Definition of "ophicleide" [oph•i•cleide]

• A keyed brass instrument of the bugle family with a baritone range that was the structural precursor of the bass saxophone and was replaced by the tuba in orchestras. (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.

• "The Washington Cathedral has an ophicleide stop; the Central Synagogue in New York has one labeled "shofar.""
• "The wooden serpent has gone out of use in military bands within recollection, the ophicleide from orchestras only recently."
• "A Parisian instrument maker, Halary, in 1817, made this a complete instrument, after the manner of the keyed bugle of Halliday, and producing it in brass called it the ophicleide, from two Greek words meaning serpent and keys -- keyed serpent -- although it was more like a keyed bass bugle."