lyre
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A lyre
See also: lyře
English
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Etymology
From Ancient Greek λύρᾱ (lúrā, “lyre, a stringed instrument with a sounding-board formed of the shell of a tortoise”). Doublet of lira and Lyra.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪ.ə/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪ.ɚ/, /laɪɹ/
- Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
- Homophones: liar, lier, lire
Noun
lyre (plural lyres)
- (music) An ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke.
- Any instrument of the same musicological classification; any yoke lute.
- A lyre-shaped sheet music holder that attaches to a wind instrument when a music stand is impractical.
- (obsolete) A composer of lyric poetry.
Synonyms
- (a general class of instruments): yoke lute
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
stringed musical instrument
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lyre-shaped music holder
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References
- 2012. Kisir and Tanbura. Dahab Khalil and Artur Simon. Pg. 96.
- 2007. Origins and Development of Musical Instruments. Jeremy Montagu. Pg. 128.
Verb
lyre (third-person singular simple present lyres, present participle lyring, simple past and past participle lyred)
- (rare) to play the lyre
- 1922, Thomas Hardy, “Penance”, in Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses, London: Macmillan and Co., , →OCLC, page 143:
- Alas, far times ago / A woman lyred here / In the evenfall; one who fain did so / From year to year; / And, in loneliness bending wistfully, / Would wake each note / In sick sad rote, / None to listen or see!
See also
Further reading
- “lyre”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “lyre”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Noun
lyre f (plural lyres)
Descendants
Further reading
- “lyre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
Norwegian Bokmål
Noun
lyre f or m (definite singular lyra or lyren, indefinite plural lyrer, definite plural lyrene)
Anagrams
Norwegian Nynorsk
Noun
lyre f (definite singular lyra, indefinite plural lyrer, definite plural lyrene)
Derived terms
Old English
Pronunciation
Noun
lyre m
Declension
Strong a-stem:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | lyre | lyreas |
| accusative | lyre | lyreas |
| genitive | lyrees | lyrea |
| dative | lyree | lyreum |
References
- Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “lyre”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.