in some parts of Italy and Tyrol.
- noun The name of an organ-stop: same as
bifara .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mus.) A fife; also, a rude kind of oboe or a bagpipe with an inflated skin for reservoir.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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"For thirty-three years more, let us hope," said I. "_Eh! speriamo_," (Let us hope so,) was the answer of the _piffero_, as he showed all his teeth in the broadest of smiles.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 18, April, 1859 Various
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Sometimes they stray "as far away as Paris is," and, wandering about in that gay capital, like children at a fair, play in the streets for chance _sous_, or stand as models to artists, who, having once been to Rome, hear with a longing Rome-sickness the old characteristic sounds of the _piffero_ and _zampogna_.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 18, April, 1859 Various
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And, "_Ecco_," continued the _piffero_, bursting in before the
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 18, April, 1859 Various
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If a piffero strolled through the street, the monotonous drone of his bagpipe was reproduced in most comical imitation; and anon there was a gush of bird-songs, as if a whole aviary were in the vicinity.
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Higher and higher, nearer and nearer to the impossible, rose the quick, piercing notes of the piffero.
Peter Ibbetson George Du Maurier 1865
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_piffero_, was a man of middle age, stout, vigorous, with a forest of tangled black hair, and dark quick eyes that were fixed steadily on the
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 18, April, 1859 Various
bilby commented on the word piffero
You know, I think of most oboes as rude.
November 15, 2015