Definition of "reed" []

• Any of various tall perennial grasses, especially of the genera Phragmites or Arundo, having hollow stems, broad leaves, and large plumelike terminal panicles. (noun)
• The stalk of any of these plants. (noun)
• A collection of these stalks: reed for making baskets. (noun)
• Music A primitive wind instrument made of a hollow reed stalk. (noun)
• Music A flexible strip of cane or metal set into the mouthpiece or air opening of certain instruments to produce tone by vibrating in response to a stream of air. (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.

• "It is, to paraphrase yourself, absurd lore, but the reed is there."
• "The outer "reed" is not a sound-producing device, but a return spring."
• "Shortly thereafter, having sung about the column, and the fire upon it that burns “unto the honor of God”, he stops again, receives the reed from the acolyte, and with one of the three candles, lights the Paschal candle."