reed

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/rid/

Other forms: reeds

A reed is a woody plant with long, slender leaves. Reeds need a lot of moisture, and they usually grow in or near a marsh.

The stalk of a reed plant is also called a reed, and it's from this stiff, wood-like material that reeds for certain musical instruments were first made. Many reed instruments, including the clarinet, still use reeds made from reed — specifically, a bamboo-like reed that is native to marshy Mediterranean areas. When a musician blows across her mouthpiece, the reed vibrates to make the sound.

Definitions of reed

1. noun

   a tall woody perennial grass with a slender hollow stem especially of the genera Arundo and Phragmites
   types:

   Arundo conspicua, Chionochloa conspicua, toetoe, toitoi

   used by Maoris for thatching

   Arundo donax, giant reed

   large rhizomatous perennial grasses found by riversides and in ditches having jointed stems and large grey-white feathery panicles

   Phragmites communis, carrizo, common reed, ditch reed

   tall North American reed having relative wide leaves and large plumelike panicles; widely distributed in moist areas; used for mats, screens and arrow shafts

   type of:

   graminaceous plant, gramineous plant

   cosmopolitan herbaceous or woody plants with hollow jointed stems and long narrow leaves
2. noun

   a musical instrument that sounds by means of a vibrating reed
   synonyms: beating-reed instrument, reed instrument

   types:

   double reed, double-reed instrument

   a woodwind that has a pair of joined reeds that vibrate together

   free-reed

   a reed that does not fit closely over the aperture

   single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind

   a beating-reed instrument with a single reed (as a clarinet or saxophone)

   bassoon

   a double-reed instrument; the tenor of the oboe family

   clarinet

   a single-reed instrument with a straight tube

   English horn, cor anglais

   a double-reed woodwind instrument similar to an oboe but lower in pitch

   hornpipe, pibgorn, stockhorn

   an ancient (now obsolete) single-reed woodwind; usually made of bone

   cromorne, crumhorn, krummhorn

   a Renaissance woodwind with a double reed and a curving tube (crooked horn)

   hautbois, hautboy, oboe

   a slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece

   sax, saxophone

   a single-reed woodwind with a conical bore

   type of:

   wood, woodwind, woodwind instrument

   any wind instrument other than the brass instruments
3. noun

   a vibrator consisting of a thin strip of stiff material that vibrates to produce a tone when air streams over it
   “the clarinetist fitted a new reed onto his mouthpiece”

   synonyms: vibrating reed

   types:

   double reed

   a pair of joined reeds that vibrate together to produce the sound in some woodwinds

   type of:

   vibrator

   a mechanical device that vibrates