instrument
See also: Instrument
Contents
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English instrument, from Old French instrument, from Latin īnstrūmentum (“an implement, tool”), suffix -mentum.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
instrument (plural instruments)
- A device used to produce music.
- The violinist was a master of her instrument.
- 1568, William Cornishe [i.e., William Cornysh], “In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe otherwise Called Nyshwhete Chapelman with the Most Famose and Noble Kyng Henry the VII. His Reygne the XIX. Yere the Moneth of July. A Treatise betwene Trouth, and Information.”, in John Skelton; J[ohn] S[tow], editor, Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate, Imprinted at London: In Fletestreate, neare vnto Saint Dunstones Churche by Thomas Marshe, OCLC 54747393; republished as Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth, London: Printed for C. Davis in Pater-noster Row, 1736, OCLC 731569711, page 290:
- The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunying of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge
- A means or agency for achieving an effect.
- 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tremarn Case[1]:
- “There the cause of death was soon ascertained ; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom. […]”
- A measuring or displaying device.
- The instrument detected an increase in radioactivity.
- A tool, implement used for manipulation or measurement.
- The dentist set down his tray of instruments.
- The scientist recorded the temperature with a thermometer but wished he had a more accurate instrument.
- (law) A legal document, such as a contract, deed, trust, mortgage, power, indenture, or will.
- A bond indenture is the instrument that gives a bond its value.
- Negotiable instruments are the foundation of the debt markets.
- (figuratively) A person used as a mere tool for achieving a goal.
- Shakespeare
- Or useful serving man and instrument, / To any sovereign state.
- Dryden
- The bold are but the instruments of the wise.
- Shakespeare
SynonymsEdit
- See also Thesaurus:instrument
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from instrument
TranslationsEdit
musical device
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measuring device
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tool
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legal document
person used as a mere tool
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
VerbEdit
instrument (third-person singular simple present instruments, present participle instrumenting, simple past and past participle instrumented)
- (transitive) To apply measuring devices.
- (transitive) To devise, conceive, cook up, plan.
- To perform upon an instrument; to prepare for an instrument.
- a sonata instrumented for orchestra
SynonymsEdit
- (to apply measuring devices): measure, supervise
- (to devise, conceive):
- (to perform on an instrument): play
- (to prepare for an instrument): arrange
See alsoEdit
AnagramsEdit
CatalanEdit
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
instrument n (plural instrumenten, diminutive instrumentje n)
Derived termsEdit
FrenchEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
instrument m (plural instruments)
Further readingEdit
- “instrument” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Old French instrument, from Latin instrūmentum (“tool, device”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
instrument (plural instrumentes)
- A tool or device used for manipulation, especially for medical and scientific uses.
- A device used to produce music; a musical instrument.
- A piece of weaponry (such as a siege engine).
- A legal document, such as a contract, deed or will.
- The means by which one reaches an end or effect.
- A body part that performs a certain function; an organ.
- The human body as a whole
- One of the five senses.
SynonymsEdit
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- English: instrument
ReferencesEdit
- “instrū̆ment (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-02.
Middle FrenchEdit
NounEdit
instrument m (plural instrumens)
- (musical) instrument
- instrument (device, often mechanical)
Norwegian BokmålEdit
NounEdit
instrument n (definite singular instrumentet, indefinite plural instrument or instrumenter, definite plural instrumenta or instrumentene)
- an instrument
Derived termsEdit
Norwegian NynorskEdit
NounEdit
instrument n (definite singular instrumentet, indefinite plural instrument, definite plural instrumenta)
- an instrument
Derived termsEdit
PolishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin īnstrūmentum ("an implement, tool").
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
instrument m inan
DeclensionEdit
declension of instrument
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | instrument | instrumenty |
| genitive | instrumentu | instrumentów |
| dative | instrumentowi | instrumentom |
| accusative | instrument | instrumenty |
| instrumental | instrumentem | instrumentami |
| locative | instrumencie | instrumentach |
| vocative | instrumencie | instrumenty |
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- instrument in Polish dictionaries at PWN
RomanianEdit
SwedishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (file)
NounEdit
instrument n
- an instrument (of music, for measurement, method, tool, or financial contract), a device
DeclensionEdit
| Declension of instrument | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | instrument | instrumentet | instrument | instrumenten |
| Genitive | instruments | instrumentets | instruments | instrumentens |