trombone

See also: Trombone and tromboné

English

A tenor trombone

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian trombone, from tromba (“trumpet”) +‎ -one (augmentative), literally “large trumpet”. The telecommunications sense alludes to the shape of the musical instrument.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌtɹɒmˈbəʊn/, /tɹəmˈbəʊn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌtɹɑmˈboʊn/, /tɹəmˈboʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (UK) -əʊn, (US) -oʊn

Noun

trombone (plural trombones or tromboni)

1. 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.

   This trombone is very expensive.

   • 2003, Don Michael Randel, The Harvard Dictionary of Music, page 598:

     Horns, trumpets, and trombones, both soloistically and sectionally, became central to the orchestral concept... His highly subtle orchestration elevates woodwinds, more often scored soloistically than sectionally.

   • 2015 August 1, Vanessa Thorpe, “Musicians launch campaign to save the bassoon as shortage threatens orchestra”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Using the “endangered species” model employed by the World Wide Fund for Nature, campaigners are highlighting the scarcity of bassoonists and paving the way for the promotion of some other orchestral instruments that are under threat, such as the oboe, French horn, viola, trombone and double bass.

2. The common European bittern.
3. (film, television) A kind of extendable support for attaching lighting elements to a set.
   • 1983, Alan Wurtzel, Television Production, page 131:

     The trombone […] permits an instrument to be positioned over a studio set wall, enabling the set wall to support the weight of the instrument.

   • 2013, Harry Box, Set Lighting Technician's Handbook, page 480:

     The two secondary controls are the trombone handle and the focus knob.

Derived terms

• superbone
• tromboner
• tromboning
• trombonist

Compound words

• alto trombone
• bass trombone
• double trombone
• rusty trombone
• sad trombone
• slide trombone
• tenor trombone
• trombone-player
• valide trombone
• valve trombone

Translations

a musical instrument in the brass family

• Afrikaans: tromboon
• Arabic: مُتَرَدِّدَة (mutaraddida), تْرُومْبُون (trūmbūn)
• Armenian: տրոմբոն (hy) (trombon)
• Basque: tronboi
• Belarusian: трамбо́н m (trambón)
• Bulgarian: тромбо́н m (trombón)
• Burmese: ထရွမ်းဗုန်း (hta.rwam:bun:)
• Catalan: trombó (ca) m
• Central Melanau: trombon
• Cherokee: ᎦᏅᏌᏁᏍᏗ ᏗᏤᎷᎩᏍᏗ (ganvsanesdi ditselugisdi), ᎦᎾᏙᏅᎩᏍᏗ (ganadonvgisdi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 長號 / 长号 (zh) (chánghào)

• Czech: trombón m, pozoun (cs) m
• Danish: basun c
• Dutch: trombone (nl) c
• Esperanto: trombono
• Estonian: tromboon
• Faroese: basún f, basúna f
• Finnish: pasuuna (fi), vetopasuuna (fi)
• French: trombone (fr) m
• Galician: trombón (gl) m
• Georgian: ტრომბონი (ṭromboni)
• German: Posaune (de) f
• Greek: τρομπόνι (el) n (trompóni)
• Hawaiian: pū puhi uai
• Hebrew: טרומבון (he) (trombone)
• Hungarian: harsona (hu), pozan (hu), pozaun, puzón (hu)
• Icelandic: básúna (is) f
• Ido: trombono (io)
• Indonesian: trombon (id)
• Irish: trombón m
• Italian: trombone (it) m
• Japanese: トロンボーン (ja) (toronbōn)
• Javanese: trombon
• Kabiyé: kɩgbɩtɩnaʋ
• Kashubian: puzon m
• Kazakh: тромбон (trombon)
• Korean: 트롬본 (teurombon)
• Latvian: trombrons m, bazūne
• Lithuanian: trombonas (lt) m
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: trombone, skoeftrompet

• Luxembourgish: Trombone f, Posaun f, Trombonn f
• Macedonian: тромбон m (trombon)
• Malay: trombon (ms)
• Malayalam: ട്രോംബോൺ (ṭrōmbōṇ)
• Maori: pūkumekume, pūhōkai
• Marathi: ट्रॉम्बोन (ṭrŏmbon)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trombone (no) m

  Nynorsk: trombone m

• Occitan: trombon m
• Persian: ترومبون (fa)
• Plautdietsch: Posaun f
• Polish: puzon (pl) m
• Portuguese: trombone (pt) m
• Quechua: trumpun
• Romanian: trombon (ro) n
• Russian: тромбо́н (ru) m (trombón)
• Saterland Frisian: Posaune
• Scottish Gaelic: trombon m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тромбон m

  Roman: trombon (sh) m

• Slovak: trombón m, pozauna f
• Slovene: pozavna (sl) f
• Spanish: trombón m
• Swahili: tromboni
• Swedish: trombon (sv) c
• Tagalog: trombon
• Tamil: துரம்போன் (turampōṉ)
• Thai: ทรอมโบน (th) (trɔm-boon)
• Turkish: trombon (tr)
• Ukrainian: тромбо́н (uk) m (trombón)
• Welsh: trombôn
• West Frisian: tromboane

Verb

trombone (third-person singular simple present trombones, present participle tromboning, simple past and past participle tromboned)

1. (telecommunications) To transmit a signal or data back to a central switching point before sending it out to its destination.
2. (film, slang, transitive) To extend and retract (the zoom lens); to use it too enthusiastically.
   • 2015, Kathryn Ramey, Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine, page 357:

     […] do things wrong (like rotating the lens turret while shooting or backwinding and doing multiple passes on the same strip of film or doing in-camera fades with the variable shutter or tromboning a zoom lens like a teenager on acid, etc., etc., etc.) […]

   • 2014, Henry K. Miller, The Essential Raymond Durgnat, page 71:

     He recalls (email to editor, 2 December 2012) that Durgnat 'shouted out' in response to his 'tromboning' the zoom-lens at the film's 1967 London Film Festival screening: […]

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /trɔmˈbɔːnə/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

trombone c (plural trombones)

1. (music) trombone

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian trombone.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁɔ̃.bɔn/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

trombone m (plural trombones)

1. (music) trombone
2. paper clip

Verb

trombone

1. inflection of tromboner:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “trombone”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

From tromba (“trumpet”) +‎ -one (augmentative suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tromˈbo.ne/
• Rhymes: -one
• Hyphenation: trom‧bó‧ne

Noun

trombone m (plural tromboni)

1. (music) trombone
2. (by extension) trombonist

   Synonym: trombonista

3. (figurative) an annoying and boring person, especially if arrogant, old or moralist
4. (historical) arquebuse

   Synonym: archibugio

5. a type of boot
6. wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus)
7. Synonym of tarabuso

Derived terms

• strombonare
• trombonata
• trombonesco
• trombonista

Descendants

• → English: trombone
• → Russian: тромбо́н (trombón) (see there for further descendants)
• → Spanish: trombón (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• trombone in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

trombone m (definite singular trombonen, indefinite plural tromboner, definite plural trombonene)

1. (music) a trombone

   Synonym: trekkbasun

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

trombone m (definite singular trombonen, indefinite plural trombonar, definite plural trombonane)

1. (music) a trombone

   Synonym: trekkbasun

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian trombone.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾõˈbo.ni/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾõˈbo.ni/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾõˈbo.ne/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾõˈbɔ.nɨ/

• Hyphenation: trom‧bo‧ne
• Rhymes: -oni

Noun

trombone m (plural trombones)

1. (music) trombone (a musical instrument in the brass family)