O"boe (?), n. [It., fr. F. hautbois. See Hautboy.] Mus.
One of the higher wind instruments in the modern orchestra, yet of great antiquity, having a penetrating pastoral quality of tone, somewhat like the clarinet in form, but more slender, and sounded by means of a double reed; a hautboy.
Oboe d'amore [It., lit., oboe of love], and Oboe di caccia [It., lit., oboe of the chase], are names of obsolete modifications of the oboe, often found in the scores of Bach and Handel.
© Webster 1913.