Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A musical instrument composed of a flat sound box with about 30 to 40 strings stretched over it and played horizontally with the fingertips, a plectrum, or a bow, or set into vibration by the wind, as in the Aeolian harp.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
cithern .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mus.) An instrument of music used in Austria and Germany. It has from thirty to forty wires strung across a shallow sounding-board, which lies horizontally on a table before the performer, who uses both hands in playing on it. [Not to be confounded with the old lute-shaped
cittern , orcithern .]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerousstrings , placed on a horizontal surface, and played with aplectrum and fingertips; similar to adulcimer . In the Norwegian harpeleik and Swedish cittra versions, the instrument is considered a chorded zither and usually has 7 (Norwegian) to 9 (Swedish) chords, some with as many as 11 strings each, which are mostly strummed and damped as chords, although sometimes plucked. The Norwegian harpeleik and Swedish cittra are still in production by a German manufacturer.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a musical stringed instrument with strings stretched over a flat sounding board; it is laid flat and played with a plectrum and with fingers
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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And one guy on a zither was a lot cheaper than hiring an orchestra.
The Theme From the Movie Jacqueline T Lynch 2008
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And one guy on a zither was a lot cheaper than hiring an orchestra.
Archive 2008-08-01 Jacqueline T Lynch 2008
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Yes, indeed, the zither is a pearl, only it does not come from the depths of the sea.
Primitive Love and Love-Stories Henry Theophilus Finck 1890
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The soundtrack recalls the zither music that ratchets up the tension in
PopMatters 2009
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The zither is a melancholy little instrument; in range of expression it is to the harp what the winchat is to the thrush; or to the violin, what that bird is to the nightingale; yet few instruments are so exciting: here and there along these mountain valleys you may hear a Tyrolese maid set her voice to its plaintive thin tones; but when the strings are swept madly there is mad dancing; it catches at the nerves.
Vittoria — Volume 5 George Meredith 1868
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The zither is a melancholy little instrument; in range of expression it is to the harp what the winchat is to the thrush; or to the violin, what that bird is to the nightingale; yet few instruments are so exciting: here and there along these mountain valleys you may hear a Tyrolese maid set her voice to its plaintive thin tones; but when the strings are swept madly there is mad dancing; it catches at the nerves.
Vittoria — Complete George Meredith 1868
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The zither is a melancholy little instrument; in range of expression it is to the harp what the winchat is to the thrush; or to the violin, what that bird is to the nightingale; yet few instruments are so exciting: here and there along these mountain valleys you may hear a Tyrolese maid set her voice to its plaintive thin tones; but when the strings are swept madly there is mad dancing; it catches at the nerves.
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868
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A third was fingering some sort of instrument, a kind of zither or dulcimer with lengths of catgut strung along two axes, one set perpendicularly above the other.
Son of a Witch Maguire, Gregory 2005
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The _Santurie_, for instance, a kind of zither, with eighteen sets of three strings each, is a most harmonious instrument from which beautiful effects can be obtained by the player.
Across Coveted Lands or a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta Overland Arnold Henry Savage Landor 1894
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Aged stringed instruments with exotic-sounding names such as zither and tremoloa hang on the walls.
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