Meanings
plural sackbuts · alternative sacbut · alternative sackbutt · alternative sagbut · alternative shagbolt · alternative shakbusshe
- entertainmentA brass instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras, and an ancestor of the modern trombone. It was derived from the medieval slide trumpet.
1 more example
Every instrument took part in the stately Pavane: the lutes and the dulcimers, and the theorbos, and the sackbuts, and the hautboys; the flutes sweetly warbling as birds in the upper air, and the silver trumpets, and the horns that breathed deep melodies trembling with mystery and tenderness that shakes the heart; and the drum that beateth to battle, and the wild throb of the harp, and the cymbals clashing as the clash of armies.
1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 35
Origin
- Middle Frenchsacquer“to pull”
- Frenchsacqueboute
- Englishsackbut
From French sacqueboute, from Middle French sacquer (“to pull”) + bouter (“to push”).
More words from French, Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan sacabutx
- sacabutxbrass instrument
Dutch baroktrombone
- baroktrombonebrass instrument
Esperanto renesanctrombono, baroktrombono
- renesanctrombonobrass instrument
- baroktrombonobrass instrument
- sakbutobrass instrument
French sacqueboute, sacquebute
- sacqueboutebrass instrument
- sacquebutebrass instrument
- saquebutebrass instrument
German Posaune, Barockposaune
- Posaunebrass instrument
- Barockposaunebrass instrument
- Renaissanceposaunebrass instrument
- Sackbutbrass instrument
Italian sackbut
- sackbutbrass instrument
Norwegian Bokmål sackbut, barokktrombone
- sackbutbrass instrument
- barokktrombonebrass instrument
Portuguese sacabuxa
- sacabuxabrass instrument
Spanish sacabuche
- sacabuchebrass instrument
Swedish barocktrombon
- barocktrombonbrass instrument
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
sackbut. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sackbut
“sackbut.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sackbut. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sackbut,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sackbut.
Source: sackbut on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.