oud

plural ouds · alternative 'ud · alternative oudh

1. countableuncountableentertainmentA short-necked and fretless plucked stringed instrument of the lute family, of Arab and Turkish origin.

   Oriental music is chiefly unrhythmical [...]. It is mostly rendered by a solo voice with accompaniment of the Ud, a kind of lyre or mandolin, or Kanun, resembling a guitar.

   1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 25

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   Common throughout the Arab and Persian world, the oud is a fretless short-neck lute with a pear-shaped, flat top, rounded back, and a peghead characteristically bent backwards at a very sharp angle. The oud's origins are unknown, although myths attribute either celestial or magical beginnings, it more likely came from ancient Persia.

   2010, Randy Raine-Reusch, Play The World: The 101 Instrument Primer, Mel Bay Publications, →ISBN, page 22

2. countableuncountableperfumeryAgarwood, in particular the noble rot of Aquilaria trees used to make perfumes.

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   The recent fashion for oud (the noble rot of Aquilaria trees) took flight when YSL released M7, where the oud accord was center stage. It came with an advertising campaign featuring a hairy naked guy, a sight rated “beautiful” by my co-author. Real oud is complex material, with honey, tobacco, leaf, minty-fresh and castoreum animalic notes all mixed together.

   2010, Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez, “M7”, in Perfumes: The A–Z Guide, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 233