stringed instrument

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stringed instrument

An instrument, such as a violin, guitar, harp, or dulcimer, in which sound is produced by causing taut strings to vibrate, as by plucking, striking, or bowing.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

stringed instrument

(Instruments) any musical instrument in which sound is produced by the vibration of a string across a soundboard or soundbox. Also called: chordophone

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

stringed instrument - a musical instrument in which taut strings provide the source of sound

banjo - a stringed instrument of the guitar family that has long neck and circular body

bowed stringed instrument, string - stringed instruments that are played with a bow; "the strings played superlatively well"

bridge - a wooden support that holds the strings up

chordophone - a stringed instrument of the group including harps, lutes, lyres, and zithers

clavichord - an early stringed instrument like a piano but with more delicate sound

Klavier, clavier - a stringed instrument that has a keyboard

dulcimer - a stringed instrument used in American folk music; an elliptical body and a fretted fingerboard and three strings

guitar - a stringed instrument usually having six strings; played by strumming or plucking

koto - Japanese stringed instrument that resembles a zither; has a rectangular wooden sounding board and usually 13 silk strings that are plucked with the fingers

musical instrument, instrument - any of various devices or contrivances that can be used to produce musical tones or sounds

peg - regulator that can be turned to regulate the pitch of the strings of a stringed instrument

forte-piano, piano, pianoforte - a keyboard instrument that is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds

psaltery - an ancient stringed instrument similar to the lyre or zither but having a trapezoidal sounding board under the strings

samisen, shamisen - a Japanese stringed instrument resembling a banjo with a long neck and three strings and a fretted fingerboard and a rectangular soundbox; played with a plectrum

sitar - a stringed instrument of India; has a long neck and movable frets; has 6 or 7 metal strings for playing and usually 13 resonating strings

soundboard, sounding board - (music) resonator consisting of a thin board whose vibrations reinforce the sound of the instrument

string - a tightly stretched cord of wire or gut, which makes sound when plucked, struck, or bowed

cither, zither, zithern - a musical stringed instrument with strings stretched over a flat sounding board; it is laid flat and played with a plectrum and with fingers

Translations

kielisoitin

弦楽器

stränginstrument

stringed instrument

[ˌstrɪŋdˈɪnstrʊmənt] n (Mus) → strumento a corda

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

These lashings, like the chords of a stringed instrument, resounded as if vibrated by a violin bow.

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A strain of plaintive music, played on stringed instruments, and flutes, recalled my attention to the hidden shrine.

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(Many people gained their livelihood by the Board of Irrigation, especially one highly conscientious and musical family: all the daughters played on stringed instruments, and Alexey Alexandrovitch knew the family and had stood godfather to one of the elder daughters.) The raising of this question by a hostile department was in Alexey Alexandrovitch's opinion a dishonorable proceeding, seeing that in every department there were things similar and worse, which no one inquired into, for well-known reasons of official etiquette.

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"The musicians will sit in their gallery," said the young Student, "and play upon their stringed instruments, and my love will dance to the sound of the harp and the violin.

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Would you admit them into our State when you reflect that in this composite use of harmony the flute is worse than all the stringed instruments put together; even the panharmonic music is only an imitation of the flute?

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He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odours of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.

I have just spoken of that morbid condition of the auditory nerve which rendered all music intolerable to the sufferer, with the exception of certain effects of stringed instruments. It was, perhaps, the narrow limits to which he thus confined himself upon the guitar, which gave birth, in great measure, to the fantastic character of the performances.

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There was no music for her any more,--no piano, no harmonized voices, no delicious stringed instruments, with their passionate cries of imprisoned spirits sending a strange vibration through her frame.

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Dinner was laid in a magnificent apartment, and the table was covered with delicious fruits; while during the repast richly dressed girls sang softly and sweetly to stringed instruments. After the prince and princess had finished, they passed into a small room hung with blue and gold, looking out into a garden stocked with flowers and arbutus trees, quite different from any that were to be found in Persia.

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Are there no itinerant bands; no wind or stringed instruments? No, not one.

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Other performers are tanpura (stringed instrument) player Sangita Bhattacharya and avid table player Debajit Patitundi.

Indian cultural group set to regale Doha audience

After the partition of the subcontinent, the first tanpura, a long-necked stringed instrument, played on Radio Pakistan, was built by his family.