trumpet

 
Pronunciation: /ˈtrʌmpɪt/

noun

  • 1a brass musical instrument with a flared bell and a bright, penetrating tone. The modern instrument has the tubing looped to form a straight-sided coil, with three valves.
  • an organ reed stop with a quality resembling that of a trumpet.
  • a sound resembling that of a trumpet, especially the loud cry of an elephant: his voice blazed to a trumpet in his indignation
  • something shaped like a trumpet, especially the tubular corona of a daffodil flower.
  • 2 (trumpets) a North American pitcher plant.
    • Genus Sarracenia, family Sarraceniaceae: several species, in particular yellow trumpets (S. flava)

verb (trumpets, trumpeting, trumpeted)

  • 1 [no object] play a trumpet: (as adjective trumpeting) figures of two trumpeting angels
  • make a loud, penetrating sound resembling that of a trumpet: wild elephants trumpeting in the bush
  • 2 [with object] proclaim widely or loudly: the press trumpeted another defeat for the government

Phrases

blow one's (own) trumpet

chiefly British talk boastfully about one’s achievements: he refused to blow his own trumpet and blushingly declined to speak

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French trompette, diminutive of trompe (see trump2). The verb dates from the mid 16th century