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reed

[reed]

Use reed in a Sentence

–noun

1.	the straight stalk of any of various tall grasses, esp. of the genera Phragmites and Arundo, growing in marshy places.

2.	any of the plants themselves.

3.	such stalks or plants collectively.

4.	anything made from such a stalk or from something similar, as an arrow.

Music.

a.	a pastoral or rustic musical pipe made from a reed or from the hollow stalk of some other plant.

b.	a small, flexible piece of cane or metal that, attached to the mouth of any of various wind instruments, is set into vibration by a stream of air and, in turn, sets into vibration the air column enclosed in the tube of the instrument.

c.	reed instrument.

6.	Textiles. the series of parallel strips of wires in a loom that force the weft up to the web and separate the threads of the warp.

7.	an ancient unit of length, equal to 6 cubits. Ezek. 40:5.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to decorate with reed.

9.	to thatch with or as if with reed.

10.	to make vertical grooves on (the edge of a coin, medal, etc.).

—Idiom

11.	a broken reed, a person or thing too frail or weak to be relied on for support: Under stress he showed himself to be a broken reed.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE hrēod; c. G, D riet

Related forms:

reedlike, adjective

Reed

[reed]

–noun

1.	Sir Carol, 1906–76, British film director.

2.	Ishmael (Scott), born 1938, U.S. novelist and poet.

3.	John, 1887–1920, U.S. journalist and poet.

4.	Stanley For⋅man [fawr-muhn] Show IPA , 1884–1980, U.S. jurist: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1938–57.

5.	Thomas Brackett, 1839–1902, U.S. politician: Speaker of the House 1889–91, 1895–99.

6.	Walter C., 1851–1902, U.S. army surgeon who proved that a type of mosquito transmits the yellow fever virus.

7.	a male given name, form of Read.

ree

2 [ree, rey]

–verb (used with object), reed, ree⋅ing. British Dialect.

to sift (grain, peas, beans, etc.).

Origin:
1350–1400; ME < ?

reed instrument

–noun Music.

a wind instrument with a single or double reed, as a saxophone or an oboe.

Also called reed.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To reed

reed (rēd)

1. Any of various tall perennial grasses, especially of the genera Phragmites or Arundo, having hollow stems, broad leaves, and large plumelike terminal panicles.
2. The stalk of any of these plants.
3. A collection of these stalks: reed for making baskets.
4. 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.
5. An instrument, such as an oboe or clarinet, that is fitted with a reed.
Music A primitive wind instrument made of a hollow reed stalk.
Music
1. 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.
2. An instrument, such as an oboe or clarinet, that is fitted with a reed.
A narrow movable frame fitted with reed or metal strips that separate the warp threads in weaving.
Architecture A reeding.

[Middle English rede, from Old English hrēod.]

Reed (rēd)

American journalist. A World War I correspondent, he was in Petrograd during the October Revolution (1917), an experience he recounted in Ten Days That Shook the World (1919). In 1919 he founded the American Communist Labor Party. Reed is buried in the Kremlin in Moscow.

Reed, Thomas Brackett 1839-1902.
American politician. A U.S. representative from Maine (1877-1899), he twice served as Speaker of the House (1889-1891 and 1895-1899).

Reed, Walter 1851-1902.
American physician and army surgeon who proved that yellow fever was transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Reed

Reed\ (r[=e]d), a. Red. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Reed

Reed\, v. & n. Same as Rede. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Reed

Reed\, n. The fourth stomach of a ruminant; rennet. [Prov. Eng. or Scot.]

Reed

Reed\, n. [AS. hre['o]d; akin to D. riet, G. riet, ried, OHG. kriot, riot.]

1. (Bot.) A name given to many tall and coarse grasses or grasslike plants, and their slender, often jointed, stems, such as the various kinds of bamboo, and especially the common reed of Europe and North America (Phragmites communis).

2. A musical instrument made of the hollow joint of some plant; a rustic or pastoral pipe.

Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed Of Hermes. --Milton.

3. An arrow, as made of a reed. --Prior.

4. Straw prepared for thatching a roof. [Prov. Eng.]

5. (Mus.) (a) A small piece of cane or wood attached to the mouthpiece of certain instruments, and set in vibration by the breath. In the clarinet it is a single fiat reed; in the oboe and bassoon it is double, forming a compressed tube. (b) One of the thin pieces of metal, the vibration of which produce the tones of a melodeon, accordeon, harmonium, or seraphine; also attached to certain sets or registers of pipes in an organ.

