Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A usually fretted stringed instrument having a narrow neck and a hollow circular body with a covering of plastic or stretched skin on which the bridge rests. The modern American banjo typically has four strings and often a short fifth string plucked with the thumb.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A musical instrument of the guitar class, having a neck with or without frets. and a circular body covered in front with tightly stretched parchment, like a tambourine.
- noun A banjo-frame (which see).
- noun A form of automatic railway signaling-apparatus in which a flat circular disk, with an arm projecting from one side, is alternately exhibited in front of a glass opening in the signal-box and withdrawn from sight by the make and break of an electric circuit. The shape of the disk and its arm has suggested the name.
- noun In mining, an iron frame for carrying a false clack.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A stringed musical instrument having a head and neck like the guitar, and a circular body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music A stringed
musical instrument with a round body andfretted neck, played byplucking orstrumming the strings. - noun slang An object shaped like a banjo, especially a
frying pan or ashovel . - verb To play the banjo
- verb slang, UK To beat; to knock down
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a stringed instrument of the guitar family that has long neck and circular body
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word banjo.
Examples
-
He picked up a trail-scarred banjo from the floor and began to strum a few wandering notes.
THE FAITH OF MEN 2010
-
I'm sure down South in banjo country Faux News Princess Palin will actually be a boon to McDonnell since Southerners can no longer read, write or think critically and are becoming ever more obese like their idol Limbaugh while sitting on their sofas listening to Fixed News. carol
-
He picked up a trail-scarred banjo from the floor and began to strum a few wandering notes.
The Faith of Men 1904
-
a machine he called a banjo, upon which he would play lewd and idolatrous music which was most pleasing to the ear; and he would sing songs while he played, which all ended with a yell.
Vrouw Grobelaar and Her Leading Cases Seventeen Short Stories Perceval Gibbon 1902
-
Watching a neophyte take a crack at the banjo is the scariest thing since George Harrison tried playing the sitar.
The Only Good Banjo Is a Dead Banjo Joe Queenan 2011
-
Professional finishers who tape entire houses in one day will use a tool called a banjo.
-
So, it was one thing to play that music, and now it's something different to create your own music because trying to learn these violin pieces and cello pieces on the banjo is a great challenge, but they're not written for the banjo, so in a certain way, you can never really win, you know?
Mike Ragogna: Boardwalk Empires, Mockingbirds, Concertos & Rocket Science: Conversations with The Jayhawks, Bela Fleck and Vince Giordano Mike Ragogna 2011
-
So, it was one thing to play that music, and now it's something different to create your own music because trying to learn these violin pieces and cello pieces on the banjo is a great challenge, but they're not written for the banjo, so in a certain way, you can never really win, you know?
Mike Ragogna: Boardwalk Empires, Mockingbirds, Concertos & Rocket Science: Conversations with The Jayhawks, Bela Fleck and Vince Giordano Mike Ragogna 2011
-
The banjo is the musical equivalent of the battle ax: metallic, obvious, lethal and usually wielded by someone who has not read Jane Austen.
The Only Good Banjo Is a Dead Banjo Joe Queenan 2011
-
Fun fact: the banjo was the first unique instrument made in America.
sionnach commented on the word banjo
I can see fiddling around with a banjo, but how do you banjo around with a fiddle?
Duncan Purney
March 15, 2009
bilby commented on the word banjo
Go 'way, fiddle! folks is tired o' hearin' you a-squawkin'.
Keep silence fur you' betters! don't you heah de banjo talkin'?
About de 'possum's tail she's gwine to lecter—ladies, listen!
About de ha'r whut isn't dar, an' why de ha'r is missin':
- Irwin Russell, 'De Fust Banjo'.
March 23, 2009