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  1. embouchure love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The mouth of a river.
  2. n. Music The mouthpiece of a woodwind or brass instrument.
  3. n. Music The manner in which the lips and tongue are applied to such a mouthpiece.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The mouth of a river, etc.; the point of discharge of a flowing stream.
  2. n. A mouthpiece. Specifically— The metal mounting of the opening of a purse.
  3. n. In vocalization: The position of the vocal organs in forming a tone.
  4. n. The particular character of the tone itself, especially at its beginning. Occasionally the term is further defined as palatal, dental, etc., according to the apparent position of the center of resonance.

Wiktionary

  1. n. music The shape of the mouth and lips when playing a wind instrument.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The mouth of a river; also, the mouth of a cannon.
  2. n. The mouthpiece of a wind instrument.
  3. n. The shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the aperture of a wind instrument into which the player blows directly

Etymologies

  1. From French embouchure, from emboucher. (Wiktionary)
  2. French, from emboucher, to put or go into the mouth, from Old French : en-, in; see en-1 + bouche, mouth (from Latin bucca, cheek). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “On the York River, near its embouchure, is the little port of Yorktown, famous for the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to the American forces in 1781.”

    Plan of the Seat of War in Eastern Virginia

  • “It may be described as the embouchure of the Wady Dumayghah, which falls into its head, and which, doubtless, in olden times, when the land was wooded, used to roll”

    The Land of Midian — Volume 2

  • “Don't you think "embouchure" is too big of a vocabulary word for the Anoop fans.”

    Top Stories - Google News

  • “I know what "embouchure" is dodo, you're not correcting anything.”

    HorsesAss.Org

  • “I'm not playing the sax, because the embouchure the mouth position used to blow into the instrument is totally different and I don't want to mess with it.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Constructing a 'House of Lies'

  • “The duduk is a simple instrument; but deceptively so, in that it requires an embouchure and diaphragm of steel plus circular breathing to elicit its haunting, cool sound.”

    The Huffington Post: Michal Shapiro: Grandfather, Grandson, Grandmasters (Video)

  • “To the west were the red-coats of the Royal Marines, and from the Union Club to the embouchure of Whitehall swept the glittering, massive curve of the 1st Life Guards -- gigantic men mounted on gigantic chargers, steel-breastplated, steel-helmeted, steel-caparisoned, a great war-sword of steel ready to the hand of the powers that be.”

    CORONATION DAY

  • “This volume candidly explores the intersection of messy life events (drug use, marital strife, embouchure woes, and a public, segregation-prompted lambasting of President Eisenhower), personal paradoxes (a moody, profane, passive disposition at odds with the signature smile and deeply charismatic persona), and great art.”

    Cover to Cover

  • “He's read how the standard vuvuzela note is a B flat, and he's almost sure his horn produces something higher, although he's able to make about five different tones based on his airflow and embouchure.”

    The Washington Post: Horn Guy talks vuvuzelas

  • “How do you say to them with a straight face that embouchure still matters, that the shape of this country may well depend upon the shape of their mouths?”

    The Huffington Post: Mark Steinberg: The Next Amendment

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synonyms (2)

Words with the same meaning

  1. mouth
  1. mouthpiece

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. aperture

same context (10)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. inclinaison
  2. etymon
  1. teinte
  2. fuite
  1. Auguste
  2. flotte
  1. enceinte
  2. superficie
  1. colonne
  2. klass

reverse dictionary (5)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. tche
  1. bogue
  1. fluvio-marine
  1. lip
  1. outfall

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. vccvvccvcv
  1. word-of-the-day
  1. wotd

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Lists

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Comments

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  • bilby If we used a saw to cut them all in half, we could have 8 categories. Feb 15, 2013

  • michaelt42 Woodwind instruments divide into four categories: those with a single reed (clarinets, saxophones), those with a double reed (oboes and bassoons), recorders and transverse flutes. Control of the double reed is highly demanding of the player's embouchure, and draws upon the contribution of the lips, teeth and jaw. Problems with the jaw are not unusual with oboe players. Feb 15, 2013

  • trhummer This word is likely used rarely in the population at large, but among brass and woodwind instrumentalists, it is common, and essential. Perfecting one's embouchure is a lifelong pursuit for anyone who plays an instrument that connects with or enters the mouth. The embouchure is part of the source of the resulting music. Jun 9, 2009

  • bilby "When people make promises it's always with only a percentage of themselves; he had heard it many times, weddings, confirmations, sworn blood brotherhoods. There is never more than ten per cent of the total persona behind the golden promises, because that is as much of ourselves as we control; it was true of himself as well.
    But not this moment. This moment there was suddenly more. He could hear his body vibrate, like a wind instrument when the embouchure all at once succeeds and a great deal of the energy becomes the tone."
    - 'The Quiet Girl', Peter Høeg. Mar 18, 2008

  • reesetee The placement of the lips, lower facial muscles, and jaws in playing a wind instrument, or the aperture of a wind instrument into which the player blows directly.
    Aug 8, 2007

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‘embouchure’ has been looked up 1644 times, loved by 6 people, added to 35 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 19.