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, and‖Oboe di caccia, are names of obsolete modifications of the oboe, often found in the scores of Bach and Handel.