reed meaning and definition

REED noun

Definition of reed (noun)

1. tall woody perennial grasses with hollow slender stems especially of the genera Arundo and Phragmites
2. United States journalist who reported on the October Revolution from Petrograd in 1917; founded the Communist Labor Party in America in 1919; is buried in the Kremlin in Moscow (1887-1920)
   • synonyms: John Reed
3. United States physician who proved that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes (1851-1902)
   • synonyms: Walter Reed
4. a vibrator consisting of a thin strip of stiff material that vibrates to produce a tone when air streams over it
   • "the clarinetist fitted a new reed onto his mouthpiece"
   • synonyms: vibrating reed
5. a musical instrument that sounds by means of a vibrating reed
   • synonyms: beating-reed instrument, reed instrument