Harp
[hɑːp] or [hɑrp]
Definition
(noun.) a chordophone that has a triangular frame consisting of a sounding board and a pillar and a curved neck; the strings stretched between the neck and the soundbox are plucked with the fingers.
(noun.) a pair of curved vertical supports for a lampshade.
(verb.) come back to; 'Don't dwell on the past'; 'She is always harping on the same old things'.
(verb.) play the harp; 'She harped the Saint-Saens beautifully'.
Inputed by Franklin--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A musical instrument consisting of a triangular frame furnished with strings and sometimes with pedals, held upright, and played with the fingers.
(n.) A constellation; Lyra, or the Lyre.
(n.) A grain sieve.
(n.) To play on the harp.
(n.) To dwell on or recur to a subject tediously or monotonously in speaking or in writing; to refer to something repeatedly or continually; -- usually with on or upon.
(v. t.) To play on, as a harp; to play (a tune) on the harp; to develop or give expression to by skill and art; to sound forth as from a harp; to hit upon.
Typist: Marvin
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Lyre.
v. n. [1]. Play on the harp.[2]. Dwell (tediously).
Typist: Shirley
Definition
n. a musical stringed instrument much esteemed by the ancients.—v.i. to play on the harp: to dwell tediously upon anything.—v.t. to give voice to.—ns. Harp′er Harp′ist a player on the harp.—n.pl. Harp′ings (naut.) the fore-parts of the wales surrounding the bow extensions of the rib-bands.—n. Harp′-shell a genus of gasteropodous molluscs with inflated shell.—Harp on one string to dwell constantly on one topic.
Typist: Ralph
Unserious Contents or Definition
To hear the sad sweet strains of a harp, denotes the sad ending to what seems a pleasing and profitable enterprise. To see a broken harp, betokens illness, or broken troth between lovers. To play a harp yourself, signifies that your nature is too trusting, and you should be more careful in placing your confidence as well as love matters.
Checked by Clive
Examples
- A harp, and other matters of a very uncanonical appearance, were also visible when this dark recess was opened. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- In Heaven's name, don't harp upon it! Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- However, there was no time to think more about the matter, for the fiddles and harp began in real earnest. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- It was like the voice of a soul that had once lived in an Aeolian harp. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Mr. Bertram, said she, I have tidings of my harp at last. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- If Saul could have had you for his David, the evil spirit would have been exorcised without the aid of the harp. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- They abounded in China, in India, and in Egypt before the lyre of Apollo was invented, or the charming harp of Orpheus was conceived. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Forms going up--carpenters coming down--lamps, glasses, harps. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Well, said Joe, still harping on it as though I had particularly pressed it, if I was yourself, Pip, I wouldn't. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Professor Max Müller in his time, for example, harped perpetually on the idea of sun stories and sun worship. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Daughter, said Isaac, thou hast harped upon another string of sorrow. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
Edited by Bertram