saxophone

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a usually brass, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical tube and finger-operated keys

   The saxophone carried the melody above the rhythm section.

2. 2
   noun

   a saxophone player or the saxophone section of an ensemble, by metonymy

   The saxophone entered after the trumpets with a softer countermelody.

Borrowed from French saxophone, formed from the surname of its Belgian inventor Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) + Greek-derived -phone, 'sound or sounding instrument.' Sax patented the instrument family in the 1840s.

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