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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

lyre

Audio Help [lahy^uh

r] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a musical instrument of ancient Greece consisting of a soundbox made typically from a turtle shell, with two curved arms connected by a yoke from which strings are stretched to the body, used esp. to accompany singing and recitation.

2.	(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Lyra.

[Origin: 1175–1225; ME lire < L lyra < Gk lýra

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Lyre

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

lyre Audio Help (līr) Pronunciation Key
n. A stringed instrument of the harp family having two curved arms connected at the upper end by a crossbar, used to accompany a singer or reciter of poetry, especially in ancient Greece.

[Middle English lire, from Old French, from Latin lyra, from Greek lura.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lyre

c.1205, from O.Fr. lire, from L. lyra, from Gk. lyra, a foreign word of uncertain origin.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

lyre
noun
a harp used by ancient Greeks for accompaniment

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Lyre

Ly"ra\, n. [L. lyra, Gr. ?. See Lyre.]

1. (Astron.) A northern constellation, the Harp, containing a white star of the first magnitude, called Alpha Lyr[ae], or Vega.

2. (Anat.) The middle portion of the ventral surface of the fornix of the brain; -- so called from the arrangement of the lines with which it is marked in the human brain.

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