Word.ws English Dictionary

bazoo

bazoo noun: a simple wind instrument, such as a kazoo or tin horn.

Noun

bazoo (plural bazoos)

  1. (Canada, US, dated) A simple wind instrument, such as a kazoo or tin horn.
    • It goes against the grain to toot one’s own “bazoo”1894, “Splendid work of the National Association of Dental Faculties”, in Dominion Dental Journal, volume VI, page 221
    • Born Charles Westover in Coopersville, Michigan, on 30 December 1939, he learned to play the bazoo, ukulele and, eventually, the guitar.2012, Sharon Davis, Every Chart Topper Tells a Story
  2. (US, slang) A person's mouth.
    • If any galoot in the mob knows of anything that mout block the game ef tuk to a higher court, let him now toot his bazoo, or else keep his jaw to himself now and forever more.1881, Paul the Pilgrim, “A Wyoming Wedding”, in Wit and Wisdom, page 12
    • “Don’t swear so, John. What if you should be struck dead with such horrid oaths on your lips!” said his wife soothingly. “Swear so? Jimminy crickets, by all that’s great I’m not swearing; but I am going to express my opinion of this confounded, nine cornered bazoo of a blamed rickety infernal bit...1882 September 30, “Slings and Arrows”, in The Boston Daily Globe, volume XXII, number 92, Boston, Mass., →ISSN, →OCLC, page [4], column 1

Examples of bazoo in a sentence

  • She “tooted her bazoo” in concert with Hon.2017 May 1, Peter Jensen Brown, quoting Leavenworth Weekly Times, July 21, 1870, “Bazoo, Kazoo, Bazooka”, in Early Sports and Pop Culture...
  • "As for the screechin', one bazoo's as good as a dozen, if so be ye blow it fierce enough."1902, Francis Lynde, The Master of Appleby, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 504:
  • No doubt you have heard the expression, “He blows his bazoo too much.” In Arkansas that is said of a “windy” guy who talks too much.2013, Charles Earle Funk, Thereby Hangs a Tale:

Forms of bazoo

pluralbazoos

Origin of bazoo

Probably from Dutch bazuin (“trumpet”). First attested in the mid 19th century.

Words formed from bazoo

Questions about bazoo

What does bazoo mean?
Bazoo means a simple wind instrument, such as a kazoo or tin horn.
How do you use bazoo in a sentence?
She “tooted her bazoo” in concert with Hon.
What part of speech is bazoo?
Bazoo is a noun.
What is the plural of bazoo?
The plural of bazoo is bazoos.

Words near bazoo in the dictionary

  1. Bazoians
  2. bazonga
  3. bazongas
  4. bazonker
  5. bazonkers
  6. bazoo
  7. bazooka
  8. bazookaed
  9. bazookaing
  10. bazookaist
  11. bazookaists

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bazoo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-bazoo.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bazoo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bazoo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.