guitar

[ gi-tahr ]

noun
  1. a stringed musical instrument with a long, fretted neck, a flat, somewhat violinlike body, and typically six strings, which are plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum.

Origin of guitar

1
1615–25; <Spanish guitarra<Arabic kītārah ≪ Greek kithárakithara

Words Nearby guitar

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use guitar in a sentence

  • See the ease and grace of the lady in the sacque, who sits on the bank there, under the myrtles, with the guitar on her lap!

    Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
  • It was eleven o'clock before the river was crossed and the headquarters of Colonel guitar reached.

  • Of this force, Colonel guitar ordered one hundred to accompany him to Fulton.

  • When this became known to the few Union inhabitants of Fulton they implored guitar not to do it.

  • Lawrence and Dan were told of the danger that threatened Fulton, and they determined to accompany guitar in his expedition.

British Dictionary definitions for guitar

guitar

/ (ɡɪˈtɑː) /


noun
  1. music a plucked stringed instrument originating in Spain, usually having six strings, a flat sounding board with a circular sound hole in the centre, a flat back, and a fretted fingerboard. Range: more than three octaves upwards from E on the first leger line below the bass staff: See also electric guitar, bass guitar, Hawaiian guitar

Origin of guitar

1
C17: from Spanish guitarra, from Arabic qītār, from Greek kithara cithara

Derived forms of guitar

  • guitarist, noun
  • guitar-like, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for guitar

guitar

A stringed musical instrument (see strings) usually played by strumming or plucking. Guitars are widely used in folk music and, often amplified electronically, in country and western music and rock 'n' roll.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.