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.
3. a woodwind instrument similar to but smaller than a shawm.
4. a short musical piece with a drone bass, often forming the middle section of a gavotte.

musette

/ mjuːˈzɛt; 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of musette¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; musette 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; muse, -ette

Word History and Origins

Origin of musette¹

C14: from Old French, diminutive of muse bagpipe

Example Sentences

Not to mention Bennett's finish in Cortina, inexplicably still carrying his musette feed bag that riders usually discard a few minutes after they receive them about halfway through the stage.

From BBC

They hurled cotton musette bags, which hold riders’ snacks, into previously pristine rivers.

From New York Times

In addition to his suitcase, musette bag, and walnut cane, MacArthur would take his wife Jean and son Arthur, the two most precious people in his life.

From Salon

“It contains the roots where I was born -- the musette, a sort of waltz. There's not a blue note or syncopation in the melody, yet it's a blues.”

From Los Angeles Times

Yossarian watched Chief White Halfoat pour whiskey carefully into three empty shampoo bottles and store them away in the musette bag he was packing.

From Literature