: a concave metal plate (as of brass or bronze) that produces a brilliant clashing tone and that is struck with a drumstick or is used in pairs struck glancingly together
Recent Examples on the WebOver the course of the work, dark and somewhat menacing towers of tone are built up in the brass and then dispersed on a dime, sometimes to reveal a still, almost depopulated landscape marked by high string harmonics or the sonic haze of a cymbal. Jeremy Eichler, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Aug. 2022 These crucial sonic elements often sound muffled, typically with Buds Pro smoothing over the twinkle of a cymbal or the sharpness of a synthesizer tone. Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, 28 July 2022 On a recent spring night, the brassy horn from a saxophonist and bright beating of a cymbal played from the upstairs bar of the dark black and brick facade. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 7 June 2022 The high school senior is part of the six-cymbal section in the drum line of the school’s 60-member marching band. Michelle Matthews | Mmatthews@al.com, al, 27 Feb. 2022 Goldberg and bassist Reuben Rodgers’s shared line crept slowly along, drummer Kendrick Scott getting the maximum resonance out of his ride cymbal, as Greene ratcheted up the tension, with Moreno augmenting him.Washington Post, 22 Jan. 2022 The pandemic appears to be winding down in the United States in a thousand subtle ways, but without any singular milestone, or a cymbal-crashing announcement of freedom from the virus. The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 1 Nov. 2021 During one recording session, his domineering frontman nature leads to a gory decapitation by way of a shiny gold cymbal. Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 11 Jan. 2022 The pandemic appears to be winding down in the United States in a thousand subtle ways, but without any singular milestone, or a cymbal-crashing announcement of freedom from the virus. The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 1 Nov. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Old English cymbal & Anglo-French cymbele, from Latin cymbalum, from Greek kymbalon, from kymbē bowl, boat
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of cymbal was before the 12th century