AEOLIAN HARP • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Aeolian harp

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noun

Harp n.

1.

A musical instrument consisting of a triangular frame furnished with strings and sometimes with pedals, held upright, and played with the fingers.

2.

(Astron.) A constellation; Lyra, or the Lyre.

3.

A grain sieve. (Scot.)

Aeolian harp. See under Aeolian.

Harp seal (Zool.), an arctic seal (Phoca Groenlandica). The adult males have a light-colored body, with a harp-shaped mark of black on each side, and the face and throat black. Called also saddler, and saddleback. The immature ones are called bluesides; their fur is white, and they are killed and skinned to harvest the fur.

Harp shell (Zool.), a beautiful marine gastropod shell of the genus Harpa, of several species, found in tropical seas. See Harpa.

adjective

AEolian adj.

1.

Of or pertaining to AEolia or AEolis, in Asia Minor, colonized by the Greeks, or to its inhabitants; aeolic; as, the AEolian dialect.

2.

Pertaining to AEolus, the mythic god of the winds; aerial. "Viewless forms the aeolian organ play."

3.

Relating to or caused by wind; as, aeolian erosion.

AEolian attachment, a contrivance often attached to a pianoforte, which prolongs the vibrations, increases the volume of sound, etc., by forcing a stream of air upon the strings.

AEolian harp, AEolian lyre, a musical instrument consisting of a box, on or in which are stretched strings, on which the wind acts to produce the notes; usually placed at an open window.

AEolian mode (Mus.), one of the ancient Greek and early ecclesiastical modes.

See images of 'Aeolian harp'

Etymology of 'Aeolian harp'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Aeolian harp" Quotes from Famous Books

... to take down what fell from his lips. And just as it fell it would have been literature. He was urged to write these things. But Leamy had not readily the will or the power to compel his spirit when the favoured moment had passed. He was mostly passive, like an AEolian harp, under the visitation. Ill-health, too, extreme and distressing, burdened him. He bore his trials cheerfully, and strove manfully to write, especially in his later days when the power and the will seemed to come to him just as illness ...

— Irish Fairy Tales • Edmund Leamy

... was very intimate with Laurier thinks he was a man of deep emotions. This may be doubted. A man who talked so easily and was so exquisitely conscious of himself could scarcely be considered spiritually profound. Other men and events played upon him like the wind on an Aeolian harp. He was tremendously impressionable; and by turns grandly impressive. A personal friend relates how a man with some experience as a critic of drama—probably himself—went to see Laurier by request for a talk on the political situation; how Laurier invited him to a chair and immediately took ...

— The Masques of Ottawa • Domino

... intrenchment; gone to bed, as it seemed for the night, but promising that ye were to be seen in the morning. Coleridge had got a blazing fire in his study, which is a large, antique, ill-shaped room, with an old-fashioned organ, never played upon, big enough for a church, shelves of scattered folios, an AEolian harp, and an old sofa, half-bed, etc.; and all looking out upon the last fading view of Skiddaw and his broad-breasted brethren. What a night! Here we stayed three full weeks, in which time I visited ...

— The Best Letters of Charles Lamb • Charles Lamb

... long I had been sleeping when I was wakened by a voice that seemed to fill the room, low, soft, and musical as the tones of an Aeolian harp. I groped my way noiselessly in the dark to Max's bed and aroused him. Placing my hand over his mouth to insure ...

— Yolanda: Maid of Burgundy • Charles Major

... sometimes lightened on his face, made him cautious, and restrained his eagerness; while excessive consciousness kept her cheeks dyed with blushes, and her nerves vibrating sweet, wild music, like the strings of some aeolian harp when swept ...

— The Missing Bride • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

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