Definition of REED

reed

Meanings

Plural: reeds

Noun

  • tall woody perennial grasses with hollow slender stems especially of the genera Arundo and Phragmites
  • United States journalist who reported on the October Revolution from Petrograd in 1917; founded the Communist Labor Party in America in 1919; is buried in the Kremlin in Moscow (1887-1920)
  • United States physician who proved that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes (1851-1902)
  • a vibrator consisting of a thin strip of stiff material that vibrates to produce a tone when air streams over it
    • "the clarinetist fitted a new reed onto his mouthpiece"
  • a musical instrument that sounds by means of a vibrating reed
  • Any of various types of tall stiff perennial grass-like plants growing together in groups near water.
  • The hollow stem of these plants.
  • Part of an aerophone musical instrument, comprising a thin piece of wood or metal, which vibrates to produce sound when air passes through it.
  • Short for reed instrument.
  • A comb-like part of a beater for beating the weft when weaving.
  • A piece of whalebone or similar for stiffening the skirt or waist of a woman's dress.
  • Reeding.
  • A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.
  • Straw prepared for thatching a roof.
  • A missile weapon.
  • A measuring rod.
  • A measuring rod.
  • A Babylonian unit of measure the length of a reed, equal to half a nindan, or six cubits.
  • The fourth stomach of a ruminant; rennet.

Verb

  • To thatch.
  • To mill or mint with reeding.
  • simple past and past participle of ree

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English red, reed, from Old English hrēod, from Proto-West Germanic *hreud, of uncertain origin.
Akin to Saterland Frisian Rait (“reed”), West Frisian reid (“reed”), Dutch riet (“reed”), German Ried (“reed”). No cognates in North Germanic languages, but the existence of an otherwise unattested Gothic *𐌷𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌳 (*hriud) was supposed by the brothers Grimm. They also theorised that the word may have a relation to the retas mentioned in Noctes Atticae (Aulus Gellius). The measuring reed sense is the translation of Akkadian qanûm ("cane") used in the Bible and elsewhere.

Synonyms

beating-reed instrument, John Reed, reed instrument, vibrating reed, Walter Reed

Scrabble Score: 5

reed is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
reed is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
reed is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 5

reed is a valid Words With Friends word