Definition of "hautbois"

hautbois

noun
plural hautbois
1. Any of a family of organ stops that contain reeds.
2. Any of the (now obsolete) predecessors of the oboe or cor anglais.
  Quotations
  Then [her voice] became a little louder, and sounded like a flute or a distant hautbois.
  1891, Oscar Wilde, “Chapter 3”, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co.