Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A curved wooden horn, sometimes as long as 6 meters (20 feet), used by herders in the Alps to call cows to pasture.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A long, powerful horn, curving up and widening toward its extremity, formerly used on the Alps to convey signals and to sound the charge in battle, but now employed only by cowherds. Also called
alp-horn .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A curved wooden horn about three feet long, with a cupped mouthpiece and a bell, used by the Swiss to sound the
ranz des vaches and other melodies. Its notes are open harmonics of the tube.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative spelling of
alphorn .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word alpenhorn.
Examples
-
An alpenhorn-blowing sheep, made out of fun foam and cotton wool, dangled over one of the worktables.
-
The singing is accompanied by the blowing of an alpenhorn -- a long, curved wooden wind instrument with a distinctive, booming sound that was used by Swiss herders to call their cows from the pastures.
Notice Me: Cutting Through the Marketing Clutter Sridhar Balasubramanian 2008
-
Being in the political centre of power is like being handed a crack pipe the size of an alpenhorn.
Firedoglake » Deborah Howell and Fred Hiatt: Fact Free and Loving It 2006
-
On the last day of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, attendees gather for lunch on the hotel's terrace, serenaded by alpenhorn.
-
Globokar's solo piece for alpenhorn and lit cigar.
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN 2011
-
Nicholson Baker, the lofty author of The Mezzanine, called it "an alpenhorn blast of post-Gutenbergian revalorisation".
-
Nicholson Baker, the lofty author of The Mezzanine, called it "an alpenhorn blast of post-Gutenbergian revalorisation".
-
It's the standard stop for busloads of visiting tourists and conventioneers, and tonight it's crammed with doctors dunking bread in pots of cheese and lining up for a chance to press their lips against the soggy mouthpiece of the 12-foot alpenhorn propped across the stage.
-
Warren Buffett's only luxury, his 500 foot long hydrogen-powered alpenhorn?
Every Day Should Be Saturday Spencer Hall 2010
-
On Sunday, May 9, Studio Cantilena will play a Mother¹s Day program with Renaissance dances for a recorder ensemble, medieval two-part songs to the Virgin Mother and old Gregorian chants accompanied by crowth (an old Welsh fiddle), Tibetan singing bowls, and alpenhorn.
chained_bear commented on the word alpenhorn
Riiiiii-co-laaaaaaaaa!
January 28, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word alpenhorn
Busch Gardens has a roller coaster called Alpengeist. Which I will now always confuse with alpenhorn.
January 28, 2009
reesetee commented on the word alpenhorn
Sometimes I like to add "alpen-" to words just for fun. Everything sounds more exotic that way.
I have to get back to alpenwork now.
January 28, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word alpenhorn
I can't get back to work just yet--I need an alpencoffee break, and then perhaps a trip to the alpenrestroom.
Hey! You're right!
January 29, 2009
reesetee commented on the word alpenhorn
See?
*sipping alpentea*
January 29, 2009
milosrdenstvi commented on the word alpenhorn
I was served "alpenbutter" when flying Lufthansa. I derived much amusement thereby.
August 29, 2009
reesetee commented on the word alpenhorn
What a great alpenstory!
August 31, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word alpenhorn
Alpentraum - my daydream of being in the mountains again. Could also be bergtraum. For want of an umlaut and laziness, I won't list the plurals of these words, which I fail to find in German dictionaries.
August 31, 2009
ruzuzu commented on the word alpenhorn
I've made an alpenlist for your alpenamusement.
August 25, 2011