zither
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See also: Zither
English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Cithare.jpg/200px-Cithare.jpg)
Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “a kind of harp”). Doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈzɪ.ðə/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈzɪ.ðɚ/
- Rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)
Noun
[edit]zither (plural zithers)
- (music) A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
- (music, translations) Related or similar instruments in other cultures, such as the Chinese guqin or Norwegian harpeleik; especially any chordophone without a neck, and with strings that pass over the body.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]musical instrument
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 2010. Appalachian Dulcimer. Ralph Lee Smith. Pg. 6.
Verb
[edit]zither (third-person singular simple present zithers, present participle zithering, simple past and past participle zithered)
- To play a zither.
- 1892, Edmund Gosse, chapter 3, in The Secret of Narcisse[1], New York: United States Book Company, page 100,102:
- […] the fluting began again. Not alone this time, but, to Rosalie’s infinite surprise, accompanied on a zither. […] At this moment the fluting and zithering began again.
- 1906, William John Locke, chapter 9, in The Belovéd Vagabond[2], New York: John Lane, published 1911, pages 120–121:
- We wandered and fiddled and zithered and tambourined through France till the chills and rains of autumn rendered our vagabondage less merry.
- 1999, Richard Hacken (translator), “Mary in Misery” by Peter Rosegger in Into the Sunset: Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Austrian Prose, Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, pp. 413-414,[3]
- We traveled far and wide: he played the zither while I sang an accompaniment. […] He keeps zithering, and I sing like before, and before long we’ve put together a pretty good pile of money . . .
- To make a sound similar to that made by a zither; to move while making such a sound.
- c. 1890, May Ostlere, Dead! London: Trischler, Chapter 3, p. 76,[4]
- Now [the wind] swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes […]
- 1956, Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals[5], Penguin, published 2000, Part Two, Chapter 10, p. 123:
- The olives seemed weighed down under the weight of their fruit, smooth drops of green jade among which the choirs of cicadas zithered.
- 1985, Kim Chapin, chapter 19, in Dogwood Afternoons[6], New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 178:
- Once I owned a bike […] It had no fenders and one gear only, and on the forks, both fore and aft, I clipped some plastic playing cards to zither loudly through the spokes.
- 1996, Carl Huberman, chapter 38, in Eminent Domain[7], London: Macmillan, page 328:
- ‘Look at that!’ she shouted, already backing up the Jeep, its tyres zithering on the crusty surface.
- 2004, Matt Braun, chapter 15, in Black Gold[8], New York: St Martin’s Paperbacks, page 158:
- The other men opened fire with pistols, slugs zithering past him with a dull whine.
- c. 1890, May Ostlere, Dead! London: Trischler, Chapter 3, p. 76,[4]
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from German
- English terms derived from German
- English terms derived from Old High German
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪðə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ɪðə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:String instruments
- en:Music
- English verbs
- English terms with quotations