See Also: reed(dictionary)
reed(1)(dictionary)
sea reed(medicine)
reed(2)(dictionary)
reed(3)(dictionary)
Reed(medicine)
reed(encyclopedia)
Reed, Walter(encyclopedia)
Reed, Willis(encyclopedia)
Reed, Sir Carol(encyclopedia)

reed(1) (iou)



reed noun1. [ri:d]
[Old English hreod = Old Frisian hriad, Old Saxon hriod, Middle Dutch ried, riet (Dutch riet), Old High German (h)riot (German Ried), from West Germanic.]
I.
Each of the tall straight stalks or stems formed by plants of the genera Phragmites and Arundo (see sense 2). Formerly also, a cane. OE.
broken reed a weak or ineffectual person. bur-reed, Norfolk reed, sand-reed, small reed, etc.
J. T. Story Beds of black-headed reeds in the..pond. R. Frame He used to be much more assertive...Now he bent to her like a reed.
b. collect. A mass or bed of reeds; reeds as a material, used for thatching etc. OE.
c. transf. Wheat straw used for thatching. LME.
Any of various tall broad-leaved firm-stemmed grasses of the genera Phragmites and Arundo growing in water or marshy ground, freq. in large stands; esp. the common reed, Phragmites australis, found in most parts of the world. Also (with specifying word), any of various plants resembling the reed. LME.
II.
a. In biblical use: a reed used as a measuring rod; a Hebrew unit of length equal to six cubits. ME.
b. A reed used as a dart or arrow; poet. an arrow. LME.
A reed or other plant with a hollow stem made into a rustic musical pipe; fig. this as a symbol of rustic or pastoral poetry. LME.
Music.
a. A part of the mouthpiece of an oboe, bassoon, clarinet, or saxophone, consisting of one or two thin pieces of cane which vibrate to produce a sound when the instrument is blown into. Also, a similar device in the chanter of a bagpipe. M16.
double reed: see DOUBLE adjective & adverb. single reed: see SINGLE adjective.
A. E. Wier A sudden noise produced by the clarinet when the reed gets out of order.
b. In an organ, each of the small metal tubes fixed at the lower end of each pipe, having an opening covered by a metal tongue which vibrates when air enters the tube; such a metal tongue. Also, any similar reed, as that in a bagpipe drone. E18.
c. Any wind instrument with a reed; in pl., the section of an orchestra playing such instruments. M19.
A piece of reed on which yarn is wound; a bobbin, a spool. rare. M16-E18.
Weaving.
a. An instrument for separating the threads of the warp and beating up the weft, formerly made of thin strips of reed or cane, now of metal wires, fastened on to two parallel bars of wood. L16.
b. A type of cloth, as distinguished by the number of threads per inch of the reed. rare. L19.
A comb used in tapestry-making for pressing down the threads of the weft to produce a close surface. E18.
Each of a set of small semicylindrical mouldings, resembling a number of reeds laid side by side. M18.
Comb.: reed-and-tie a style of decoration resembling reeds bound together; reed-bed a bed or growth of reeds; reed-bird dial. a reed warbler, sedge-warbler, or reedling; US the bobolink; reed bunting any of various Eurasian buntings of the genus Emberiza, which frequent reed-beds, esp. E. schoeniclus; reed canary-grass a reedlike aquatic grass, Phalaris arundinacea, with a long lobed inflorescence; reed-cap Music a small wooden cap, with a slit in the top, enclosing the reed of certain double-reed instruments of the late 15th to 17th cents., keeping the reed from direct contact with the player's lips and preventing the instrument from being overblown; reed dagger a small pale brown and white noctuid moth, Simyra albovenosa; reed-grass any of various reedlike grasses; esp. = reed canary-grass above; reed instrument a musical (esp. wind) instrument with a reed or reeds; reed-mace either of two tall plants of the genus Typha (family Typhaceae), of ponds and river-margins, with long strap-shaped leaves and a dense velvety brown spadix, (in full greater reed-mace) T. latifolia (also called cat's-tail, bulrush) and (in full lesser reed-mace) T. angustifolia; reed-man (a) a player of a reed instrument; (b) a person who works with reeds; reed-mark a defect in the warp of a cloth caused by malfunctioning of the reed during weaving; reed-organ a keyboard instrument in which sound is produced by means of reeds; reed-pipe (a) a musical pipe made of reed; a wind instrument with sound produced by a reed; (b) an organ-pipe fitted with a reed; reed relay Electricity a small high-speed switching device consisting of a pair of contacts which can be brought together by an external magnetic field; reed-sparrow dial. a reed bunting; a sedge-warbler; reed-stop an organ-stop composed of reed-pipes; reed switch = reed relay above; reed warbler any of various Old World warblers of the genus Acrocephalus, which have plain plumage and frequent reed-beds, esp. the common Eurasian A. scirpaceus; reed-wren dial. the reed warbler.
reedlike adjective resembling (that of) a reed E17.