First recorded in 1585–95; perhaps jocular; earlier called Jew's trump
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It sounds something like a Jew’s harp, but much louder.
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2018
I shall buy a Jew’s harp and sit by the roadside with a woman’s bonnet on my manly head begging my honest livelihood.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 23 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
The singing was usually to the accompaniment of a Jew's harp and fiddle, or banjo.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Maryland Narratives by Work Projects Administration
Bill played his Jew's harp, strummed countless sentimental, music-hall ditties on its sensitive tongue, his being was flooded with exuberant song, he was transported by his trumpery toy.
From The Red Horizon by Patrick MacGill
Our gallery gods immortalize thy song; Thy Newgate thefts impart ecstatic pleasure; Thou bid'st a Jew's harp charm a Christian throng, A Gothic salt-box teem with attic treasure.
From A History of Pantomime by R. J. Broadbent
He likes the Rolling Stones, he plays the jew’s-harp — it’s incredible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2019
Ms. Arnold delivered the texts in a half-sung Sprechstimme manner over the drone of a lone jew’s-harp.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2011
The drone of a jew's-harp, which serves as a musical bridge in Up on Cripple Creek, is actually produced by the wah-wah pedal on Garth's clavinette.
From Time Magazine Archive
But the man who just likes to sing in the bathtub or twang a lick on the jew's-harp has never had a book to tell him where to go from there.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Where’s the jew’s-harp, Jo?” cried Laurie, as soon as he was within speaking distance.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
