clarion
/ˈklæɹ.ɪ.ən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.92 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A medieval brass instrument chiefly used as a battle signal; related to the trumpet, it had a narrow, straight pipe and a high-pitched, piercing sound.
noun
The sound of a clarion (sense 1), or any sound resembling the loud, high-pitched note of a clarion.
noun
An organ stop consisting of pipes with reeds giving a high-pitched note like that of a clarion (sense 1).
Example Sentences
- "The clarion’s call to action has been heard."
- "Then ſtrait commands that at the warlike ſound / Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard / His mighty Standard; […]"
- "And like a silver clarion rung / The accents of that unknown tongue, / Excelsior!"
- "There is no bard in all the choir, / Nor Homer's self, the poet sire, / […] / Nor Collins' verse of tender pain, / Nor Byron's clarion of disdain, / […] / Not one of all can put in verse, / Or to this presence could rehearse, / The sights and voices ravishing / The boy knew on the hills in spring, […]"
- "Blind me, take away mine eyes, and let the darkness utterly fence me in, and still mine ears would catch the tone of thy unforgotten voice, striking more loud against the portals of my sense than can the call of brazen-throated clarions:– […]"
- "Others [i.e., other birds] on ground / Walk'd firm; the creſted Cock whoſe clarion ſounds / The ſilent hours, and th' other whoſe gay Traine / Adorns him, colour'd with the Florid hue / Of Rainbows and Starrie Eyes."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English clarion, clarioun (“trumpet with a narrow tube and a shrill sound, clarion; clarion player”) [and other forms], from Old French claron, clarïon (“clarion”) [and other forms], from Medieval Latin clāriōn, clario, clārōn (“clarion; trumpet”), from Latin clārus (“audible; clear, distinct, loud; (visually) bright, clear”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, summon; to cry”). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *kelh₁-, clarion, claron, clāriōn, clārus, clariounen
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈklæɹ.ɪ.ən/