PSALTERY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Psaltery

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Psaltery

noun

(pl. psalteries)

An ancient stringed instrument similar to the lyre or zither but having a trapezoidal sounding board under the strings.

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Etymology of 'Psaltery'

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"Psaltery" Quotes from Famous Books

... the piano-forte was a wretched piece of mechanism compared with the superb instrument of to-day. It was originally a progressive growth from the ancient lyre, through the harp, psaltery, dulcimer, clavictherium, clavichord, virginal, spinet, harpsichord, to the piano of Christofali in the early years of the last century. At the period of Mr. Chickering's entrance into business, it was still very imperfect, and the various manufacturers ...

— Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made • James D. McCabe, Jr.

... have at his beddes heed [rather] Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed, Of Aristotle and his philosophye, Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrye [fiddle, psaltery]. But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet hadde he but liter gold in cofre; But al that he mighte of his freendes hente [get], On bokes and on lerninge he it spente, And bisily gan for the soules preye Of hem that yaf him ...

— Old English Libraries, The Making, Collection, and Use of Books • Ernest A. Savage

Words linked to "Psaltery" : stringed instrument