[a. F. clarinette, dim of clarine.]
1. A wooden single-reed instrument with a compass of about three octaves and a half, having a cylindrical tube with bell-shaped orifice, and played by means of holes and keys. Bass Clarinet: a similar instrument sounding an octave lower.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 509. French horns and clarinets.
1849. Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sc., xvii. 159. Through the aperture called a reed, with a flexible tongue, as in the clarinet.
1881. W. H. Stone, in Broadhouse, Mus. Acoustics, 231. The Clarinet is … said to have been invented in 1690 at Nuremberg.
2. An organ-stop of a quality of tone like that of this instrument; = CREMONA.
1876. Hiles, Catech. Organ, x. (1878), 72. Clarinet … an 8 feet Manual [organ] stop, striking reed.
