contrabassn.
/ˌkɒntrəˈbeɪs/, /ˈkɒntrəbeɪs/, U.S. /ˌkɑntrəˈbeɪs/ Music.
1. The largest instrument of the violin class, the double bass n., used to add the lower octave to the bass in the orchestra.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > bowable instrument > [noun] > double-bass
contrabass1598
double bass1728
bull fiddle1880
doghouse1924
bass1927
string bass1927
slap-bass1949
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Contrabasso, a counterbase, voice or string of any instrument.
1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music Contra-Basso (Ital.), the instrument called the Double Bass. Contra-Bass (Ital.), the lower Bass.
1867 Cornhill Mag. Jan. 28 The cornet is a contrabasso, the ophicleide..becomes a tenor, the trombones are sharp violins.
1879 Scribner's Monthly XIX. 903/1 This term [‘the strings’] is understood to mean..the violins, the violas, the violoncellos and the contra-basses or double basses.
2. Applied to instruments of other kinds taking a similar part; chiefly attributive as contrabass posaune a kind of trombone, contrabass tuba the bombardon. (Grove Dict. Music.)
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > [adjective] > by quality of sound
softa1525
lofty1598
vocal1649
alto1802
contrabass1834
soprano1856
baritone1876
monophonous1878
tinny1904
sopranino1907
plinky1926
1834 Mus. Library Nov. Suppl. As a contra-basso to the trombones, it [the double-bass ophicleide] will not be found less useful.
1926 P. Whiteman & M. M. McBride Jazz ix. 197 The tuba and contra-bass tuba.
1965 Listener 3 June 837/3 No expense was spared—eight harps and horns, bass trumpet, contrabass trombone.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1598