Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A four-stringed musical instrument of the violin family, pitched lower than the viola but higher than the double bass.
- n. Cellophane.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An abbreviation of violoncello: often written 'cello.
Wiktionary
- n. music A large stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings. (From lowest to highest C-G-D-A)
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A contraction for violoncello.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a large stringed instrument; seated player holds it upright while playing
Etymologies
- Short for violoncello. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Tracks from his new album contain cello samples and references to Italian Vogue.”
The Guardian: Kanye West: Mister Perfection is stylishly reinventing the rules of rap
“I have odd taste in music, a friend introduced me to Penguin Cafe Orchestra, and I love Apocalyptica's cello Metallica covers ( "One" on cello is pure win).”
“Star Wars-3 New in cello pack Pez: Leia, Chewbacca, Vader”
“(Soundbite of music) HANSEN: In a previous interview, you had told the interviewer that the cello was actually vital to your physical health.”
“Rostropovich called the cello "a hero in our times" and you can hear that same philosophy in Maisky's playing.”
“Pablo Casals, the world-famous cellist, who chose life-long exile from his native Spain because of the fascist dictator who ruled the beloved country of his birth, said this: "My cello is my weapon; I choose where I play, when I play, and before whom I play.”
The Huffington Post: Theodore Bikel: Legitimizing an Obstacle to Peace
“And I also felt that there was a very lovely, metaphorical connection, since the cello is originally inspired by the human form -- especially the female form -- so I start out embracing the cello, which is based on the human body, and then I [begin to] embrace the human body directly, in the form of a corpse.”
“Greenhouse continues to perform and teach, and his cello has been a constant companion.”
“When I heard Han-Na Chang incidentally, a Rostropovich protegee play in Verbier 4-5 years back, it hit me between the eyes that the cello is the most beautiful and expressive instrument on the planet.”
“It was not lost on her that the one person in the post who was wholly unmoved by the rich, sad sounds of the cello was her husband-to-be, Charles Bent, who generally did his accounts just before dinner—Charlie let nothing interfere with the vital work of his accounts.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cello’.
-
MUSIC - ALL TERMS
With focus on non-classical styles, but not excluding terms of the latter.
banjo, accompaniment, acoustic bass, bass guitar, bass clef, ground, brass, cornet, Mute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, arrangement and 866 more...
-
O.o
Things that give you a warm fuzzy sort of feeling.
crumpet, cream puff, bubbles, packed lunch, prezzies, stars, pillow, rain, old books, sheep, bikkie, lollipop and 41 more...
-
Public List: Free Association
Read the top word on the list and add a word that you associate with it. The association may be semantic, etymological, structural, literary, personal, etc.
Rules:
1. In t...mounch, mensch, trench, war, harmony, guitar, cigar, bubblegum, baseball cards, shortstop, bear, chained and 72 more...
-
♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
-
candy cane heroin
sex, sexual, branden, rozz, candy cane, candy canes, cotton candy, may day, may, taurus, heroin, love and 134 more...
-
colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
-
harmony of the spheres
tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, subtonic, leading tone, progression, sonata, concerto, allegro and 247 more...
-
Zing Went the Strings
lute, guitar, mandolin, violin, banjo, balalaika, sitar, pipa, autoharp, zither, kantele, guqin and 329 more...
-
The braggadocio recipe
A selection of English* words ending with a vowel (except "y", "ea", ie", "ee", "oo", "ea", "ou") that is REALLY pronounced.
My favorite English words, by the way.
The good twin of The ...braggadocio, recipe, encyclopedia, solo, gnu, flu, maybe, apocope, mini, arrhythmia, folio, stereo and 197 more...
-
dyy's Words
ambivalence, irony, double-edged sword, paradox, struggle, plunge, buoy, pigeon-hole, ultimately, status quo, fuel, undermine and 230 more...
-
Musical words
nocturne, flat, sharp, waltz, etude, opera, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, cello, flute and 131 more...
-
GRE List
anthem, ablution, apocrypha, augur, cardinal, cathedral, chant, chapel, cloister, conformist, cult, devout and 145 more...
-
Pull out the stops
Organ stops, that is.
diapason, clarabella, dulciana, bourdon, reed stop, flue stop, violoncello, suabe flute, waldflute, rackett, pyramidon, querflöte and 106 more...
-
mad the wordie
words that I like
sparsile, inchoate, asparagus, dendrochronology, primifluous, psalloid, cetacean, roots, birches, spires, mythopeia, intricate and 167 more...
-
SomeOldDoor's list
Lovely words.
clover, cedar, bromide, glyph, belfry, glance, vehemently, well, flourish, plaintive, clarion, element and 169 more...
-
MacBean's Words
verisimilitude, antediluvian, schadenfreude, eviscerate, exsanguinate, onomatopoeia, aesthetic, apocryphal, aubergine, byronic, brouhaha, bordello and 523 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cello.
sionnach I have a CD of Jacqueline DuPre playing the Elgar concerto (presumably recorded before her disease had reached the advanced stage), which has so much raw emotion it's almost too heartbreaking to listen to.
Kind of like how some of the first season episodes of Six Feet Under are so good, they are almost unbearable to watch. Feb 5, 2008
yarb Bruch's "Kol Nidrei" is beautiful isn't it? And of course Bach's cello suites.
Someone told me that the cello is the instrument closest in timbre to the human voice.
My favourite cello work is Elgar's cello concerto, which he wrote after WWI and is full of loss and hurt, except for a couple of brief skylarkish passages. But Shostakovich and Dvorak wrote amazing cello concertos too. Feb 5, 2008
kewpid Bach's Cello Suite is beautiful. Feb 5, 2008
sonofgroucho I love the sound of the cello. Feb 5, 2008
sionnach I associate cello with kaddish, based on Bruch's "Kol Nidrei". Feb 5, 2008