a brass instrument similar to the cornet but usually without valves: used for military fanfares, signal calls, etc
- (intransitive)
to play or sound (on) a bugle
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
bu•gle /ˈbyugəl/USA pronunciation
n., v., -gled, -gling.
n. [countable]
v. [no object]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026n. [countable]
- Music and Dancea brass wind instrument resembling a horn but usually without keys or valves.
v. [no object]
- Music and Danceto sound a bugle.
bu•gle1
(byo̅o̅′gəl),USA pronunciation n., v., -gled, -gling.
n.
v.i.
v.t.
bu′gler, n.
bu•gle2 (byo̅o̅′gəl),USA pronunciation n.
bu•gle3 (byo̅o̅′gəl),USA pronunciation n.
adj.
n.
- Music and Dancea brass wind instrument resembling a cornet and sometimes having keys or valves, used typically for sounding military signals.
v.i.
- Music and Danceto sound a bugle.
- Animal Behavior(of bull elks) to utter a rutting call.
v.t.
- Music and Danceto call by or with a bugle:to bugle reveille.
- Latin būculus bullock, young ox, equivalent. to bū- variant stem of bōs ox + -culus -cle1
- Anglo-French, Old French
- Middle English bugle (horn) instrument made of an ox horn 1250–1300
bu•gle2 (byo̅o̅′gəl),USA pronunciation n.
- Plant Biologyajuga.
- Medieval Latin bugula a kind of plant
- Old French
- Middle English 1225–75
bu•gle3 (byo̅o̅′gəl),USA pronunciation n.
- ClothingAlso called bu′gle bead′. a tubular glass bead used for ornamenting dresses.
adj.
- ClothingAlso, bu′gled. ornamented with bugles.
- of obscure origin, originally 1570–80
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
any of several Eurasian plants of the genus Ajuga, esp A. reptans, having small blue or white flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
a tubular glass or plastic bead sewn onto clothes for decoration
'bugle call' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
boots and saddles
- call to quarters
- last post
- mess call
- re-treat
- recall
- retreat
- warison