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The Austrian officer who lodges over the way and soothes his Customs-laden soul by perpetually torturing a cracked zitter, leans out in his shirt sleeves from a second-floor window, to see us mount.

Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys 1873

White Horse, we are cordially received by a group of smiling girls, all sisters, who show us into excellent rooms, give us roast-beef and prunes for supper, and entertain us with part-songs and zitter-playing in the evening.

Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys 1873

The cymbal of the Austrian gypsies is a stringed instrument, like the zitter.

The Gypsies Charles Godfrey Leland 1863

Lou Pope, as Lady of the Lake, rowed her own boat, with Jack for a droll little Harper, twanging his zitter for want of a better instrument.

Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Vol. 5 Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore, Etc. Louisa May Alcott 1860

Here wandered a shepherd and his shepherdess, chatting merrily; there, under the shadow of a mighty oak, lay a forlorn shepherd singing, accompanied by his zitter, a love-lorn ditty to his cruel shepherdess, who was leading two white lambs decked with ribbons, in a meadow near by, and replied to his tender pleading with mocking irony.

Frederick the Great and His Family Chapman Coleman 1843