lyre

[ lahyuhr ]

/ laɪər /

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noun

a musical instrument of ancient Greece consisting of a soundbox made typically from a turtle shell, with two curved arms connected by a yoke from which strings are stretched to the body, used especially to accompany singing and recitation.

Lyre, Astronomy. the constellation Lyra.

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Origin of lyre

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English lire, from Latin lyra, from Greek lýra

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH lyre

liar, lyre

Words nearby lyre

lyosorption, lyotropic, Lyra, lyrate, lyra viol, lyre, lyre back, lyrebird, lyre-form sofa, lyre snake, lyric

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use lyre in a sentence

These pieces show Christov-Bakargiev wearing her Apollo hat and strumming the lyre too loudly.
The Art Exhibition Documenta Contains Almost Too Much Good Art to Experience|Blake Gopnik|June 9, 2012|DAILY BEAST
We might conclude that the only thing of beauty that remains of him is the shape of his lyre in the stars.
Ann Wroe’s ‘Orpheus’: Why the Mythological Muse Haunts Us|Ann Wroe|May 31, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Only head and lyre remained intact, floating down the River Hebrus from Thrace to the sea.
Ann Wroe’s ‘Orpheus’: Why the Mythological Muse Haunts Us|Ann Wroe|May 31, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The fountain is a type of the living waters, and the lyre, of the influence of the Divine Orpheus.
The Catacombs of Rome|William Henry Withrow

Sometimes an Orpheus, to whose lyre the sheep seem to listen with pleased attention, takes the place of the Good Shepherd.
The Catacombs of Rome|William Henry Withrow
The poet's lyre has not many strings, and the strains of sadness, of pensive melancholy, are almost absent.
Frdric Mistral|Charles Alfred Downer
There remain then the lyre and the cithara for use in our city; and for shepherds in the country a syrinx (pan's pipes).'
The Modes of Ancient Greek Music|David Binning Monro
The scale of a lyre was usually the standard octave from Hypat to Nt: and that octave might be in any one key.
The Modes of Ancient Greek Music|David Binning Monro

British Dictionary definitions for lyre

lyre

/ (laɪə) /

noun

an ancient Greek stringed instrument consisting of a resonating tortoise shell to which a crossbar was attached by two projecting arms. It was plucked with a plectrum and used for accompanying songs

any ancient instrument of similar design

a medieval bowed instrument of the violin family

Word Origin for lyre

C13: via Old French from Latin lyra, from Greek lura

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012