piccolo meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

piccolo

noun

UK /ˈpɪkələʊ/ · US /ˈpɪkəloʊ/

Etymology From Italian piccolo (“small”).

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A transverse flute that is smaller than a Western concert flute and pitched nearly an octave higher.

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music An organ stop with the tone of a piccolo flute.

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music Obsolete A piccolo piano.

A waiter’s assistant in a hotel or restaurant.

[A]s I fled I felt Laploshka's reproachful eyes watching the amount that I gave to the piccolo—out of his two francs.1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Soul of Laploshka”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 71:

New York, Southern US, US A coin-operated gramophone; a jukebox.

A bottle of champagne containing 0.1875 litres of fluid, one quarter the volume of a standard bottle.

adj

Etymology From Italian piccolo (“small”).

Designating the highest-pitched or smallest of a family of musical instruments.

There is also the Piccolo Trumpet, built in D, which can with ease attack high notes which are outside the range of the ordinary B flat instrument, as well as the rarely used Bass Trumpet.1945, Christian Darnton, You and Music, 2nd edition, New York: Pelican Books, retrieved 20 Feb 2022, page 65: