trombone
UK /ˌtɹɒmˈbəʊn/ · US /ˌtɹɑmˈboʊn/ noun, verb
Forms trombones tromboni tromboning tromboned
- noun A musical instrument in the brass family, having a cylindrical bore, and usually a sliding tube (but sometimes piston valves, and rarely both). Most often refers to the tenor trombone, which is the most common type of trombone and has a fundamental tone of B♭ˌ (contra B♭). “Jim plays the trombone very well.”
- noun The common European bittern.
- noun (film, television) A kind of extendable support for attaching lighting elements to a set.
- verb (telecommunications) To transmit a signal or data back to a central switching point before sending it out to its destination.
- verb (film, slang, transitive) To extend and retract (the zoom lens); to use it too enthusiastically.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian trombone, from tromba (“trumpet”) + -one (augmentative), literally “large trumpet”.
The telecommunications sense alludes to the shape of the musical instrument.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A powerful brass instrument of the trumpet kind, thought by some to be the ancient sackbut, consisting of a tube in three parts, bent twice upon itself and ending in a bell. The middle part, bent double, slips into the outer parts, as in a telescope, so that by change of the vibrating length any tone within the compass of the instrument (which may be bass or tenor or alto or even, in rare instances, soprano) is commanded. It is the only member of the family of wind instruments whose scale, both diatonic and chromatic, is complete without the aid of keys or pistons, and which can slide from not
- noun The common European bittern.
Etymology [It., aug. of tromba a trumpet: cf. F. trombone. See Trump a trumpet.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “trombone”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details