Definitions

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

  • noun A trumpet or horn fanfare.
  • noun A sound resembling such a fanfare.
  • noun A hunting cry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A blast on a trumpet or horn.

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

  • noun a flourish on a trumpet

Etymologies

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

[Imitative.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Imitative.

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Examples

  • Malagasy · Myanmar: Rava ilay fiangonana bodista manan-tantara

    Global Voices in English » Myanmar: Collapse of an Ancient Pagoda 2009

  • The last trumpet sounded — tantara! tantara! — its shrill call rang over the wide plains, and the wide plains gave back no answer.

    Burlesques 2006

  • The last trumpet sounded — tantara! tantara! — its shrill call rang over the wide plains, and the wide plains gave back no answer.

    A Legend of the Rhine 2006

  • But hardly had we sat down ere we heard the tom-toming of the kettledrum and tantara of trumpets and clash of cymbals, and the rattling of war men's lances, and the clamors of assailants and the clanking of bits and the neighing of steeds, while the world was canopied with dense dust and sand clouds raised by the horses 'hoofs.

    Tehran Winter Naipaul, V.S. 1981

  • Brownberry after dark one night in a proper tantara, with her eyes rolling and her bosom heaving like the waves of the sea.

    The Torch and Other Tales Eden Phillpotts 1911

  • Tantara, tantara the trumpets sound, which makes our hearts with joy abound.

    A History of Elizabethan Literature George Saintsbury 1889

  • Their terror was not lessened by the growing volume of shouts outside the house, and by the rub-a-dub-dub of the drums, and the tantara of the bugles, as the "To arms" was sounded along the village street.

    Janice Meredith Paul Leicester Ford 1883

  • Andy alighted, and gave a thundering tantara-ra at the door.

    Handy Andy, Volume One A Tale of Irish Life, in Two Volumes Samuel Lover 1832

  • “Dub-a-dub, dub-a-dub — thus go the drums, Tantara, tantara, the Englishman comes.”

    The Bible in Spain 1712

  • How about because (a tantara of trumpets, please) we're a swell place to be.

    chron.com Chronicle 2010

Comments

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  • "A sax drawls tantaras (all A-flats and an A-sharp): fa-la-la-la-la."

    Eunoia by Christian Bök (upgraded edition), p 15

    May 20, 2010