celesta

[suh-les-tuh]

ce·les·ta

[suh-les-tuh]
noun
a musical instrument consisting principally of a set of graduated steel plates struck with hammers that are activated by a keyboard.

Origin:
1895–1900; < French célesta, for céleste, literally, heavenly (see celestial); the -a for -e makes the name pseudo-Italian
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Celesta is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
Collins
World English Dictionary
celesta or celeste (sɪˈlɛstə, sɪˈlɛst)
 
n
music a keyboard percussion instrument consisting of a set of steel plates of graduated length that are struck with key-operated hammers. The tone is an ethereal tinkling sound. Range: four octaves upwards from middle C
 
[C19: from French, Latinized variant of céleste heavenly]
 
celeste or celeste
 
n
 
[C19: from French, Latinized variant of céleste heavenly]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

celesta

orchestral percussion instrument resembling a small upright piano, patented by a Parisian, Auguste Mustel, in 1886. It consists of a series of small metal bars (and hence is a metallophone) with a keyboard and a simplified piano action in which small felt hammers strike the bars. Each bar is resonated by a wooden box or similar chamber tuned to reinforce the fundamental harmonic (component tone) of the bar. A pedal lifts a felt-pad damper from the bars, permitting use of either sustained or short notes. The normal range is four octaves upward from middle C

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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