castanets

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Other girls were provided with a kind of castanets, -- two flat pieces of hard dark wood, connected by a string.

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Definitions (2)

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

  1. Two small, concave shells of ivory or hard wood, shaped like spoons, fastened to the thumb, and beaten together with the middle finger; -- used by the Spaniards and Moors as an accompaniment to their dance and guitars.

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

  1. a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance

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Examples (50)

  • Prepare for castanets, authentic Spanish guitar, and all-out female domination, as reigning flamenco diva María Juncal, from the Spanish Canary Islands, sets North Van's Centennial Theatre ablaze after burning through a European tour. —  The Georgia Straight - News And Views
  • Baby Yui with the castanets was just too adorable; it's death by moe!!! —  AnimeBlogger.net Antenna
  • With a sultry clickety-clack of Sevillean castanets, the strumming of veteran vihuelas, and the Mediterranean thumping on the adufe, the upside-down question mark received his name: interroverti, proposed by Nadine and Chris LaRoche. —  Emdashes
  • Last of all, little Pluto came running with his unkindled torch,--Mas'r Henry wanted dancing Flor rummaged for her castanets, her tambourine, her ankle-rings,--they had all been thrown hither and thither,--and at length, as Pluto's torch flared up, ran tinkling along the turf, into the glow; and her voice broke, as she danced, into high, clear singing, triumphant singing, that welled up to the very sky, and made the air echo with sweetness. —  The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 96, October 1865
  • She had borrowed two sets of castanets, a pair of cymbals, and a triangle, and with these loud-sounding instruments she and her companions emphasized the chorus. —  The Luckiest Girl in the School
 

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