speaking trumpet love

speaking trumpet

Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A trumpet-shaped instrument by which the sound of the human voice is reinforced so that it may be heard at a great distance or above other sounds, as in hailing ships at sea or giving orders at a fire. In the United States navy a speaking-trumpet is the badge of the officer of the deck at sea.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A megaphone.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a trumpet-shaped acoustic device to intensify and direct the human voice; formerly held to the ear by a hard-of-hearing person

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  • "SPEAKING TRUMPET, a trumpet by which the voice may be heard at a great distance. It was formerly used in large armies to give the word of command." (citation in list description)

    Edit: In Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816) is this text: "To speak with a vessel implies that, on the meeting of ships or vessels at sea, one has communication with the other by going on board; but if that should be found impracticable from the state of the weather, the speaking trumpet here using a hyphen is employed by the homeward-bound ship to ask the necessary questions." (p. 491)

    October 9, 2008