# trombone

Pronunciation: say "trom-BOHN" US /ˌtɹɑmˈboʊn/, UK /ˌtɹɒmˈbəʊn/

## Noun

1. A brass instrument with a cylindrical bore, usually played with a sliding tube rather than valves, most often the tenor type pitched in B♭.
   - Simple: A brass instrument that you play by sliding a long tube in and out to change the notes.
   - _The orchestra's three trombones came in for the final chorus._
   - _He bought a vintage trombone with a beautifully lacquered slide._
2. The common European bittern, a heron-like wading bird of reedy marshes known for its loud booming call.
   - Simple: A large brown marsh bird from Europe that makes a deep booming sound.
   - _At dusk a trombone called out across the fen with its deep, foghorn note._
   - _The wetland warden counted four trombones nesting in the flooded reedbeds that year._
3. An extendable support for attaching lighting elements to a film or stage set.
   - Simple: A pole that can be made longer or shorter to hang lights on a set.
   - _The gaffer adjusted the trombone to lower the key light closer to the actor's face._
   - _Two trombones held the backlights in place above the studio set._

## Verb

4. To send a signal or data back to a central switching point before forwarding it to its final destination.
   - Simple: To send data back to a central point first, and then out to where it needs to go.
   - _Poorly designed networks trombone traffic through a distant data center, adding delay._
   - _Engineers noticed the switch would trombone every packet before delivery._
5. To extend and retract a camera's zoom lens, especially to use the zoom excessively. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To quickly zoom a camera lens in and out, often too much.
   - _Rookie shooters often trombone the zoom whenever the action gets exciting._
   - _He tromboned the lens so much that the footage felt dizzying._

## Origin

Borrowed from Italian trombone, from tromba ("trumpet") plus the augmentative ending -one, literally meaning "large trumpet." The telecommunications sense refers to the shape of the musical instrument.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/trombone (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).