Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A percussion instrument with a series of metal bars tuned to the chromatic scale and played with two light hammers.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A musical instrument consisting of a series of small bells or metal rods or tubes, mounted in a frame and struck by hammers; sometimes the latter are manipulated from a keyboard. In the form used in military bands, sometimes improperly called a lyre, from the shape of the frame.
- n. In organ-building, a stop consisting of a set of bells, bars, or tubes sounded by hammers.
Wiktionary
- n. a musical instrument of the percussion family of instruments; like the xylophone, it has tuned bars arranged like the keys on a piano, and is also smaller in size and higher in pitch.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Music) An instrument, originally a series of bells on an iron rod, now a set of flat metal bars, diatonically tuned, giving a bell-like tone when played with a mallet; a carillon.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a percussion instrument consisting of a set of graduated metal bars mounted on a frame and played with small hammers
Etymologies
- from German Glockenspiel (lit., bells-play) (Wiktionary)
- German : Glocken, pl. of Glocke, bell (from Middle High German, from Old High German glocka, of imitative origin ) + Spiel, play; see spiel. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“For all that, the 11 lavishly gifted "stars", plus actor Paul McGann reading out the instruments and adding a certain low-key sensuality to the word "glockenspiel", were a revelation.”
“The Bruce Springsteen Glockenspiel Addendum takes the few tracks on Born to Run which don’t contain glockenspiel, and adds the missing instrument.”
“The glockenspiel was a bit hit early on because composers always wanted to write for bells, and there was no practical way to do that.”
“The glockenspiel was a big hit early on because composers always wanted to write for bells, and there was no practical way to do that.”
“Indeed this and the glockenspiel are a superb tool that helps distinguish them and create their quite unique sound and style.”
Latest reviews @ Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
“The glockenspiel is a percussion instrument consisting of tuned steel bars that are hit with a hammer.”
“But through the wide streets and through the narrow ones, under the archways into the market gardens, across the bridge and into the square where the "glockenspiel" played its old tinkling tune, everywhere the Citadel looked down and always The Rat walked on in his dream.”
“* Why does "glockenspiel" mean "bell play", if there aren't any bells on a glockenspiel?”
“The '' 'glockenspiel' '' is a percussion instrument consisting of tuned steel bars that are hit with a hammer.”
“SpongeBob stares and stares from the window of his pineapple-shaped house, making a tiny glockenspiel noise every time he blinks.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘glockenspiel’.
-
Of Imitative Origin
Words formed in imitation of the sound of the things they signify.
bawl, biff, blizzard, blob, blooper, bob, boff, bomb, bonkers, boo, borborygmus, brouhaha and 148 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
-
250 Further Spelling Words
Another compilation of spelling words suitable for intermediate to advanced spellers.
venturi, aesir, affenpinscher, rottweiler, amanuensis, balletomane, sangfroid, yukata, capriccio, cuisse, heriot, psaltery and 236 more...
-
Play it again sam
public list. words related to the word 'piano'
pianist, piano fangblenny, pianoforte, baby grand, keys, pedal, a percussion with..., piano boxer, grand piano, chordophone, harpsichord, felt hammers and 33 more...
-
Cool sounding words
Stuff that either rolls off the tongue really well or sounds interesting.
suppurate, inveterate, douche, Constantinople, zyzygy, polyglot, serendipitous, vivisection, solypsis, conflagration, instupituous, fecundity and 52 more...
-
Words that have gone out of fashion
words are fashionable -wane and wax - in usage. This is an open list of those words now out of fashion.
marconigram, flapper, bully, glockenspiel, periphrastic, bouffant, cackle, oldfangled, brigadoon, nohow, cat-salt, indecorous and 45 more...
-
Fun Words
Words that are fun to say....
gobbledygook, jings, crivens, hullabaloo, wheech, brouhaha, pizzazz, harum-scarum, namby-pamby, pussyfoot, frippery, pitter-patter and 333 more...
-
Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 2455 more... -
generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
-
cindywrites's Words
chiaroscuro, mollycoddle, feckless, evocative, provocative, invocation, beckon, allay, becalm, console, lull, soothe and 479 more...
-
thekatespanos's list
pomposity, gaggle, scintilla, lemming, bilk, vanquish, conflate, plenary, verisimilitude, perspicacious, rattletrap, obdurate and 325 more...
-
Words I'd Like to Use Someday
thundersnow, phantasmagoria, mercurial, chimerical, taciturn, paraclete, lapis lazuli, flay, guttersnipe, wonky, misanthrope, kestrel and 583 more...
-
bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1459 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, G
grocer, gabanergic, gabardine, gabbro, gaffe, gneiss, grapple, grosgrain, grommet, gratify, gossamer, goofy and 194 more...
-
Resounding Words
great timbre
sone, sonata, resound, sonorous, consonant, unison, sonic, swan, sonant, sonnet, dissonance, scraunch and 142 more...
-
Words Covered in Faery Dust (G)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
gable, gaia, gala, galaxy, gallows, gambol, garden, garland, garnet, gauntlet, gazebo, gazelle and 105 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for glockenspiel.

chained_bear This is such a cool word. Nov 28, 2007