OBOE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does oboe mean? 

• OBOE (noun)
  The noun OBOE has 1 sense:

1. a slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece

  Familiarity information: OBOE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OBOE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

hautbois; hautboy; oboe

Hypernyms ("oboe" is a kind of...):

double-reed instrument; double reed (a woodwind that has a pair of joined reeds that vibrate together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "oboe"):

basset oboe; heckelphone (an oboe pitched an octave below the ordinary oboe)

musette pipe (a small simple oboe)

oboe da caccia (an alto oboe; precursor of the English horn)

oboe d'amore (an oboe pitched a minor third lower than the ordinary oboe; used to perform baroque music)

shawm (a medieval oboe)

Derivation:

oboist (a musician who plays the oboe)

 Context examples 

By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived—no thin five-piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)