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sax

sax

34 6.9
A metal wind instrument that you blow into, often used in jazz
  • noun
  • /sæks/
  • Informal
: saxo
  • I love to listen to jazz, especially when the sax plays the melodic solos.
  • alto sax
  • tenor sax

I'm saying turn the sax around, hook it in, hook it in, pull it up a little bit.

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Examples

  • So I go in and hear the sax player playing this unbelievably great solo.

  • I'm saying turn the sax around, hook it in, hook it in, pull it up a little bit.

  • Forgot my sax, Mr. G.

  • And I just stood there with that sax in my hands.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • If you need a sax, I'm around.

  • The first jazz album I ever bought, also the first sax solo I could whistle by heart.

    Blog text (3)
  • I took up the sax and fingered the keys up and down a few times.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • A handsome man leaning against a tree, his sax cradled in his right arm.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • During the week, he taught band at the local high school: trumpet, alto sax, clarinet, trombone.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Basie's tenor sax stars, Lester Young and Herschel Evans, sharing solos on "Texas Shuffle."

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

saxophone
vssax
51 2.9

A metal wind instrument with a single reed often used in jazz and dance music

is an informal, shorter name for that specific instrument
woodwind
vssax
6 4.2

An instrument that makes sound when you blow into or across it, like a flute

is a casual name for a single member of that larger group
2 3.1

An instrument that makes sound when you blow air through it, like a flute or trumpet

is an informal label for one specific instrument within that broad category
1 3.6

A musical instrument that makes sound when you blow air, often using a reed, like a clarinet or oboe

is the informal, single-instrument name rather than the whole instrument group
1 4.1

An instrument that makes sound when a reed vibrates, like a clarinet or saxophone

names one particular instrument informally rather than the broader reed family

A wind instrument that uses one reed to make sound, like a clarinet or saxophone

refers to one specific instrument by an informal short name

A musical instrument like a clarinet or saxophone that makes sound when air passes one reed

denotes one particular instrument in casual speech rather than the whole class

How Low

bass
27 4.1
baritone
2 6.7
sax
  • Informal
34 6.9
soprano
6 5.3

Surface Forms

sax singular
saxes plural

Etymology

Sax comes from the name of the instrument maker Sax, Adolphe Sax, who invented the saxophone. The full word adds -phone, which means 'sound', like in telephone, so Sax is a short, informal name for the saxophone.