couac Mus.
(kuːˈæk)
[Fr.]
(See quot. 1876). Also transf.
| 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 111/2 Couac, an onomatopœic word for the sound made by bad blowing on the clarinet, oboe, or bassoon. The quacking sound, the goose note. 1877 tr. Offenbach's Amer. & Americans xxii. 81 My two clarionets made couacs every instant. 1889 G. B. Shaw London Music in 1888–89 (1937) 250 He is the first operatic vocalist I ever saw leap into popularity by a couac, as the French call it. There was one note in his song upon which his voice broke every time with irresistibly comic effect. 1938 A. E. Wier Macmillan Encycl. Mus., Couac,..the ‘goose’; a sudden noise produced by the clarinet when the reed gets out of order. |