Harpsichord
['hɑːpsɪkɔːd]
Definition
(noun.) a clavier with strings that are plucked by plectra mounted on pivots.
Inputed by Gretchen--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A harp-shaped instrument of music set horizontally on legs, like the grand piano, with strings of wire, played by the fingers, by means of keys provided with quills, instead of hammers, for striking the strings. It is now superseded by the piano.
Typed by Jody
Definition
n. an old-fashioned keyed musical instrument where the sound is produced by the twitching of the strings by a piece of crow-quill or hard leather.
Editor: Moll
Examples
- He says there is only an old harpsichord at Lowick, and it is covered with books. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Then appeared the harpsichord, a still nearer approach to the piano, having a hand or knee-worked pedal, and on which Mozart and Handel and Haydn brought out their grand productions. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The harp with which David stirred the dead soul of Saul was the prototype of the sweet clavichord, the romantic virginal, the tinkling harpsichord, and the grand piano. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
Checked by Andrew