Category:Cornet

Cor"net (kr"nt), n. Etym: [F. cornet, m. (for senses 1 & 2), cornette, f. & m. (for senses 3 & 4), dim. of corne horn, L. cornu. See Horn.]

1. (Mus.) (a) An obsolete rude reed instrument (Ger. Zinken), of the oboe family. (b) A brass instrument, with cupped mouthpiece, and furnished with valves or pistons, now used in bands, and, in place of the trumpet, in orchestras. See Cornet-à-piston. (c) A certain organ stop or register.

2. A cap of paper twisted at the end, used by retailers to inclose small wares. Cotgrave.

3. (Mil.) (a) A troop of cavalry; -- so called from its being accompanied by a cornet player. [Obs.] "A body of five cornets of horse." Clarendon. (b) The standard of such a troop. [Obs.] (c) The lowest grade of commissioned officer in a British cavalry troop, who carried the standard. The office was abolished in 1871.

4. A headdress: (a) A square cap anciently worn as a mark of certain professions. (b) A part of a woman's headdress, in the 16th century.

5. Etym: [Cf. Coronet.] (Far.)

Defn: See Coronet, 2.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Cornet - Heb. shophar, "brightness," with reference to the clearness of its sound (1 Chronicles 15:28; 2 Chronicles 15:14; Psalms 98:6; Hosea 5:8). It is usually rendered in the Authorized Version "trumpet." It denotes the long and straight horn, about eighteen inches long. The words of Joel, "Blow the trumpet," literally, "Sound the cornet," refer to the festival which was the preparation for the day of Atonement. In Daniel 3:5, Daniel 3:7, Daniel 3:10, Daniel 3:15, the word (keren) so rendered is a curved horn. The word "cornet" in 2 Samuel 6:5 (Heb. mena'an'im, occurring only here] was some kind of instrument played by being shaken like the Egyptian sistrum, consisting of rings or bells hung loosely on iron rods.