xylophone

n. musical instrument consisting of a graduated series of wooden bars which are sounded by striking with small hammers

The xylophone (from the Greek meaning 'wooden sound') is a musical instrument in the percussion family which probably originated in Indonesia. It consists of wooden bars of various lengths that are struck by plastic, wooden, or rubber mallets. Each bar is tuned to a specific pitch of the musical scale. Xylophone can refer to western style concert xylophones or to one of the many wooden mallet percussion instruments found around the world. Xylophones are tuned to different scale systems depending on their origin, including pentatonic, heptatonic, diatonic, or chromatic. The arrangement of the bars is generally from low (longer bars) to high (shorter bars).
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Noun
1. a percussion instrument with wooden bars tuned to produce a chromatic scale and with resonators; played with small mallets
(synonym) marimba
(hypernym) percussion instrument, percussive instrument

n. xylophone, musical instrument consisting of a graduated series of wooden bars which are sounded by striking with small hammers

(n.)
An instrument to determine the vibrative properties of different kinds of wood.
  

(n.)
An instrument common among the Russians, Poles, and Tartars, consisting of a series of strips of wood or glass graduated in length to the musical scale, resting on belts of straw, and struck with two small hammers. Called in Germany strohfiedel, or straw fiddle.