clarinet
(ˈklærɪnɛt, -ˈnɛt)
[a. F. clarinette, dim of clarine.]
1. A wooden single-reed instrument with a compass of about three octaves and a half, having a cylindrical tube with bell-shaped orifice, and played by means of holes and keys. bass clarinet: a similar instrument sounding an octave lower.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 509 French horns and clarinets. 1849 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xvii. 159 Through the aperture called a reed, with a flexible tongue, as in the clarinet. 1881 Broadhouse Mus. Acoust. 231 The Clarinet is..said to have been invented in 1690 at Nuremberg. |
2. An organ-stop of a quality of tone like that of this instrument; = cremona.
| 1876 J. Hiles Catech. Organ x. (1878) 72 Clarinet..an 8 feet Manual [organ] stop, striking reed. |