Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A keyed brass instrument of the bugle family with a baritone range that was the structural precursor of the bass saxophone and was replaced by the tuba in orchestras.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In organ-building, a powerful reed stop with a trumpet-like tone.
- noun A metal musical wind-instrument, invented about 1790, having a large tube of conical bore, bent double, with a cupped mouthpiece.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mus.) A large brass wind instrument, formerly used in the orchestra and in military bands, having a loud tone, deep pitch, and a compass of three octaves; -- now generally supplanted by bass and contrabass tubas. It developed from the older wooden instrument called the
serpent .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music A keyed brass
baritone bugle , now replaced by thetuba inorchestral music
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The Washington Cathedral has an ophicleide stop; the Central Synagogue in New York has one labeled "shofar."
In Washington for convention, organists pull out all the stops 2010
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The wooden serpent has gone out of use in military bands within recollection, the ophicleide from orchestras only recently.
Scientific American Supplement No. 819, September 12, 1891 Various
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"Like an ophicleide," said Gerfaut, who could not help laughing at the importance the artist attached to his display of talent.
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The application of keys to the bugle produced the Kent bugle, and later the ophicleide.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various
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In the ophicleide, the bass of the key-bugle, the bore is sufficiently wide to produce the fundamentals of a satisfactory quality.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various
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A Parisian instrument maker, Halary, in 1817, made this a complete instrument, after the manner of the keyed bugle of Halliday, and producing it in brass called it the ophicleide, from two Greek words meaning serpent and keys -- keyed serpent -- although it was more like a keyed bass bugle.
Scientific American Supplement No. 819, September 12, 1891 Various
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The bugle with its double development by means of keys into Royal Kent bugle and ophicleide, and by means of valves into saxhorns and tubas, formed the nucleus of brass bands of all countries during the greater part of the 19th century.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various
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Singular as was this feat, it was far less so than a young man's performance of the ophicleide, a serpentine instrument that coiled round and about its player, and when breathed into persuasively gave forth prodigious brassy sounds that resembled the night-noises of beasts of prey.
Clayhanger Arnold Bennett 1899
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"Is that the ophicleide as thy father used to play at th 'owd church?"
Clayhanger Arnold Bennett 1899
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This item roused the Indian god from his umbilical contemplations, and as the young ophicleide player, somewhat breathless, passed down the room with his brazen creature in his arms, Mr Enoch
Clayhanger Arnold Bennett 1899
frindley commented on the word ophicleide
Unkindly known in Victorian times as the chromatic bullock. Mendelssohn requires one in his overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream. It does Bottom's braying beautifully.
September 1, 2008
elisheba commented on the word ophicleide
interesting one, thank you! :-)
September 2, 2008
shevek commented on the word ophicleide
A rather cumbersome 19th century keyed brass instrument of the bass register, rather like a baritone saxophone with a trombone mouthpiece.
I actually saw one of these for sale in a Boston music store last year. It came with a fingering chart.
September 2, 2008
ruzuzu commented on the word ophicleide
"It is essentially a development of the old wooden serpent, and has sometimes been made partly of wood; it is the bass representative of the keyed-bugle family." --CD
April 14, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word ophicleide
chromatic bullock, indeed.
December 9, 2011
qms commented on the word ophicleide
They've tried since Jimmy Hoffa died
To honor him with proper pride,
To answer the urge
To play him a dirge
With glockenspiel and ophicleide.
December 18, 2016