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viol definition

viol (vī′əl)

noun

any of an early family of stringed instruments played with a curved bow, characterized generally by six strings, frets, a flat back, and -shaped sound holes: used chiefly in the 16th and 17th cent. in sizes from the treble viol to the bass viol

Etymology: MFr viole < OProv viula < Frank *vithula < VL vitula: see fiddle

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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