Definition of "bassoon" [bas•soon]

• A low-pitched woodwind instrument with a double reed, having a long wooden body attached to a U-shaped lateral tube that leads to the mouthpiece. The range of this instrument is typically two octaves lower than that of the oboe. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "During the rehearsal he suddenly stopped the orchestra and cried out: "F. sharp, F. sharp in the second bassoon is wrong", only to be answered by the first basson player, "Beg pardon, Sir, the second bassoon is absent today.""
• "The Germans called this sound schwachsinnige Musik, but the vice-admiral's name for it-"bassoon"-was the one that stuck."
• "Someone should also gently mention to Tilson-Thomas that the crowd that shows up for Takemitsu probably doesn't need the grownup version of the 'This instrument is called the bassoon! lecture."