xylophone

plural xylophones

1. entertainmentAny musical instrument (percussion idiophone) made of wooden slats graduated so as to make the sounds of the scale when struck with a small drumstick-like mallet; the standard Western concert xylophone or one of its derivatives.

   All I know how to play on my xylophone is "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Would you like to hear it?

present singular third person xylophones · participle present xylophoning · participle past xylophoned · past xylophoned

1. To play a xylophone or to play something else as though it was a xylophone.
2. To move above a ridged surface or series of surfaces so as to hit every ridge, in a manner similar to playing quickly and sequentially on a xylophone.

   my eager fingers xylophoning over the memories

   2002, Amu Nnadi, The Fire Within: Poetry : Includes the Abiola Manuscript

   3 more examples

   Like a cat, I arch into the back of the bench, my spine xylophoning along the slats while the tension of the day slowly drains out of me. I'm totally chill and mellow.

   2010 October 26, Barrie Summy, I So Don't Do Spooky, Yearling, →ISBN, page 27

   The others waged active war, claws xylophoning across Jack's pinwheeling swords.

   2015 July 7, Guillermo del Toro, Daniel Kraus, Trollhunters: The Book That Inspired the Netflix Animated Series TROLLHUNTERS!, Disney Electronic Content, →ISBN

   His right hand, the good one, found one of Glass's ankles, pulled. Glass fell, her ulna, clavicle, pevis, and kneecap xylophoning along stair edges.

   2020 August 4, George A. Romero, Daniel Kraus, The Living Dead, Tor Books, →ISBN