bazoo

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Compare Dutch bazuin (“trumpet”). Attested since the mid nineteenth century.

Noun

bazoo (plural bazoos)

1. (Canada, US, dated) A simple wind instrument, such as a kazoo or tin horn.
   • 1894, “Splendid work of the National Association of Dental Faculties”, in Dominion Dental Journal‎^[1], volume VI, page 221:

     It goes against the grain to toot one’s own “bazoo”

   • 2012, Sharon Davis, Every Chart Topper Tells a Story‎^[2]:

     Born Charles Westover in Coopersville, Michigan, on 30 December 1939, he learned to play the bazoo, ukulele and, eventually, the guitar.
2. (US, slang) A person's mouth.
   • 1881, Paul the Pilgrim, “A Wyoming Wedding”, in Wit and Wisdom‎^[3], page 12:

     If any galoot in the mob knows of anything that mout block the game ef tuk to a higher court, let him now toot his bazoo, or else keep his jaw to himself now and forever more.

   • 1902, Francis Lynde, The Master of Appleby, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, page 504:

     "As for the screechin', one bazoo's as good as a dozen, if so be ye blow it fierce enough."

   • 2013, Charles Earle Funk, Thereby Hangs a Tale‎^[4]:

     No doubt you have heard the expression, “He blows his bazoo too much.” In Arkansas that is said of a “windy” guy who talks too much.

Anagrams

• booza