harp
pronunciation
How to pronounce harp in British English:
UK [hɑːp]
How to pronounce harp in American English:
US [hɑːrp]
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- Noun:
- a chordophone that has a triangular frame consisting of a sounding board and a pillar and a curved neck; the strings stretched between the neck and the soundbox are plucked with the fingers
- a pair of curved vertical supports for a lampshade
- a small rectangular free-reed instrument having a row of free reeds set back in air holes and played by blowing into the desired hole
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- Verb:
- come back to
- play the harp
Word Origin
- harp (n.)
- Old English hearpe "harp, stringed musical instrument played with the fingers," from Proto-Germanic *harpon- (cognates: Old Saxon harpa "instrument of torture;" Old Norse harpa, Dutch harp, Old High German harpfa, German Harfe "harp") of uncertain origin. Late Latin harpa, source of words in some Romanic languages (Italian arpa, Spanish arpa, French harpe), is a borrowing from Germanic. Meaning "harmonica" is from 1887, short for mouth-harp. The harp seal (1784) is so called for the harp-shaped markings on its back.
- harp (v.)
- Old English hearpian "to play on a harp;" see harp (n.). Cognate with Middle Dutch, Dutch harpen, Middle High German harpfen, German harfen. Figurative sense of "talk overmuch" (about something), "dwell exclusively on one subject" first recorded mid-15c. Related: Harped; harping.
Example
- 1. Mom wants to float on a cloud and play a harp .
- 2. Then I listen to mozart 's flute and harp concertos on a walkman .
- 3. They were not fighting men , and their harp was their passport .
- 4. Even the royal standard pennant fluttering from her range rover still bears a heraldic irish harp in one corner .
- 5. Dancers , known as cuadrillas , wear colorful costumes and jump through the air with pairs of scissors to the accompaniment of harp and fiddle music .