xylophone
(ˈzaɪləfəʊn)
Also zylo- (see X).
[f. Gr. ξύλον (see xylo-) + ϕωνή voice, sound.]
A musical instrument consisting of a graduated series of flat wooden bars, played by striking with a small hammer or by rubbing with rosined gloves.
| 1866 Athenæum 7 Apr. 470/3 A prodigy..who does wonderful things with little drumsticks on a machine of wooden keys, called the ‘xylophone’, almost five octaves in compass. 1890 Hallett 1,000 Miles in Shan States 322 A native zylophone made of eighteen sonorous strips of hard wood fastened side by side by strings and suspended over a boat-shaped sounding board. 1892 R. L. Garner Speech Monkeys xiii. 135 Drawing a mallet rapidly across the keyboard of a xylophone. |
Hence xylophonic (-ˈfɒnɪk) a., of, pertaining to, or resembling a xylophone.
| 1899 M. Kingsley W. African Stud. iii. 65 Many African instruments are..sweet..notably the xylophonic family. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 10/2 Two swarthy bare-armed blacksmiths who extract zylophonic music from a couple of cart-wheels. |