Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A percussion instrument with a series of metal bars tuned to the chromatic scale and played with two light hammers.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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.
  • noun In organ-building, a stop consisting of a set of bells, bars, or tubes sounded by hammers.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (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.

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

  • noun 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.

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

  • noun a percussion instrument consisting of a set of graduated metal bars mounted on a frame and played with small hammers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German : Glocken, pl. of Glocke, bell (from Middle High German, from Old High German glocka, of imitative origin ) + Spiel, play; see spiel.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

from German Glockenspiel (lit., bells-play)

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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.

    Evening Standard - Home John Aizlewood 2011

  • The Bruce Springsteen Glockenspiel Addendum takes the few tracks on Born to Run which don’t contain glockenspiel, and adds the missing instrument.

    South by Southwest « Squares of Wheat 2008

  • The Bruce Springsteen Glockenspiel Addendum takes the few tracks on Born to Run which don’t contain glockenspiel, and adds the missing instrument.

    February « 2008 « Squares of Wheat 2008

  • 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.

    Disquiet » The Public Record 2004

  • 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.

    Disquiet » The Public Record 2004

  • 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 2010

  • The glockenspiel is a percussion instrument consisting of tuned steel bars that are hit with a hammer.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] DanielPulido 2010

  • 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.

    The Lost Prince 1914

  • 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.

    The Lost Prince Frances Hodgson Burnett 1886

  • * Why does "glockenspiel" mean "bell play", if there aren't any bells on a glockenspiel?

    Culture | guardian.co.uk David McNamee 2010

Comments

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  • This is such a cool word.

    November 29, 2007