Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A medieval instrument resembling the trombone.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A medieval musical instrument of the trumpet family, having a long bent tube with a movable slide so that the vibrating column of air could be varied in length and the pitch of the tone changed, as in the modern trombone.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mus.) A brass wind instrument, like a bass trumpet, so contrived that it can be lengthened or shortened according to the tone required; -- said to be the same as the trombone.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music A brass instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras, and an ancestor of the modern trombone. It was derived from the medieval slide trumpet.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a medieval musical instrument resembling a trombone

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French saquebute, from Old French saqueboute : Old North French saquier, to pull; see saccade + Old French bouter, to push (of Germanic origin; see bhau- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle French sacquer ("to push") + bouter ("to pull")

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Examples

  • A sackbut is a brass horn that looks alot like a trombone with a slightly smaller bell, and a shawm is a double reed instrument that is a predecessor to the oboe.

    Calling all Brits - The Panda's Thumb 2006

  • A sackbut is a brass horn that looks alot like a trombone with a slightly smaller bell, and a shawm is a double reed instrument that is a predecessor to the oboe.

    Calling all Brits - The Panda's Thumb 2006

  • (Chald. sabkha; Gr. sambuke), a Syrian stringed instrument resembling a harp (Dan. 3: 5, 7, 10, 15); not the modern sackbut, which is a wind instrument.

    Easton's Bible Dictionary M.G. Easton 1897

  • The sackbut was a wind instrument [see [1033] Music]; the sambuca was a triangular instrument, with strings, and played with the hand.

    Smith's Bible Dictionary 1884

  • Early versions of the organ, fiddle (or vielle), and trombone (called the sackbut) existed as well.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • Early versions of the organ, fiddle (or vielle), and trombone (called the sackbut) existed as well.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • The 'sackbut' was merely our modern slide trombone, while the rest of these instruments were in common use in the 16th century, except the Psaltery, which Kircher (b.

    Shakespeare and Music With Illustrations from the Music of the 16th and 17th centuries 1900

  • Before the sackbut, before the virginal struck perpendicular chords, our madrigals were sublime, loosing harmonies to unhinge the spheres.

    Strange Bedfellows Lemon Hound 2009

  • Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

    The Dor�� Gallery of Bible Illustrations 2008

  • Whereon (laugh not, reader, for it was the fashion of those musical as well as valiant days) up rose that noble old favorite of good Queen Bess, from cornet and sackbut, fife and drum; while

    Westward Ho! 2007

Comments

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  • How to hold a sackbut here. See also sagbut.

    August 7, 2010

  • Nice, Frog. I liked this part: "One of the things this change in grip can affect is how much pressure a player is able to apply to the embouchure."

    August 7, 2010

  • That's the part I liked, too!

    August 7, 2010

  • More variants of sackbut here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Trombone-Names-Throughout-History

    August 7, 2010

  • Extensive history of sackbut here: http://www.kimballtrombone.com/trombone-history-timeline/

    August 7, 2010

  • Can you tell a tabor from tom tom?

    Or cornetto’s wail from a crumhorn?

    I have not the knack but

    Some can tell a sackbut

    From the mournful cry of the shawm.

    January 28, 2014