dulcimer

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“
Tom Bodkin had promised to present me with a musical instrument called a dulcimer--I persist in thinking that this is a species of guitar, although I am assured that it is a number of small metal plates which are struck with sticks, and I confess that this description of its function prejudices me more than a little against it.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A narrow, often hourglass-shaped stringed instrument having three or four strings and a fretted fingerboard, typically held flat across the knees while sitting and played by plucking or strumming. Also called Appalachian dulcimer, mountain dulcimer.
  2. noun The hammered dulcimer.

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Examples (50)

  • "A centaur smashed my magic dulcimer, and that depleted my power Oh." —  Night Mare
  • The band-could it be something like the dulcimer, to amplify or focus his power? —  Night Mare
  • Come, Dandy, give us the 'Bonny brown Girl,' and I'll help you, as well as I'm able In a moment the dulcimer was at work on the top of the coach, and the merry farmer, at the top of his lungs, lending his assistance inside When the performance had been concluded, Alley, who was brimful of indignation at the slight which had been put upon her, said, "Many thanks to you, Misther Doran, but if you plaise we'll dispense wid your music for the rest of the journey. —  The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain The Works of William Carleton, Volume One
  • In the corner lay against the wall a stringed instrument not unlike a dulcimer, which, as people believe, the giantesses used to play on. —  Folk-Lore and Legends; Scandinavian
  • He turned the handle of the barrel organ in the west gallery from the time of its purchase in 1850 to that of its disappearance in 1873, but I do not think that he ever appreciated this rude substitution of mechanical art for cornet, dulcimer, and pipe He led the hymns and read the Psalms, and repeated the responses with much fervour; perpetuating (long after it had ceased to be correct) the idea that he alone could be relied upon. —  The Parish Clerk
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Alteration (influenced by Latin dulcis, sweet) of Middle English doucemer, from Old French doulcemer, doulcemele, probably from Latin dulce melos, sweet song : dulce, neuter of dulcis, sweet + melos, song (from Greek melos).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also dulcimel (after Spanish and Italian); from Old French doulcemer (Roquefort), from Spanish dulcémele = Italian dolcemele, a musical instrument, from Latin dulce melos, a sweet song: dulce, neuter of dulcis, sweet; melos, from Greek μέλος, a song: see melody.
 

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/ˈdəlsɪmər/
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