CORNET, in the military art of the ancients, an instrument much in the nature of a trumpet; which when it only sounded, the ensigns were to march alone without the soldiery; whereas when the trumpet only sounded, the soldiery were to move without the ensigns. The cornets and buccineae sounded the charge and retreat; and the cornets and trumpets sounded during the course of the battle. See Plate CLXIV.