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theorbo

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the⋅or⋅bo

[thee-awr-boh]
–noun, plural -bos.
an obsolete bass lute with two sets of strings attached to separate peg boxes, one above the other, on the neck.

Origin:
1595–1605; < It teorba, var. of tiorba, special use of Venetian tiorba, var. of tuorba traveling bag ≪ Turk torba bag; so called from the bag it was carried in


the⋅or⋅bist, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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the·or·bo   (thē-ôr'bō)   
n.   pl. the·or·bos
A 17th-century lute having two sets of strings and an S-shaped neck with two sets of pegs, one set above and somewhat to the side of the other.

[French théorbe, from Italian tiorba.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

theorbo

large bass lute, or archlute, used from the 16th to the 18th century for song accompaniments and for basso continuo parts. It had six to eight single strings running along the fingerboard and, alongside them, eight off-the-fingerboard bass strings, or diapasons. Both sets of strings had separate pegboxes connected by an S curve in the instrument's neck. On 18th-century theorbos all but the two top courses of strings were double.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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