lyre

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to play the lyre

   Alas, far times ago / A woman lyred here / In the evenfall; one who fain did so / From year to year; / And, in loneliness bending wistfully, / Would wake each note / In sick sad rote, / None to listen or see!

2. 2
   noun

   a harp used by ancient Greeks for accompaniment

3. 3
   noun

   An ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke.

4. 4
   noun

   A lyre-shaped sheet music holder that attaches to a wind instrument when a music stand is impractical.

From Middle English lire (13th c.), from Old French lire, from Latin lyra, from Ancient Greek λύρᾱ (lúrā, “lyre, a stringed instrument with a sounding-board formed of the shell of a tortoise”). Doublet of lira, lyra, and Lyra.

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