musette

[ myoo-zet ]

noun
  1. Also called mu·sette bag . a small leather or canvas bag with a shoulder strap, used for carrying personal belongings, food, etc., while hiking, marching, or the like.

  2. a French bagpipe of the 17th and early 18th centuries, with several chambers and drones, and with the wind supplied by a bellows rather than a blowpipe.

  1. a woodwind instrument similar to but smaller than a shawm.

  2. a short musical piece with a drone bass, often forming the middle section of a gavotte.

Origin of musette

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; def. 1 was first recorded in 1920–25; Middle English, from Middle French, equivalent to muse “bagpipe” (derivative of muser “to play the bagpipe,” from Latin mussāre “to hum”) + -ette; see origin at muse,-ette

Words Nearby musette

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use musette in a sentence

  • A small French musette of ivory, with silver keys, having belonged to the painter Vanloo.

  • But the next season found me anxious to renew the adventure, to again enjoy the pleasures of the bal musette.

    The Merry-Go-Round | Carl Van Vechten
  • He soaked these in oil and stowed them in a musette bag which he snapped to the D-rings of the pack.

    Cat and Mouse | Ralph Williams
  • First off, I wouldn't answer the phone; but musette stood by me with it in her hand and just made me.

    Believe You Me! | Nina Wilcox Putnam
  • No sooner had Ma and me ate breakfast next morning than in came musette and says there are two gentlemen outside wants to see me.

    Believe You Me! | Nina Wilcox Putnam

British Dictionary definitions for musette

musette

/ (mjuːˈzɛt, French myzɛt) /


noun
  1. a type of bagpipe with a bellows popular in France during the 17th and 18th centuries

  2. a dance, with a drone bass originally played by a musette

Origin of musette

1
C14: from Old French, diminutive of muse bagpipe

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012