See Also: gargoyle(dictionary)
gargoyle(encyclopedia)
gargoyle(dictionary)
gargoyle cell(medicine)
Gargoyle Tongues(recipes)
French(1)(dictionary)
French 75(recipes)
French(2)(dictionary)
NUL, law French(law)
French fry(dictionary)

French horn (sh) and gargoyle (iou)


French horn (sh)




Orchestral and military brass instrument, a valved circular horn with a wide bell.

It is normally a transposing instrument (its Music written in a different tone than its actual sound) in F. It has a wide bore and three (sometimes four) rotary valves; its conical mouthpiece produces a mellower tone than the cup-shaped mouthpieces of Other brass instruments. Horns long relied on separable crooks
circular lengths of tubing that could be attached and removed rapidly
for Music modulating to new keys. Since งใ 1900 the standard horn has been a "double" instrument, with built-in crooks in F and B-flat that can be selected rapidly by means of a thumb valve. The modern symphony orchestra usually includes four horns. Though difficult to play and prone to producing conspicuous errors, its tone is widely admired.


gargoyle (iou)



gargoyle noun. ME.
[Old French gargouille throat, in a spec. sense from the water passing through the mouth of the figure, rel. to Latin gargarizare gargle, from Greek gargarizein, of imit. origin.]
A grotesque carving usu. in the form of a human or animal mouth, head, or body, projecting from the gutter of a building, esp. in Gothic architecture, and usu. acting as a spout to drain off rainwater.
Daily Telegraph Police talked him down from the roof of Amiens Cathedral...He had been balancing..near a gargoyle. transf.: Longfellow A tall brass candlestick with gruesome gargoyles carved on the base. C. Raine An old tormented master..screaming like a gargoyle.