6. (Weaving) A frame having parallel flat stripe of metal or reed, between which the warp threads pass, set in the swinging lathe or batten of a loom for beating up the weft; a sley. See Batten.

7. (Mining) A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.

8. (Arch.) Same as Reeding.

Egyptian reed (Bot.), the papyrus.

Free reed (Mus.), a reed whose edges do not overlap the wind passage, -- used in the harmonium, concertina, etc. It is distinguished from the beating or striking reed of the organ and clarinet.

Meadow reed grass (Bot.), the Glyceria aquatica, a tall grass found in wet places.

Reed babbler. See Reedbird.

Reed bunting (Zo["o]l.) A European sparrow (Emberiza sch[oe]niclus) which frequents marshy places; -- called also reed sparrow, ring bunting. (b) Reedling.

Reed canary grass (Bot.), a tall wild grass (Phalaris arundinacea).

Reed grass. (Bot.) (a) The common reed. See Reed, 1. (b) A plant of the genus Sparganium; bur reed. See under Bur.

Reed organ (Mus.), an organ in which the wind acts on a set of free reeds, as the harmonium, melodeon, concertina, etc.

Reed pipe (Mus.), a pipe of an organ furnished with a reed.

Reed sparrow. (Zo["o]l.) See Reed bunting, above.

Reed stop (Mus.), a set of pipes in an organ furnished with reeds.

Reed warbler. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A small European warbler (Acrocephalus streperus); -- called also reed wren. (b) Any one of several species of Indian and Australian warblers of the genera Acrocephalus, Calamoherpe, and Arundinax. They are excellent singers.

Sea-sand reed (Bot.), a kind of coarse grass (Ammophila arundinacea). See Beach grass, under Beach.

Wood reed grass (Bot.), a tall, elegant grass (Cinna arundinacea), common in moist woods.

Language Translation for : reed

Spanish: junco, caña,

German: das Schilf,

Japanese: あし

More Translations »

reed

A thin piece of wood or plastic used in many woodwind instruments. It vibrates when the player holds it in the mouth and blows over it (as with a single reed) or through it (as with a double reed). Clarinets and saxophones use a single reed; bassoons and oboes use a double reed.

reed

O.E. hreod "reed," from P.Gmc. *khreudom (cf. O.S. hraid, O.Fris. hriad, M.Du. ried, O.H.G. hriot, Ger. riet), no known cognates beyond Gmc. As part of the mouthpiece of a musical instrument it is attested from 1530. A reedy voice (1811) is so called from resemblance to musical sound of a reed.

Reed (rēd), Walter. 1851-1902.

American surgeon who led the commission that proved experimentally that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes.

Reed (rēd) Pronunciation Key
American physician and army surgeon who proved in 1900 that yellow fever was transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. His research led to the mosquito eradication programs carried out by William Gorgas that virtually eradicated yellow fever from Havana, Cuba, and from the Panama Canal Zone.

Reed

(1.) "Paper reeds" (Isa. 19:7; R.V., "reeds"). Heb. 'aroth, properly green herbage growing in marshy places. (2.) Heb. kaneh (1 Kings 14:15; Job 40:21; Isa. 19:6), whence the Gr. kanna, a "cane," a generic name for a reed of any kind. The reed of Egypt and Palestine is the Arundo donax, which grows to the height of 12 feet, its stalk jointed like the bamboo, "with a magnificent panicle of blossom at the top, and so slender and yielding that it will lie perfectly flat under a gust of wind, and immediately resume its upright position." It is used to illustrate weakness (2 Kings 18:21; Ezek. 29:6), also fickleness or instability (Matt. 11:7; comp. Eph. 4:14). A "bruised reed" (Isa. 42:3; Matt. 12:20) is an emblem of a believer weak in grace. A reed was put into our Lord's hands in derision (Matt. 27:29); and "they took the reed and smote him on the head" (30). The "reed" on which they put the sponge filled with vinegar (Matt. 27:48) was, according to John (19:29), a hyssop stalk, which must have been of some length, or perhaps a bunch of hyssop twigs fastened to a rod with the sponge. (See CANE.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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reed

see broken reed.

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