castanet

[ kas-tuh-net ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

either of a pair of concave pieces of wood held in the palm of the hand and clicked together, usually to accompany dancing.

1640–50; < Spanish castañeta, equivalent to castañ ( a ) chestnut (< Latin castanea ) + -eta diminutive suffix; -et, -ette

By the end of that time his tongue was making sounds like a muffled castanet, and his resolution was scorched out of him.

He shook the door by the iron handle until the latch clattered like a castanet: there was no sound from within.

Where the two were missing he carried the stem of his pipe, and when he talked the stem clicked, like a Castanet.

Again he clinks his metal castanet, and leads us leisurely away.

And now the trio was a trio of castanet smacks and cymbal claps.

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