Definition of "double bass" [double bass]

• The largest bowed stringed instrument in the modern orchestra, also used frequently in jazz ensembles, especially played pizzicato. The double bass, usually considered a member of the violin family, is tuned in fourths and has the sloping shoulders and flat back characteristic of the viols. It has a deep range, going as low as three octaves below middle C. Also called bass fiddle, bass viol, bull fiddle, contrabass, string bass. (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.

• "Among the members of the Polish band ” which consisted of a leader (Premier), four violins, one oboe, two French horns, three bassoons, and one double bass ” we meet with such well-known men as Johann Joachim Quanz and Franz Benda."