psalteries

Variant of psaltery

noun pl. psalteries

a stringed instrument of the zither family, popular esp. in 12th-15th cent. Europe, having a modified trapezoidal body and a variable number of strings plucked with the fingers of both hands or a pair of quills

Origin: ME psauterie < OFr sautere, psalterie < L psalterium: see Psalter

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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