nail violin

noun

1. a musical instrument consisting of a wooden cylinder or half cylinder with a number of nails or U -shaped metal pins inserted into its surface, played with one or two fiddle bows.

Word History and Origins

Origin of nail violin¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

Two specimens of the nail-violin, one of which has sympathetic strings of thin brass-wire running over the sound-board.

From Project Gutenberg