|shalə|mō noun
( plural chalu·meaux -ōz)
Etymology: French, from Late Latin calamellus little reed — more at calumet
1.
a. : a medieval wind instrument consisting of an upright tube surmounted by a small tube in which was fixed a double reed : shawm
b. : an obsolete single-reed wind instrument of varying size that after progressive modifications became the clarinet
2. : chanter 3
3. : the lowest register of the clarinet — often used as a direction to play a passage an octave lower
4. : a reed organ pipe usually of 8-foot pitch and of clarinetlike tone — called also schalmei