gittern

American  

[git-ern] / ˈgɪt ərn /

noun

1. cittern.

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gittern British  

/ ˈɡɪtɜːn /

noun

1. music an obsolete medieval stringed instrument resembling the guitar Compare cittern

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Etymology

Origin of gittern

C14: from Old French guiterne, ultimately from Old Spanish guitarra _guitar ; see _cittern

Example Sentences

He hung the gittern upon its peg, then went across to the Admiral and put both hands upon his shoulders.

From Sir Mortimer by Johnston, Mary

It was the practice, as we have said, when a customer was waiting for his turn in a barber's shop to pass his time playing on the gittern.

From At the Sign of the Barber's Pole Studies In Hirsute History by Andrews, William

As he resumed his journey, he might have been taken for a gipsy minstrel, for suspended round his neck was a small cracked gittern, retaining only two strings.

From The Buccaneer A Tale by Hall, S. C., Mrs.

The guitar, which may be considered a descendant of the gittern, is said to have completely eclipsed its ancestor in the seventeenth century. 

From Springtime and Other Essays by Darwin, Francis, Sir

Dost thou not see that for pleasure four several things combine,      Instruments four, harp, hautboy and gittern and psaltery?

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume I by Payne, John