psaltery Hear it!

psaltery definition

psal·tery (sôl′tər ē)

noun pl. psalteries -·ter·ies

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

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

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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