Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun reed
5 senses of reed
Sense 1
reed -- (tall woody perennial grasses with hollow slender stems especially of the genera Arundo and Phragmites)
=> gramineous plant, graminaceous plant -- (cosmopolitan herbaceous or woody plants with hollow jointed stems and long narrow leaves)
Sense 2
Reed, John Reed -- (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))
INSTANCE OF=> journalist -- (a writer for newspapers and magazines)
INSTANCE OF=> communist, commie -- (a socialist who advocates communism)
Sense 3
Reed, Walter Reed -- (United States physician who proved that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes (1851-1902))
INSTANCE OF=> surgeon, operating surgeon, sawbones -- (a physician who specializes in surgery)
Sense 4
reed, vibrating reed -- (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")
=> vibrator -- (a mechanical device that vibrates; "a reed is the vibrator that produces the sound")
Sense 5
beating-reed instrument, reed instrument, reed -- (a musical instrument that sounds by means of a vibrating reed)
=> woodwind, woodwind instrument, wood -- (any wind instrument other than the brass instruments)