eunuch flute

English

Noun

eunuch flute (plural eunuch flutes)

1. (music) A simple musical instrument consisting of a wooden tube with a hole in it, used like a modern kazoo.
   • 2011, Christopher Welch, Six Lectures on the Recorder and Other Flutes in Relation to Literature:

     Now there was in Shakespeare's time a pipe called the eunuch flute. It was not an instrument that could generate sound but only a contrivance for imparting to the voice a trembling or buzzing sort of tone not unlike that which children produce by means of a piece of paper folded over a comb.

Synonyms

• mirliton
• onion flute