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reed

The fourth stomach of a ruminant; rennet.

1. (Science: botany) A name given to many tall and coarse grasses or grasslike plants, and their slender, often jointed, stems, such as the various kinds of bamboo, and especially the common reed of Europe and North America (Phragmites communis).

2. A musical instrument made of the hollow joint of some plant; a rustic or pastoral pipe. Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed Of hermes. (milton)

3. An arrow, as made of a reed.

4. Straw prepared for thatching a roof.

5. A small piece of cane or wood attached to the mouthpiece of certain instruments, and set in vibration by the breath. In the clarinet it is a single fiat reed; in the oboe and bassoon it is double, forming a compressed tube. One of the thin pieces of metal, the vibration of which produce the tones of a melodeon, accordeon, harmonium, or seraphine; also attached to certain sets or registers of pipes in an organ.

6. A frame having parallel flat stripe of metal or reed, between which the warp threads pass, set in the swinging lathe or batten of a loom for beating up the weft; a sley. See Batten.

7. (Science: chemical) A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.

8. Same as reeding.

<botany> egyptian reed, a tall, elegant grass (Cinna arundinacea), common in moist woods.

Origin: AS. Hred; akin to D. Riet, G. Riet, ried, OHG. Kriot, riot.