Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TROM'BONE, n. [It.]

A deep-toned instrument of the trumpet kind, consisting of three tubes; the first, to which the mouth-piece is attached, and the third, with a bell, are placed side by side; the middle tube is doubled and slides into the other two like the tube of a telescope. By the slide of the tube it commands every semitone throughout its whole compass, and surpasses every other instrument in admitting, like the violin or the voice, the introduction of the slide. Prof. Fitch.