psaltery

[sawl-tuh-ree]

noun

plural

psalteries 

1. an ancient musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings which are plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum.

2. (initial capital letter),  the Psalter.

psaltery

/ ˈsɔːltərɪ /

noun

1. music an ancient stringed instrument similar to the lyre, but having a trapezoidal sounding board over which the strings are stretched

Word History and Origins

Origin of psaltery¹

1300–50; Middle English sautrie < Middle French sauter(i)e < Late Latin psaltērium; Psalter

Word History and Origins

Origin of psaltery¹

Old English: see _Psalter

Example Sentences

Once, he had carried Robin to another part of the monastery, and showed him where records of everyday living were written and poems and psalteries copied.

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Thus did I fulfil my vow, and we brought you up to read the scripture, and sweetly did you sing to the psaltery.

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What, false knave, did I buy thee a fire new psaltery to be minded o' my latter end withal?

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Among the Russians, the gusli is an instrument of a different type, a kind of psaltery having five or more strings stretched across a flat, shallow sound-chest in the shape of a wing.

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Or else the seraphim would call: "Minstrels, your dulcimers let fall And break the silvern psalteries!"

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